Lubin' with LUBE

[PrecisionPine]

I know that you can cut grooves into your axles to "store" graphite and cut down on surface area that the wheel bore touches, but is that advisable when you use Nyeoil II?

Would that slow the car down have those groves with a liquid lube?

[glow=red,2,300]LUBE-A-RAMA!![/glow]

[WarpSpeedINC]

We like grooved, and have used them with most of the liquid type lubes. This may go against the theory behind a liquid type, but remember, we are working with very little loading.
Warp Speed

[PrecisionPine]

So is the major principle behind the grooves to cut down on surface area the bore touches?

Or is it to "store" lube?

[WarpSpeedINC]

Surface area is the first concern, the resevoir for lube would only pertain to graphite.
It has been said that it may hinder performance with graphite, because the lube in the resevoir isn't "ran in". But I would imagine it would be better, especialy with the finer graphite available today.
Warp Speed

[2kids10horses]

So, Warp, I have a set of your Inertia-Lites. But, I have to use dry lube. So sayeth the Council rules. So, are you recommending I try grooved and graphite? Last year I used smooth and graphite.

The Hob-e-Lube I used last year was very gritty. This year I'm planning on using Max's Tube-o-Lube since he claims it's as fast as NyOil.

By the way, the Intertia-Lites are beautiful! They are legal at our Council. Our rules state that the tread has to be flat. A V or H profile wheel is prohibited. And, we have to have all 4 down. No three wheeling.

[woodenwonder]

Just my 2 cents on Lubes and grooved versus ungrooved axles. members.aol.com/StanDCmr/pwfrictn.htm

Take it for what's worth but anyway you slice it it clearly shows that grooves are better for liquid and non grooved are better for graphite. The exception is threaded hubs seem to be a little better with graphite than unthreaded hubs on grooved axles. I know these results are not a "be all end all" to the debate. Actually when I did them over 2 years ago I hoped that someone else would follow my lead and do testing with the same type apparatus that Stan describes. That way my results would either be verified or show me the error of my ways. But considering the amount of time I have invested it seems that no one else wants to do it. Although Max-V did do some similar testing that seemed to somewhat verify my results.
One side note: The results are not complete per what I said I was going to do in the testing statement. I had intended to finish them and someday I still may. But now I am so busy trying to find the Silver Bullet for WIRL that I don't have time to document what don't work. Also the results clearly show that Nyoil II is superior to Hob-E-Lube but I have never been able to achieve success with it on the track. At Wirl I have used Hob-E-Lube, 2 other types of graphite, Nyoil II, Silicone, Dry PTFE sprays, gun oils, O-ring lubes, and about $150 worth of other various multi-purpose and specialized lubes. It seems that no matter what I use I always finish about the same place with respect to the other cars. I guess what I am trying to say is that no matter what lube you use if everything else is not perfect the lube you choose will not have that big of an impact on the outcome. (and I must be missing something since I always finish in the same place)

[Pinewood Daddy]

2kids10horses said:

The Hob-e-Lube I used last year was very gritty. This year I'm planning on using Max's Tube-o-Lube since he claims it's as fast as NyOil.

I had the same experience. Twice, as the car was rolling down the track, I heard a strange noise and actually saw the car hesitate!!!!! My wife saw it once, so I wasn't hallucinating. I threw the tube away and bought another, which seemed a bit better. I've since bought MaxV's Tube-O-Lube, but haven't tried it yet.

[PrecisionPine]

woodenwonder said:

Just my 2 cents on Lubes and grooved versus ungrooved axles. members.aol.com/StanDCmr/pwfrictn.htm

Take it for what's worth but anyway you slice it it clearly shows that grooves are better for liquid and non grooved are better for graphite. The exception is threaded hubs seem to be a little better with graphite than unthreaded hubs on grooved axles.)

So Barga, what do you mean by threaded hubs?

[woodenwonder]

Threaded hubs are when you run a tap through them which puts internal threads in them. Just like the threads in a nut. This reduces surface area the same as grooving an axle would. But if you don't run the tap through perfectly parallel then you can do more harm than good. I have ruined numerous wheels by doing this. Another thought is to use right hand thread taps for left side wheels and left hand thread tap for right side wheels. The theory is that then the wheels would essentialy try to screw theirselves away from the car. Don't know how much I buy in to that theory but that is how I have always done it. Good Luck!