Silicone grease for O-rings

Does anyone know if the Nikonos o-ring grease can be used for the O-ring on the Oly PT-010? I remember that the Olympus instructions warned not to use the o-ring grease for other PT housings; what's the difference between the different types of grease?

Thanks!

Ben

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http://www.pbase.com/benkao

Oring greases come in many "flavors". Of the most sensative to the type of lubricant used (in diving) are silicone orings (blue orings from Sea&Sea). I am still trying to figure out what Sea&Sea uses as their lube as their blue orings are silicone or fluorosilicone. Silicone orings are not made to be used with petrolium products at all or the material will break down whereas fluorosilicone orings can be used with SOME petrolium products. Silicone are designed to be used for extreme temperatures and where weathering and ozone are factors because they will stay plyable (not the case for scuba diving). The most common orings out there are Buna-N (the balck ones). I wish all housing/lighting manufacturers would use these instead of using special (silicone/fluorosilicone) orings that are more delicate and highly sensative to oils. The reason I think some companies are going with silicone is because it is more flexable so it has a better chance of sealing even if the oring has something on it (a hair, etc.) not to mention you have to buy the grea$e from them. Buna-N are very rugged and take a beating. As soon as I figure out the proper size I am going to switch all my exterior orings on my Sea&Sea strobes to Buna-N. BTW this made me think of a reason Sea&Sea might not want you to use NiMH batteries. I'll start another thread.

Buna-n compound can cause cracking with many types of plastic to explain why it can not always be used. Some lubricants cause "O" ring compounds to soften and or expand in size which seems like a reasonable reason to recommend a certain lubricant............

From hard experience I found that you always use the manufactures specific silcon grease with their O-rings

Ben,

I pondered a similar question a couple of months ago when I too was looking for a substitute for the not-so-easy to find Olympus PT-010 o-ring lubricant.

Trying to find out the chemical composition of some of the lubricants was like hacking into a Pentagon mainframe. So I took it upon myself to try out the one lubricant I thought would work (with insurance to back me up, of course). That being the Sea & Sea with the light-blue cap. This silicone grease is used on Sea & Sea's blue o-rings that are on the YS90DX strobes. These o-rings seem to be made of the same material as the PT-010.

It has now been over 3 months (~40+ dives) that I've been using this grease without any problems. I will add that I am very meticulous when it comes to inspecting my o-rings (magnifying glass and flash light even) and my o-ring looks as good as new.

My 2 cents.