Maglite lubricants

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Buck268

Joined
Nov 5, 2006
Messages
1,864
Well, after using Hoppes gun oil to lube my mini mags for years, I finally switched over to silicone lube. Some simple dielectric grease down on the end cap, since those threads are conductive surfaces, and some Syl-Glyde (or something like that; from Napa) on all the other threads and o-rings.

Now, everything feels a little tighter than it did with the Hoppes, which makes sense since the silicone greaseis much thicker; though I think with time it'll loosen up. But it does seem I've picked up a little brightness after the switch. I figure thats likely, as I cleaned all threads and o-rings real good, notably getting all the Hoppes off the end cap threading and replacing with current-freindly dielectric grease. Now I should never have to deal with crapped out o-rings, and I'm hoping that it'll go longer between lubes (which is already in the multiple years between apps). I am worried the silicone will pick up more crap than the Hoppes did, though; but hopefully the tolerances around the head are tight enough to negate this... we'll see!
 
One day in frustration over the aluminum on aluminum galling on my Maglite, I lubed everything up with chapstick. It's been working fine.
 
Given that Chapstick is a petroleum based product, its use in conjunction with o-rings isn't advisable. While newer o-rings are getting better in terms of their resistance to petroleum, why not just go with something that is 100% safe? Your local hardware store will have cheap silicone grease that will do the trick: it might be packaged as "plumber's grease." After all, plumbers would rather not ruin o-rings ;)

There are lots of lubes that will "work fine" to give threads a smoother feel, but if you care about your o-rings and water-resistance, it's worth it to get the right product. Whether you choose cheap plumber's grease or the fancy products sold at flashlight sites, you'll be doing your tools a better service than smearing them with whatever convenient product you have laying around.
 
I use Vaseline. Although it's petroleum based, I have Maglites that are 15 years old or more with no sign of o-ring deterioration, and the threads don't seize.
 
mags orings are fine with petroleum based lubes.In fact that what mag recomends.All diving lights and surefire,inova,fenix etc use silicone based lube.
 
Wait, please explain this to me. If you put a bit of lubricant on the threads of your maglite you can increase output? This is fascinating. I have a mag 2AA LED. Should I grease up the threads?
 
Hi BenchmadeBoy,
I have never seen any output increase from greasing threads. I have seen output decrease on some of my old, unregulated lights when the threads get very dirty and prevented proper electrical contact. I presume this is what Buck268 was experiencing: a light that had been operating on reduced output and was finally back to full output after a cleaning/greasing.

I don't say all that to discourage proper care of the threads/o-rings, but rather to say that you shouldn't expect any miracles.

rycen,
I stand corrected. I looked at a Mag manual and see that you are right: they recommend petroleum based lube in their literature.
 
Actually my threads were just fine, but I think the silcone grease conducts better than the hoppes oil or something. Its not a huge difference, but it is a difference.
 
Buck268 said:
Some simple dielectric grease down on the end cap, since those threads are conductive surfaces
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Buck268 said:
I think the silcone grease conducts better
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Emphasis added, because I'm not following.
www.tfd.com said:
di·e·lec·tric
(d-lktrk)
n.
A nonconductor of electricity, especially a substance with electrical conductivity of less than a millionth (10^-6) of a siemens.
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By its definition, dielectric grease does not conduct.
 
Try DC-4. Silicone based Dow Corning electrical insulating compound. Won't deteriorate the o ring and it is not petroleum based.
 
I've used silicone on electrical contacts of various kinds for years .There's always enough metal to metal contact but the silicone lubes it to make assembly and disassembly easier.Down in 'corrosion central' [Padre Island TX] Lightolier solved the corrosion problem of light sockets with silicone grease.Works for high voltage stuff like amateur radio antennas etc.The silicone doesn't deteriorate like other lubes.
 
Sorry to bump a super old topic, but it comes up as a top result when you do a search for "maglite grease", so I thought I would add some helpful information for people trying to figure out what to use when greasing the threads on their maglite.

I called the number on maglite's website and I was lucky enough to be able to speak directly with one of their engineers. I asked whether it was safe to use silicone grease on the threads or if it would damage the o-rings. They told me that maglite actually puts a silicone based oil on the threads, so it should be totally fine to use silicone grease. I also asked if vaseline was safe to use, and they specifically responded by saying that petroleum based lubricants will not cause any harm to the o-rings (vaseline is "100% white petroleum" according to the label).

I also asked if there was any difference between the o-rings on older maglites and the newer ones, and they said "no". That means whether you have an old maglite or a new one, it should make no difference as to what is safe or unsafe to use to grease the threads.

So that makes it official. Everyone who says using vaseline is safe is correct. Silicone grease is also safe, and even though it's a lot more expensive, I imagine that it's probably better at keeping water out, since that's what is typically used for scuba gear and for plumbing.
 
Guy McVer said:
So that makes it official. Everyone who says using vaseline is safe is correct. Silicone grease is also safe, and even though it's a lot more expensive, I imagine that it's probably better at keeping water out, since that's what is typically used for scuba gear and for plumbing.
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Just get a tube of Superlube from your local hardware store, that's what I use in my ratchets fishing reels and flashlight threads & orings including my 10 or so Maglites.
 
Hickory n steel said:
Just get a tube of Superlube from your local hardware store, that's what I use in my ratchets fishing reels and flashlight threads & orings including my 10 or so Maglites.
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There are several different types of super lube. Many are silicone based. The multi-purpose variant is not silicone based. It's synthetic. There appears to be two varieties of this, going by the labels. One is the multi-purpose with syncolon, and the other is the multi-purpose with syncolon (ptfe). I couldn't find any information about whether these are safe to use on the maglite o-rings. In theory they should be safe, but I didn't want to risk it because the multi-purpose super lube has proprietary trade secret ingredients. This was the only type of super lube that they had at my local hardware store. I bought it not realizing that there were different varieties, and I ended up returning it when I realized that, and I couldn't find any information about whether I could use it safely on the maglite's o-rings or not.

Here is a link to the compatibility chart for super lube multi-purpose lube with syncolon. If you look at the chart, you can see that there are some types of rubber which are incompatible.
 
Hickory n steel said:
Well that's what I use and have had absolutely zero issues with it.
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Well, I'll just stick with what is verified as safe from the maglite engineer that I spoke with. Vaseline is cheap and readily available at any grocery store and probably most convenience stores as well. Silicone grease is more expensive, but a small tub of it is cheaper than a tube of super lube, it will probably last you forever as long as you're not using it for actual plumbing jobs, and it can be found at any hardware store.
 
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