PC hardware forum: WD40??????????

Possibly the answer is there in the 129 answers but it's one I know- WD40 stands for Water Displacement- the 40'th trial. Now the material is used for many, many other uses- but it is nice to know if you ever went through a water puddle and your car engine stalled- just spray WD-40 around your spark plugs.

And its good for relieving the pain of arthritis.

There is a factory near me which cans the product and many people whom work there use it for just that purpose. They spray it on the joints of thier fingures and rub it in. They claim it helps.

This is good stuff, it is like duct tape you can use it on everything and it works.

Never used it for that, but have used WD40 to cure countless electrical and mechanical problems.It even cured a TV set that had been rained on.

Sorry, you are wrong. WD-40 is a light oil in an aerosol (spray can) but it is not primarily meant for lubrication. It is a Water Displacing fluid ie. dries out electrics, hence the WD. The 40 stands for the number of efforts to get the formula correct. It does dry out and hence is really no good as a long term lubricant but is great for the electrics on your car, boat etc.

WD40, is an oil based product commonly used to prevent rust or simple lubrication like hindges, bolts, sliding parts, etc.. Similar products are LPV, Marvel oil, CRC, or Liquid Wrench. FYI -Orginally used to prevent rust on Atlas rockets/parts in storage. Hope this helps... -----Willy

I stand by my orginal post...

Long before became WD40 popular it was used as a rust preventor or "inhibiter" on stored rocket parts. Since these parts were and since usually a one time use, it became important to maintain thier integerty. It also didn't attack common componets at the time and upon evaporating its reside wasn't harmful or became a problem. It's use became so popular amongest the engineers it was later developed as it has become known for private use. Its orginal use wasn't as a lubricant but as I stated. Of course it has became a multi-purpose use since, whether it orginal chemical makeup is the same as that used for rocket protection I'm unsure of. -----Willy

When WD-40 appeared in the early '70s, we thought it would be great for drive motor lubrication of computer tape drives. It was for a few days. Then the shafts seized. What remained after the volitale agents were evaporated was approximately 70 weight oil according to our lab. I always judge if what I want to spray, over a long term, can tolerate 70 weight oil.

Got your point. You are absolutely correct. Thanks!

Works great as water displacer and as long term lube.
They used to (maybe still do) sell it much cheaper (per unit cost) in gallons. They also sell a refillable hand operated sprayer (at high cost) so I used leftover sprayers from household cleaners. They worked well for only about a day or two. The company tech support explained that WD40 causes plastic parts to swell, and kills the spraying action. they had to make a very special sprayer to work with WD40.

So be careful when using around plastics. The effect may not be good.(They don't seem to supply this warning).

Can't remember the brand, just saw it in TV shopping, I will tell you when I see it again, could be X-1R's, didn't try it though, as I said, they claim to be better than any lubricating brand in the market, but a claim is a claim and an advertisement is an advertisement. I am still using WD40 though and they had been used by NASA too. There are many new lubricant brands being advertised now, even X-1R's is a new product (correct me if i am wrong) and history will judge for their effectiveness. LOL.

You bunch of knuckleheads!! I read a little more than half of the replies. Nice history lessons and mode of action and applications, but nothing about the composition that answers the question "what is WD40..."

Give this a read:

Newsgroups: sci.chem
Subject: Re: WD 40 Ingredients
From: B.Hamilton@irl.cri.nz (Bruce Hamilton)
Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 10:18:38 +12

Well, I'll be a little crass and add to my post.

In article <...> B.Hamilton@irl.cri.nz (Bruce Hamilton) writes:
>The WD stands for Water Displacing. I haven't analysed it,( not commonly sold here ) but somebody (Professor Toraki? )squirted some down a GC/MS and confirmed the solvent was boiling around 150-200C and only contained a minor % of aromatics, which means it is either a narrow boiling range kerosine fraction, or a special narrow boiling range solvent like low aromatics white spirits.

It is listed as Stoddard Solvent - which is actually a low aromatics White Spirit. It would have a boiling range between 150C - 200C and an aromatics content below 20%. According to various sources, the typical liquid product contains:-

70% low aromatic white spirits ( stoddard solvent )
~20% lubricant base grade ( solvent de-waxed, paraffinic type )
10% of corrosion inhibitor ( some formulations use 2 inhibitors, normally they would only be present at low concentrations, so it's possible that the inhibitor could be something crude like an oil that produces a hard film with synthetic additives )
5% of wetting agent ( probably quite low concentration, other the formulation would emulsify some water which could affect theprotective film's durability and performance )
<5% of fragrance.

The aerosol versions adds 25% of LPG as propellant to the above( probably with less of the wetting agent to minimise foam )

My earlier suggestions aren't too different from the above.

Bruce Hamilton
=============================

WD 40 doesn't contain what you'd think of as oil.
Also in the UK I did some background study of WD 40 before using it in damp sticky piano mechanisms.

I had a letter from the manufacturers of the patented product when they were owned by Cadulac Chemicals in the 1970s They informed me that the product contained
Animal Waxes (that is Tallow)
Petroleum based waxes (rather like Vaseline)
All borne up in a 3 to 1 concentration of White Spirit.
This is like a turpentine substitute.

The turps does most of the Surfactant work displacing water and the waxes do the lubrication.

It was safe to use in Piano actions, on wood, cloth and brass pivot pins and didn't dissolve any of the old fashioned Scotch Glue, or Animal Glue.
The company said I should be careful to make sure I didn't use it on any Cold-moulded plastics and there aren't any of those used even in modern pianos.
The lubricant was used to free up sticky components that the wooden parts had swollen with moist air or damp conditions. It was very effective and had no long term side effects.

So I just thought I'd put in my two penny worth to let you know it doesn't contain oil. Or at least it didn't when the inventors started making it.
I think the US Navy invented it and they had 40 attempts at the right formula hence Water Displacer 40
Hope that doesn't all sound smug but I thought the record needed straightening.

Too fuss for nothing you knucklehead!

Just => @ http://www.globalstoresgroup.com/page/industrial-supplies/ctgy/lubricants-and-oils
and then click on MSDS WD40