greasy question

[alcina]

Am about 1/2 through my little "complimentary" tube of lube that Olympus sent with the housing. Just wondering if I can use Sea&Sea's with the BLUE cap (for use with their blue silicone o-rings) as I have several tubes of this. Just can't remember if this will be OK or not...I am pretty sure I can't use the same stuff I use on my rubber o-rings (ie for my Amphibicos and Nik Vs) but unclear on this other stuff.

Man, I have too much stuff in my closet...

 

[justleesa]

A while back I asked a simular question. This is what I got as an answer:
http://www.scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=483954&postcount=2

 

[jcclink]

If you're talking about the main red o-rings, they do NOT need to be greased. The material is silicon based. Keep clean & moisten with water (a little spit goes along ways). I've worked with these things for 20+yrs in various underwater equipment & its a not problem. Besides, Oly with probably charge you $10 for 50 cents of grease. Over maintaining o-rings is not a good thing.
P.S. I just replaced the blue o-rings on my S&S YS90DX strobes with regular buna o-rings (the black ones) so I don't have to mess with their "blue cap" grease. The blue ones DO need a little grease. Black o-rings just need a good quality generic silicon grease like you can get at a hardware store.

 

[alcina]

Groovy...I clearly didn't use the search function correctly.

I don't think I am over doing things with my o-rings, I hope! After reading a lot lately on maintenance I think I have found a happy balance between paranoia and competence

don't suppose it is possible to replace the red ones with black "normal" ones in the future? Haven't had the Oly long enough to know, but the Sea & Sea blue o-rings seemed to stretch very easily and need replacing a lot...

 

[jcclink]

I found the blue o-rings to be lint magnets. Hard to keep em clean. The S&S service rep in Calif told me that S&S uses blue o-rings in units sold in the US. They use buna in units sold elsewhere. He had some bunas, but he told me the size & I bought my own at 30 cents each. Size G35 if you're interested. The Oly silicon o-rings are a little softer the the normal buna-n 70 durometer rings, but 50 durometer (softer) are probably available somewhere. No reason they couldn't be used.

 

[alcina]

I found the blue o-rings to be lint magnets. Hard to keep em clean. The S&S service rep in Calif told me that S&S uses blue o-rings in units sold in the US. They use buna in units sold elsewhere. He had some bunas, but he told me the size & I bought my own at 30 cents each. Size G35 if you're interested. The Oly silicon o-rings are a little softer the the normal buna-n 70 durometer rings, but 50 durometer (softer) are probably available somewhere. No reason they couldn't be used.

We hate the blue o-rings and have been repeatedly told by Sea & Sea here that we can't use black o-rings. Guess they just want to keep selling the blue ones and repairing the resulting floods. Thanks for the tip on the black ones - though we don't use the film cameras very often any more!

I'd like to find some buna (is that a type or brand?) o-rings for the Oly...at 30 cents each it's worthwhile! Might have to get them when I am back in the US this September...probably take me that long to source them anyway...

 

[jcclink]

Since all the Oly o-rings are metric (JIS) sizes, they might be easier to find there vs here. We're a bit metric challenged in the US. Although the main rings are large enough that a US size may work fine. I've never checked the size because I had Oly spares for my PT-015.