Lubricant For Portescap gear boxes.

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triumph3
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Lubricant For Portescap gear boxes.

Postby triumph3 » Mon Jan 10, 2022 3:34 pm

I have just acquired a loco and chassis and the chassis was covered in grot and fluff. I used contact cleaner to get rid of the gunk but I now need to re lubricate the Portescap gearbox. What lubricant does every one recommend? I have some Labelle 106 which says plastic compatible. Is This OK to use?

IMG_4383.JPG

David
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Philip Hall
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Re: Lubricant For Portescap gear boxes.

Postby Philip Hall » Mon Jan 10, 2022 5:33 pm

I still have a little phial of genuine Portescap red lubricant, but is now a little thick. Most recently on a cleaned-out Portescap I used my usual stuff, Pronatur PTFE grease which I got a very long time ago from Branchlines - in Andy Mullins' day - which tells you how long ago. I use this sparingly on all gears and it doesn't seem to thicken up at all.

Philip

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Winander
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Re: Lubricant For Portescap gear boxes.

Postby Winander » Mon Jan 10, 2022 7:36 pm

Philip Hall wrote:I used my usual stuff, Pronatur PTFE grease which I got a very long time ago from Branchlines

Philip,

Does this look like the same stuff?
https://sloughrc.com/pronatur-triflow-grease.html
It's in a different container here.
https://www.activescalemodels.co.uk/trf ... grease-50g
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martin goodall
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Re: Lubricant For Portescap gear boxes.

Postby martin goodall » Mon Jan 10, 2022 7:56 pm

I think LaBelle 102 is the recommended lubricant for Portescaps. It now contains PTFE, but I am not aware that this is any threat to plastics (unless anyone knows better).

It is available from Walthers stockists (who sell North American models and kits).

I bought a couple of tubes from a stockist in Slough a couple of years ago.

As others have discovered, Portescap gearboxes will eventually seize up solid. It is then necessary to clean out the solidified grease (with IPA), and relubricate with LaBelle 102.

Philip Hall
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Re: Lubricant For Portescap gear boxes.

Postby Philip Hall » Tue Jan 11, 2022 12:58 am

Richard,

Yes, that's it in your first link. I have found it excellent. Nice to know it's still available, although I still have plenty. My most recent use was to lubricate a pulley wheel bearing on the Unimat!

Philip

davebradwell
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Re: Lubricant For Portescap gear boxes.

Postby davebradwell » Tue Jan 11, 2022 9:30 am

Nearly all the whining from these 'boxes comes from the bevel gears and it's often possible to improve the mesh. The motor shaft must be pointing at exaclty the centre of the first shaft and the 2 screws on the left allow this to be out of line. Deepening the mesh can produce an improvement but it's easily overdone and the faces of the gears should match. If it's run a lot while out of alignment then the teeth will be distorted and there's not a lot you can do.

All in all a High Level is very much quieter and in particular doesn't whine.

DaveB

martin goodall
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Re: Lubricant For Portescap gear boxes.

Postby martin goodall » Tue Jan 11, 2022 3:48 pm

Whining from Portescap gearboxes seems to have been a problem with later production, but if you bought the earlier ones it does not seem to be such a problem.

decauville1126
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Re: Lubricant For Portescap gear boxes.

Postby decauville1126 » Sat Jan 15, 2022 11:20 am

Like others I remove the gearboxes, soak in ipa (not beer!) and relubricate sparingly with TriFlow, which is a ptfe plastic-friendly lubricant.

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stephenfreeman
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Re: Lubricant For Portescap gear boxes.

Postby stephenfreeman » Sat Jan 15, 2022 2:32 pm

decauville1126 wrote:Like others I remove the gearboxes, soak in ipa (not beer!) and relubricate sparingly with TriFlow, which is a ptfe plastic-friendly lubricant.

My lubricant of choice in such matters is Tri-Flow Grease with Teflon, is this the same? It is quite some years since I purchased some at a show, I think from Modelex, so not sure on current availability. Good stuff though

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grovenor-2685
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Re: Lubricant For Portescap gear boxes.

Postby grovenor-2685 » Sat Jan 15, 2022 3:34 pm

Regards
Keith
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Paul Townsend
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Re: Lubricant For Portescap gear boxes.

Postby Paul Townsend » Sat Jan 15, 2022 5:03 pm

grovenor-2685 wrote:Link was given above, https://www.scalefour.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=88672#p88566

But those suppliers and all others I tried in UK have no stock.
It can be got from USA but postage !!!

Labelle 102 is available on EBay


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