Dry lubricants for floppy drives

[YMK]

I've been using Hoppe's and Remington dry lubricants on floppy drives with good results.

It's a teflon powder suspended in a solvent that flashes off.

Being completely dry, it stays put, won't attract dust and doesn't have the drag of grease.



I applied too much to the left drive, but it's harmless. The manual-inject drive nearly ejects the disk clear of the drive.

 

[KennyPowers]

I'll have to give that a try...I have a bunch of that Remington dry lube. Only used small amounts of white lithium grease on floppy drives before. I also have Hornady One-Shot that I use to clean and lube my reloader. It dries to a slick, non-tacky finish too, so it might work well.

 

[Fizzbinn]

My Mac 512k internal and external 400k floppy drives were totally locked up. The original grease in these totally turns to glue and I was not getting anywhere with IPA. This "Dry Lube" did the trick for me:

3-IN-ONE Lock Dry Lube

3-IN-ONE Lock Dry Lube

Loosen up with this premium lock lubricant, designed to unstick any lock you can’t get open.

3inone.com

After manually working the mechanism with floppy a dozen times or so and cleaning up the now flowing old grease with cotton buds both drives are working great!

 

[CodeProfessor]

Interesting, I use WD-40 Specialist Dirt and Dust Resistant Dry Lube Spray for my locks (I know it says WD-40, but I believe that is just the brand name). I will have to look into if it is comparable to what you are using.

Amazon.ca

Thanks for sharing!

 

[JDW]

Being completely dry, it stays put...

I guess the question is, "for how long"?

We know how long the wet stuff stays on — for decades until it hardens like a rock. Dry lube won't harden, and so long as it will truly stay in place for many years, it sounds like a great alternative to wet lubricants.