Slide Lubricants

[Big Francis]

So for going on 30 years, I’ve used the 3-in-one oil for the 1st, 3rd, and 4th valve slide. It comes with the usual issues, it gets into the valves for the first few days and I have to oil my valves frequently.

When I went to the hardware store, they had this silicone stuff. Has anyone used it? I don’t think it’ll mess stuff up, and if it does, it should wash off, right?

If I’m a guinea pig for this, so be it.

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[bort2.0]

It'll be interesting to see what people say here. To be honest, I'm not sure if but very much of anything on my slides in the last 30 years. Maybe a little bit of whatever jar of grease came in the Miraphone care kits, but even then, that little jar of it has been plenty to last forever.

I told you I'm not a slide puller!

[Three Valves]

Silicone?? Na, don’t like the looks of that.

We are talking about slide lubricants aren’t we??

[Big Francis]

Silicone?? Na, don’t like the looks of that.

We are talking about slide lubricants aren’t we??

If it doesn’t work, I’ll ask Mark to move this to the bad ideas thread

[GC]

It is a silicone drip oil, according to the ads, but the quick-drying part makes me wonder.

[Big Francis]

It is a silicone drip oil, according to the ads, but the quick-drying part makes me wonder.

Me too, had me wondering if it wouldn’t feed into the valve casing.

[hup_d_dup]

I prefer a light grease to oli, on the theory that it is less likely to migrate to the valves.

In the past I have used silicone grease and it works fine, although no better than any number of other greases.

Hup

[Ace]

I've been playing since 1947, and the best slide lubricant I have used is by Weril. It is head and shoulders better than any product that I have experienced.

Ace

[KingTuba1241X]

Yamaha "lipstick tube" slide grease is always readily available at many music stores and works great. Putting silicone on slides sounds like a recipe for disaster and gummy valves.

[Big Francis]

Putting silicone on slides sounds like a recipe for disaster and gummy valves.

That’s probably the best way to pry money away from the in-house accountant to have Lee put a couple water keys in better spots and throw on the 45slp lead pipe.

[bort2.0]

"Babe, tuba's broke. Lemme get it fixed now or hear about how it's broke until it gets fixed...."

Mrs Bort is definitely the kind to say "Just fix it and shut up about it" :)

[tofu]

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[peterbas]

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[bloke]

The only real solution - to avoid grease migrating into valve oil (which is probably the cause of the overwhelming number of complaints about various brands of valve oil, whereas the oils themselves are likely innocent whipping boys) - is to perfectly align slides - both parallel and coplanar, and then fit the inside/outside slide tube pairs to each other as if they are pistons and casings. That way, valve oil can be used on slides as well as valves, so that migration doesn’t matter.
I’ve pointed this out quite a few times, but - when I point this out- it’s as if I typed it in white text, because no one wants to hear it.
I don’t put slide grease on my tubas.
Curiously, my instruments (all sorts of tubas made all over the world) are not sensitive to this, that, or the other brand of valve oil.

…btw, almost no factory instruments ($1000 - $40,000) are shipped with slide alignment as described above. It just takes too much time, as far as manufacturers are apparently concerned.

[JESimmons]

As a trombone player, I bought a big jar of anhydrous lanolin in 1967 for my tuning slides. Still using the same jar on my tuba today.

[hup_d_dup]

The only real solution . . . is to perfectly align slides - both parallel and coplanar, and then fit the inside/outside slide tube pairs to each other as if they are pistons and casings.

Pistons are prevented from departing the instrument by threaded caps. What keeps the slides from going their merry way?

Hup

[bort2.0]

The only real solution . . . is to perfectly align slides - both parallel and coplanar, and then fit the inside/outside slide tube pairs to each other as if they are pistons and casings.

Pistons are prevented from departing the instrument by threaded caps. What keeps the slides from going their merry way?

Hup

Easy. Just take the ends of the two tubes and bend them ever so slightly towards each other...

[Big Francis]

The only real solution - to avoid grease migrating into valve oil (which is probably the cause of the overwhelming number of complaints about various brands of valve oil, whereas the oils themselves are likely innocent whipping boys) - is to perfectly align slides - both parallel and coplanar, and then fit the inside/outside slide tube pairs to each other as if they are pistons and casings.

That's in the long-term plans, looking for a band-aid fix until then.

[bloke]

Adding a stop rod (as I’m not for much for those shoestring things) actually takes less time than aligning a slide.

(I don’t have “loose fitting“ slides on my instruments, but rather “precise fitting“. I will admit that - when left in a really warm room - I’ve had a slide slip out once or twice over the years, but - nearly always - two pairs of tubes offer just enough friction to prevent that from occurring.
I don’t “fit” slides with sandpaper and buffing wheels.)

The only real solution . . . is to perfectly align slides - both parallel and coplanar, and then fit the inside/outside slide tube pairs to each other as if they are pistons and casings.

Pistons are prevented from departing the instrument by threaded caps. What keeps the slides from going their merry way?

Hup

[the elephant]

I don't ever mix synthetic with dino lubes after a heinous experience in the early 1990s. I know that since Hetman released his stuff that this serious danger is not really a thing any longer, but once bitten, twice shy.

With that in mind, this past year, on my valves I have been using Bloke's favorite: odorless lamp oil. I love it. I have to use more of it more often, but my stuff is CLEAN and the small hangs I would get on occasion are slowly going away.

I use 3-in-ONE household oil on my first slides for years. I really like it for that.

I still grease my slides because I prefer how that works. I use the Schilke stuff but have been trying to come up with a "homebrew" grease that is closer to that stuff than to the "Guppy Lube" I have used for years. The GL dries out too fast, and it is super sensitive to temperature. If it is cold the slides nearly freeze in place, and if hot they can become too loose or the grease can ooze out. I don't ever want to need to mix the stuff up to go with the weather like is suggested by the old farts who love this stuff. (Trumpet players. Huh.) The Schilke is not anhydrous lanolin and mineral oil. I know the formula is out there, somewhere, but I never think to look it up.

I also use plain, old gray axle grease. It stinks, though, so I don't use it very often.

I tried Hetman's stuff. I tried the Monster Oil products. I used Spacefiller, Alisyn, Presto, etc. I guess I am not really a synthetic lube guy. Give me dead dinosaur products any day of the week. For the time being, I am liking the lamp oil and Schilke grease with 3-in-ONE on the slides I have to manipulate more than occasionally. These products work, do not create weird residues or buildups, do not stink, and lubricate things in a predictable manner. The two oils are also inexpensive. While the Schilke grease is not, I am trying to mix up my own version of it.