Problem with penetrating oil can

Anyone had problem with a certain well known make penetrating oil can newfangled spout ?

I used this previously very popular make new tin three times and the spout broke on it cheap plastic hinge. I am now left with a nearly full can.!!!! I hasten to add that I am not heavy handed by any means.

Why people have to re-design things and then get it hopelessly wrong is beyond me. I see from the certain make's website reviews, that I am not the only complainant.

Mike.

I used to buy War Dept 39+1 stuff in 2 or 4 quart cans and used a squeeze trigger bottle to apply it. This was less expensive than aerosol cans and avoided their nozzle / tube issues as you describe. Last few years have changed to "non solid handheld hex head fastener removal tool" initials L W brand penetrating oil which does a better job on rusty old junk and does not leave a nasty residue as the other does. Also their nozzle works!

I hate quizzes

I think he may be referring to a Water Displacer, not a penetrating oil. But only guessing, of course.

It’s not a quiz, just another post lacking information.

Hi Mike, take it back and get a replacement or a refund.

Regards Nick.

P.S. I'm not good at guessing games, but I've got a couple of WD40 ones that are no problem.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 12/04/2019 10:13:25

I think the manufactures and suppliers of the aerosol cans and nozzle systems, especially the ones containing liquids supposed to release seized threads have a policy of ensuring as much of the fluid as possible is wasted!

I find it very difficult to apply a small amount of lubricant or whatever just where its needed, no matter how cautiously I position the nozzle or squeeze the trigger, the stuff goes everywhere!

Ian P

Sparky refers to WD40. My latest can came with a hinged nozzle; in one position it sprays, in the other it directs the flow down a plastic tube. No longer sprays. Perhaps it's just too difficult. Old fashioned paraffin blow-lamps were temperamental too.

Another thread mentioned Selley's RP7 recently. It's Australia's answer to WD40 : I bet it doesn't spray properly either, even though all their cans are upside down. (Old jokes are the best.)

Interesting stuff WD40. Popular despite being mildly useless. Not a good penetrating oil, not a good waterproofer, not a good lubricant, not a good cutting fluid, not a good water repellent etc. I think it scores because it's the easiest spray-on option that can be tried on almost anything with some hope of success. I get through quite a lot...

Dave

1) Being an engineer, can you not drill the plastic fitting, or make a suitable fitting, to take the tube?

2) Buy a large can of WD40, (or AC90 from Cromwell Tools). Decant into a n ex household spray bottle, and be the Mister Muscle of the workshop!

Howard

I found another use for WD 40 in one of those hinged nozzle cans yesterday freeing off Phillips head wood screws on the window frame of a potting shed that has been weathering for several years.

They were run up hard by a power drill on the assembly line and I had hell's own job shifting them with a hand held screwdriver without camming out all the time. A good blast of this stuff softened the grip in the timber and the job suddenly became a whole lot easier. Powered access to reverse them out was not possible because of the roof overhang on the structure.

I commend it as a dodge that saved my day

Brian

I use brake cleaner pressure pot dispensers. They are about £15 each and last for years.

Re: the comments regarding WD40 and it’s non performance at a multitude of tasks, I believe that it was originally developed as a protection that was liberally dispensed on both missiles and helicopters, the idea was that if the equipment was liberally doused in WD40 then it would afford protection in the harsh environments that these equipments operated in. If you have ever worked on said equipments then you would find that the WD40 had penetrated to every available crevice which was it was designed to do and thereby thwarted corrosion forming. So it may be mediocre in performing the tasks that it is currently sold for but it was extremely good at the function it was primarily designed for.

Dave W

To clear up an earlier post I was referring to an aerosol type can.

I contacted the manufacturer and to give them a bit of credit,they contacted me by email and they then sent a courier to pick up the offending can and nozzle and told me they will send another can. I did email back and said "Please can you send can with the simple press action", so we live in hope. I will probably revert to a simple kitchen spray and use diesel fuel, which has worked well for me in the past.

Mike.

Are we now going to guess which supermarket garage forecourt you will buy the diesel from?

I will start it off-- "a well known one that sell own brand beans that taste awful"

There you are . Now we all know

Edited By Sam Longley 1 on 12/04/2019 20:44:45

I have in the past had the fold out nozzle leak and thats why i keep the good ones as it is easy to change them over , the old style nozzle uses a thicker valve spigot so i drill out the hole for this on the fold out type nozzle to fit . The most economical way to buy the stuff is the 5 lt bottle then use one of those little trigger pump bottles to apply it , you can also fit the tube off the can into the end of the trigger bottle nozzle if you drill the hole out in the nozzle .

One interesting thing with WD40 and RP7 i discovered recently while testing various fluids as cutting fluid for parting off steel , WD40 works well if you keep the fluid dripping in there fairly constantly and half way through one parting operation using WD40 on steel i switched to RP7 and the blade seized instantly - why I don’t know and probably never will .

Another point raised in the reviews about the same product on their website, was that the propellant ran out long before the liquid, so that half a tin was wasted. Be interesting to see if they eventually revert to the old type nozzle.

Mike.

Interesting how the general public still use a product that was banned by the MoD back in the nineties.

Mind you, the product they replaced it with - PX24, is about as much use as a chocolate fireguard.

Regards

FMES - The MoD's ban may have been for technical reasons not connected with anything that would worry "the general public".

WD-40 is what the initials mean: "Water Dispersant (or Displacer?)". Despite the waffle on its cans, that is its best purpose, but you can also use it as an oil-dispersant for cleaning, .e.g miniature locos after running them, and as a cutting lubricant for aluminium. It is not very effective as a lubricant, nor as a penetrating-oil.

Plus-Gas is a long-established, well-tried penetrating oil. That is what is made for, nothing else.

It's better to buy materials like these in bulk tins rather than spray cans, but for covering areas you can use them in a salvaged, manual aerosol sprayer bought wrapped around a kitchen cleanser. (NB: The "aerosol" is the spray, not the spraying method!).

For point application, to minimise waste use a small paint-brush, wooden spill, the ink-tube from an exhausted ball-point pen (as a pipette), or similar. I've even used a twig.

Slightly digressing, the kitchen and bathroom also supplies potentially useful pumps, on liquid-soap bottles, that will draw off liquids in 5-litre tins whose spouts are designed to spread more of their contents over the surroundings as they pour into the container you use with the brush!

Old brake fluid works quite well at penetrating.

Got a good result from WD 40 co., they sent a couple of new aerosols and two days later, another courier dropped three more off !! So it does pay to have a moan now and then.

Mike.

I used WD 40 for years - until I discovered GT85 which is much better in general.. Mainly used by motor bike and cycling enthusiast. Still has the traditional spray and push-in tube arrangements. Halfords sell it and so do quite a few on-line sellers.

Eric