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Graphite is your friend!!! Tip for DZ 1000 switch machine

John C.John C.OGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBER

VALUABLE TIP
DZ1000 Switch Machine
Over the course of these past 12 years, some of my DZ1000 switch machines have begun to FAIL to throw the switch points to one side or the other completely.

My first thought was and is the "U" channel in which the manual throw slides is/was a poor design and that was the cause of machine not completely throwing the points in one direction or the other.

My second thought is the plastic parts had warped over the years.

Finally, and I mean FINALLY, the thought occurred to me to lubricate the "U" channel of the DZ1000 with a very fine graphite (look at image).

An amazing thing happened! The points that wouldn't throw "pop!" Very LOUDLY as now after graphite the DZ1000 functions as well as brand new!

The last thing to know is: Put on plastic gloves because if you don't your fingers will be coated in black graphite and it will transfer to anything you touch. Guess how I know?

Hope this may help many of you resolve this issue I had been experiencing for a long while. My DZ1000s work like brand new!!!

Fine graphite is your friend in maintaining peak efficiency for your DZ1000s.

Sharing my "Eureka!" Moment.



20231005_175350

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M MannyrockOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBER

I have used the same dry graphite product as the OP has shown, on several small mechanical items.

The problem is:  This graphite is a fine powder, and over time, it wants to "migrate" everywhere.

I don't believe it is intended to be a lubricant grease for mechanical switches for electrical devices.   

That is what graphite grease and other conductive greases are for.

Mannyrock

Dennis-LaRockDennis-LaRockOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBERDIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

I use a bit of the powdered in the dimple of the bulb for the 394 Beacon... she won't spin without it.

Table of Resistivity and Conductivity at 20°C

Materialρ (Ω•m) at 20 °C
Resistivity		σ (S/m) at 20 °C
Conductivity
Silver1.59×10−86.30×107
Copper1.68×10−85.96×107
Annealed copper1.72×10−85.80×107
Gold2.44×10−84.10×107
Aluminum2.82×10−83.5×107
Calcium3.36×10−82.98×107
Tungsten5.60×10−81.79×107
Zinc5.90×10−81.69×107
Nickel6.99×10−81.43×107
Lithium9.28×10−81.08×107
Iron1.0×10−71.00×107
Platinum1.06×10−79.43×106
Tin1.09×10−79.17×106
Carbon steel(1010)1.43×10−7
Lead2.2×10−74.55×106
Titanium4.20×10−72.38×106
Grain oriented electrical steel4.60×10−72.17×106
Manganin4.82×10−72.07×106
Constantan4.9×10−72.04×106
Stainless steel6.9×10−71.45×106
Mercury9.8×10−71.02×106
Nichrome1.10×10−69.09×105
GaAs5×10−7 to 10×10−35×10−8 to 103
Carbon (amorphous)5×10−4 to 8×10−41.25 to 2×103
Carbon (graphite)2.5×10−6 to 5.0×10−6 //basal plane
3.0×10−3 ⊥basal plane		2 to 3×105 //basal plane
3.3×102 ⊥basal plane
Carbon (diamond)1×1012~10−13
Germanium4.6×10−12.17
Sea water2×10−14.8
Drinking water2×101 to 2×1035×10−4 to 5×10−2
Silicon6.40×1021.56×10−3
Wood (damp)1×103 to 410−4 to 10-3
Deionized water1.8×1055.5×10−6
Glass10×1010 to 10×101410−11 to 10−15
Hard rubber1×101310−14
Wood (oven dry)1×1014 to 1610−16 to 10-14
Sulfur1×101510−16
Air1.3×1016 to 3.3×10163×10−15 to 8×10−15
Paraffin wax1×101710−18
Fused quartz7.5×10171.3×10−18
PET10×102010−21
Teflon10×1022 to 10×102410−25 to 10−23
Last edited by Dennis-LaRock
TS Ted SOGR Forum Member DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

So bottom line, it appears to be a conductor, albeit not as good a conductor as common metals.  To further extrapolate, if it gets somewhere that it doesn't belong, it might cause a short circuit.

Packed away somewhere, I have Ross switches with some flavor of the DZ switch machines.  Does the product manual say anything about lubricating them, what or what not to use?  I would hate to squirt something into a switch, and then later have to remove that switch from the layout in order to thoroughly vacuum or clean out the carbon.

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