Gasoline as a projector oil substitute (!)

[Leo Enticknap]

Thanks to a call yesterday evening, I can see Frank's 1,1,1 in a spray bottle, and raise him.

I received a call out of the blue from someone who had been given my number by one of our customers. He had a pair of Norelco AAIIs, still used regularly. One of them had started to squeal and develop picture stability issues. I talked him through everything I could think of, eventually coming to "...and you are changing the oil regularly, I take it?" "Yes," was his reply, "but of course you can't get that oil any more, so we're using gas."

It turned out that a visiting tech had advised him, many years ago, that gasoline was a good substitute for the projector oil that was used until Kinoton and its distributors ceased supplying it. So every six months they'd been draining the mechanisms and giving them a fresh quart or so of 87 grade from the local Arco. "But you need a lubricant ... that stuff is likely abrasive!" was my reaction. Needless to say I advised him to drain the projectors ASAP and obtain some light compressor oil instead. I don't know what is causing his specific issue, but fear that the gas might have caused some mechanical damage. I advised him to find a local tech other than the one who came up with that bright idea. The site is 1,500 miles away, so it's not going to be me.

Oh, and there is also the small issue that with one spark in the mechanism compartment, there is enough air inside it to ensure that the entire projector goes up like the Hindenburg.

[Jim Cassedy]

Oh, and there is also the small issue that with one spark in the mechanism compartment
, there is enough air inside it to ensure that the entire projector goes up like the Hindenburg.

"Oh, the humanity" ......

[Frank Cox]

How was the movie?

It was a real blast!

Got a big bang out of it.

[Sam Chavez]

There's likely enough residual oil to dilute the gasoline. Not sure I buy this whole thing though. I would think it would leak all over the place around the bottom seals.

[Frank Angel]

And wouldn't the entire mechanism grind to a halt within an hour or so of running literally without a real lubricant? The gasoline would naturally thin out and break down whatever residual oil might have been left after the first time it was drained -- the gasoline acting as a detergent agent. And AAII's at that...criminal.

[Leo Enticknap]

From what I was told, one of them has almost ground to a halt.

I'm wondering if the person who recommended this meant just as a short-term method of flushing out gunk from old oil, and was misunderstood: fill with gas, run for an hour or two, drain, then replace with oil. Still, even if one of the projectors has been substantially damaged, they had a lucky escape compared to what could have happened.

[Thomas Piccione]

Pretty amazing they're still running at all. I'm sure the intermittent is chock full of metal shavings now though.

[John Eickhof]

thats pretty nasty! I used to service booths in some prisons and juvi jails, one time in central cal, i had a call that the picture was jumpy on the screen, went the next day, found the machine, a nice old century c model when running sounded like a machine gun! the int was really hammering, i could see liquid through the filthy sight glass, so i exchanged it with their spare and opened it up, it was full of sediment and rust! and an awful smell! it smelled like urine! so i checked the gallon can of century oil...yup! it was full of piss! i left a fresh can of oil and cleaned out both pump oilers...i took the intto my shop for rebuild, found out later when i brought the int back, that the kid running the booth was getting low on oil so he pissed in the can figuring any liquid was better than none! needless to say, he was transferred away probably because he was afraid to order a $10 can of oil vs a $500 intermittent rebuild and emergency call! by the way, urine isn't a very good lubricant! the cam pin was worn flat halfway through and the star segments were worn through the hardening and all shafts were galding badly!

[Randy Stankey]

Aw! That’s a real pisser!

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Actually, an equivalent synthetic oil is fairly readily available for DP-70's in 5 gallon quantities. Used to use LaVezzi oil in all the 70's I maintained roughly 50 of them and they had an oil change once a year. Nothing ever wore out except gate bands.

[Stefan Scholz]

Even any SAE 30 lawn mower oil is a good oil in AAs, and HPL 22 or 33 hydraulic oil is available everywhere. That's basicly what belongs in these mechs. A lightweight single range without additives. Tellus 33 was original.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Even any SAE 30 lawn mower oil is a good oil in AAs, and HPL 22 or 33 hydraulic oil is available everywhere. That's basicly what belongs in these mechs. A lightweight single range without additives. Tellus 33 was original.

In the case of the projectors I serviced, they only ran 35mm, but for 12 or more hours a day. Using synthetic kept doing oil changes to yearly. The oil filter and magnet also had far less crud on it as well.

[Emiel de Jong]

It turned out that a visiting tech had advised him, many years ago, that gasoline was a good substitute for the projector oil that was used until Kinoton and its distributors ceased supplying it. So every six months they'd been draining the mechanisms and giving them a fresh quart or so of 87 grade from the local Arco.

Actually, I have no problem at all believing that morons who make this happen do exist. But I think it's almost unbelievable the mechanisms even survived an hour running this way. (I am not that curious though that I want to try some real myth busting here...) Maybe those repeated 6 months refills without damage were just a story invented by this person to justify his much more recent stupid actions?

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

Well there is one way that gas would work in the mech....if they used motorcycle 2 stroke premix oil with it. My 2006 YZ 125 mx bike runs a 40:1 ratio of gas to Yamalube 2R which is pretty slippery and about 30-40 weight before mixed with the gas.

But that still doesn't eliminate the explosion/fire hazards.

I can see how my premix would make a good very short term cleaning "lube" to use on a machine that has sat for a long time, but I would only do it in a very well ventilated place, and run the machine only fast enough to let the oil pump do its thing, never at full speed and whilst running a feature. In fact, I used to save my "expired" premix to use as a solvent for rebuilds.

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

thats pretty nasty! I used to service booths in some prisons and juvi jails, one time in central cal, i had a call that the picture was jumpy on the screen, went the next day, found the machine, a nice old century c model when running sounded like a machine gun! the int was really hammering, i could see liquid through the filthy sight glass, so i exchanged it with their spare and opened it up, it was full of sediment and rust! and an awful smell! it smelled like urine! so i checked the gallon can of century oil...yup! it was full of piss! i left a fresh can of oil and cleaned out both pump oilers...i took the intto my shop for rebuild, found out later when i brought the int back, that the kid running the booth was getting low on oil so he pissed in the can figuring any liquid was better than none! needless to say, he was transferred away probably because he was afraid to order a $10 can of oil vs a $500 intermittent rebuild and emergency call! by the way, urine isn't a very good lubricant! the cam pin was worn flat halfway through and the star segments were worn through the hardening and all shafts were galding badly!

Being as that was a juvie facility/prison, I am surprised that another bodily fluid wasn't used....