Compass Oil?

[JamesBon92007]

My old Ikelite compass (c1980) suddenly lost most of the oil that's supposed to be inside the case. I don't see where it was leaking from but didn't take it apart all the way yet. Anyone know what kind of oil I should put back into it? This, of course, assumes that I find the leak and can reseal it.

I also have another old compass and the oil turned so dark it's difficult to see the needle so I don't want to use whatever kind of oil that one has ;-)

I was looking at my hiking compass and I can't see any reason why it can't be used underwater. It's oil-filled and has a rotating bezel.

 

[LittleGoat]

Super deep tec divers fill their lights and the like with mineral oil. I wouldn't see why that would hurt your compass.

 

[USCScubaboy]

I found these through google.
repairing Suunto SK7
Aloha Shore Divers - SK7 Compass module repair

He doesn't say whether it ended up working or not. If you do end up fixing yours, let us know how it went.

 

[JamesBon92007]

Thanks for the link. That's pretty much exactly how I was going to go about it--first repair it and make it airtight and then make a hole to fill it. Too bad they didn't follow up with the results. Plus he kept refering to Weld-On #16 as #6. Not a problem for me cause I'm familiar with the stuff but it might cause confusion for someone who isn't.

On my Ikelight there is a crack all along the back edge just above the strap. No wonder it seemed so sudden. There is no oily residue anywhere and no odor of any kind that I can detect so I really don't know what they may have filled it with. Does mineral oil have an odor? Whatever I use needs to be something that won't dissolve the glow-in-the-dark paint that's inside.

On closer examination my other compass with the dark oil may in fact have discolored plastic. When I took it apart it became more apparent. It's a Dacor. Not only that but the part that points North is blue. That would confuse the hell out of me. This could very well be what caused their downfall--nobody could find their way back to the dive shop to buy more Dacor gear cause they were headed South instead of North.

 

[LittleGoat]

Does mineral oil have an odor?

I'm not sure. It might if it was in a Baby Oil form. The intertubes is failing my search to find out though...

 

[JamesBon92007]

Right now I'm in the assembly stages and plan on using Ultra-Pure Lamp Oil. I just happen to have some on hand and don't have any mineral oil. Since the materials I'm using are not acrylic I'm not using Weld-On which is an acrylic solvent/adhesive. Instead I'm using Crafter's Goop which appears to be some kind of polyurathane bond type glue. I think it will stick well to the materials I'm using and will probably seal well and hold up to the lamp oil. We'll see. I poured some in the compass dome and left it for several hours and at least it did not seem to harm the glow-in-the-dark paint that marks the points of the compass.

 

[redacted]

You can fill it with K-Y Jelly, but the needle won't point north any more.

 

[JamesBon92007]

You can fill it with K-Y Jelly, but the needle won't point north any more.

That would probably work on the Dacor compass--it points South now so maybe it would get it to point North instead.

 

[JamesBon92007]

OK, so far so good. I drilled a hole just big enough for a hypodermic needle and filled it with the lamp oil. I sealed the hole with five-minute epoxy. The epoxy sunk in a little so I added some more before it set up. After it set up there was still a slight depression so I mixed up a little more and added it. I ended up with a small bubble (about 1/8" diameter) but when I tried to get rid of it it kept moving away from the hypodermic needle so I just left it. I could not see how it would effect the function of the compass, plus it might be fun to watch it get smaller as depth increases. After two hours in the test tank (4' deep above-ground swimming pool) the bubble was about half the size. After five hours the bubble was gone. This makes me wonder if the bubble will reappear after it decompresses. The compass spent the night in a bucket of water and seems to be just fine. I'll try leaving it in direct sunlight for a couple of hours and, if it holds up, I'll consider the job done. If for some reason it does not then I'll report back.

 

[LittleGoat]

The bubble disappearing might be due to 5-min epoxy being permeable. It will slowly leak oil/introduce water into the compass. It could also be that the air is diffusing into the oil as well... My two cents.