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Oil for use in pneumatic spearguns

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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My father could not dive deeper than 12 meters and I never hunted with that gun. 95% of hunted fish was mullet in 4 meters of water. And usually when they hunt Tuna the depth is 300-3000! he got lucky to get that gun back!
Yes, just as well not over the Marianas Trench!
 
Speaking of not so wimpy hand pumps here is a high pressure pump from China which appears to be a clone of the Swedish FX high pressure pumps that use 3 concentric pumping tubes to reach 3000 psi. A lot cheaper in terms of price, but their durability is unknown, however may be OK for pressurizing a "Black Sea" and other high pressure hydropneumatic guns as they require about 100 bar or 1,500 psi. The innermost pump barrel in a thin rod pushing into a close fitting bore which makes such high pressures possible, albeit with a lot of pump strokes and using all your body weight on the pump handle.


This is the patent diagram for the FX pump and was no doubt eagerly read by the engineers at SMACO!
FX High Pressure hand pump patent.jpg
 
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The Chinese economy is built on it, although they can generate their own improvements and then devote any R&D to building on the work already done by others. They are selling these high pressure pumps for about one third to a quarter of the price of the Swedish FX pumps and partly that is due to the latter's distributors selling to a captive market that has no other options. For example I looked at buying a FX pump here from the only distributor who was based at some remote rural location in the middle of nowhere. The FX pump was going to cost me more than a gun and all the usual accessories, so I passed up on it.

Shipping from the USA where there were more FX hand pump sellers was very expensive and was not an option. In fact US shipping is generally expensive as it is from Italy making shipping the major cost component for some items.
 
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I ordered and received one of these SMACO hand pumps which was delivered today. All up cost was 120 bucks including shipping and taxes. In the package you receive a bunch of white plug type disposable filters which I guess are to take care of the filtering requirements for breathable air, however I have no intention of using it for air cylinders as I wanted it to pump up my hydropneumatic guns. They use start pressures 80 bar and up to about 110 bar (small diameter inner barrels) and it should be much easier using a hand pump designed for 200 bar. You still do the same amount of work, but with much fewer pump strokes because these pumps use 3 stage compression and are two-way acting. The usual hand pumps supplied with pneumatic guns are usually good to 40 bar, but a lot depends on the dead space with the pump connected to the gun as the pump stroke swept volume divided by the dead space volume determines the pump's maximum compression ratio.
 
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This is the operating leaflet that comes with the pump. Very tiny writing, but hopefully it is legible.
SMACO High Pressure Pump A.jpg
SMACO High Pressure Pump B.jpg

This was slightly crushed inside the package, but I put it under a heavy book for a week to flatten it out, still has a few creases in it which show up on a scan.
 
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My homemade pump has an almost zero dead space :) And I also have a great success with the silicone grease. Will never ever touch a fork oil! It is a poor lubricant since it does not stay in one place. By the way an o-ring on Cyrano piston (11 mm) is a standard 011 USA size - cheap and common!
 
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My homemade pump has an almost zero dead space :) And I also have a great success with the silicone grease. Will never ever touch a fork oil! It is a poor lubricant since it does not stay in one place. By the way an o-ring on Cyrano piston (11 mm) is a standard 011 USA size - cheap and common!
You need the lubricant to move around inside the gun; "oleo-pneumatic" is what pneumatic guns have been from the very beginning, but common usage discards the oleo and we just say pneumatic. The rubber tube boundary hydropneumatic guns are the only ones that don't use oil. Read the patents to find out.
 
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You need the lubricant to move around inside the gun; "oleo-pneumatic" is what pneumatic guns have been from the very beginning, but common usage discards the oleo and we just say pneumatic. The rubber tube boundary hydropneumatic guns are the only ones that don't use oil. Read the patents to find out.
Look, I am trying to help you. You never used the silicone lubricant and I have - on three guns. It performed way better than the stuff you bought. I had severe issues with the fork oil. I use a silicon spray that turns into powder when it dries on the inner barrel and I use silicone grease an all o-rings. I also use the same approach on my pump that i MADE and DESIGNED myself instead of the Cyrano-supplied garbage that costs 7 Euros to the wholesaler. You like to argue instead of learning. You told me the last time that the silicone grease destroys o-rings when modern viton and buna o-rings are even impervious to the motor oil, let alone the silicone grease that is safe to eat. It is used to lubricate machinery in the food industry. Liquid lubrication is used when it can circulate and thus reach all places it needs to go, solid lubrication is more expensive and needs to be re-applied but in between re-applications it is superior to a low-viscosity liquid. Anyway, I am extremely glad that I got rid of that fork oil garbage that does not lubricate properly.
 
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Look, I am trying to help you. You never used the silicone lubricant and I have - on three guns. It performed way better than the stuff you bought. I had severe issues with the fork oil. I use a silicon spray that turns into powder when it dries on the inner barrel and I use silicone grease an all o-rings. I also use the same approach on my pump that i MADE and DESIGNED myself instead of the Cyrano-supplied garbage that costs 7 Euros to the wholesaler. You like to argue instead of learning. You told me the last time that the silicone grease destroys o-rings when modern viton and buna o-rings are even impervious to the motor oil, let alone the silicone grease that is safe to eat. It is used to lubricate machinery in the food industry. Liquid lubrication is used when it can circulate and thus reach all places it needs to go, solid lubrication is more expensive and needs to be re-applied but in between re-applications it is superior to a low-viscosity liquid. Anyway, I am extremely glad that I got rid of that fork oil garbage that does not lubricate properly.

There is a good Russian proverb: To teach a fool - Heal the Dead! Silicone grease does not spoil the O-rings without movement and is suitable for fixed seals! When silicone grease crystallizes, the O-rings involved in the movement fail due to the lack of a lubricating effect! ATP liquid lubricant gives a guarantee of sliding of the O-rings of the pistons and the correct operation of the valves! Learning is never too late!
 
There is a good Russian proverb: To teach a fool - Heal the Dead! Silicone grease does not spoil the O-rings without movement and is suitable for fixed seals! When silicone grease crystallizes, the O-rings involved in the movement fail due to the lack of a lubricating effect! ATP liquid lubricant gives a guarantee of sliding of the O-rings of the pistons and the correct operation of the valves! Learning is never too late!
Never heard of such a proverb - you made the shit up. "silicone grease crystallizes" - get medical help, dude. Seriously. It NEVER DOES. Anyway, I am out, can not spend time on stubborn fools
 
live with it
 

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I used silicone on my Poseidon Cyklon regulator second stage and it affected the diaphragm, but there are different silicone products in terms of sprays and greases. I use silicone grease on new "O" rings that I am installing, but I never had a problem with fork oil and have been using these guns for many decades, consequently I have nothing to learn from you. Fork oil has anti-corrosive properties, that is why it is used in motorcycle front suspensions, i.e. the forks.
 
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Here is a long thread on Italian forum about pneumatic lubrication: https://pescasubapnea.forumfree.it/?t=75050110
I would say they prefer silicon oil...? I had been using fork oil for years without problem. Then once, when I sold may Cyrano 1100 the guy who bought it asked me about the oil in the speargun because the O-ring were in very bad condition, like decomposing. I told him that it was fork oil... He haven't used the speargun for months after he received it.. I still do not know what was the problem...
 
Here is a long thread on Italian forum about pneumatic lubrication: https://pescasubapnea.forumfree.it/?t=75050110
I would say they prefer silicon oil...? I had been using fork oil for years without problem. Then once, when I sold may Cyrano 1100 the guy who bought it asked me about the oil in the speargun because the O-ring were in very bad condition, like decomposing. I told him that it was fork oil... He haven't used the speargun for months after he received it.. I still do not know what was the problem...
If something is not broke why fix it? My "Sten" has used fork oil ever since it was first serviced, I only stopped using that gun when the power regulator piston cup seal tore as the early (1967 - 69) guns did not use an "O" ring at that position. As I did not always use the regulator for loading I still used it on occasions, but mainly use my Scubapro "Magnum" as it has similar handling and a similar sculpted grip handle. There are also different fork oils, I use Castrol which has been around for longer than I can remember and is a quality product.
Mares Sten original model diag.jpg
 
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Hey Guys today I decided to take apart my older Cressi SL 70 and upon disassembly it looked as if someone had used white lithium grease for assembly for example around the main tube body o-rings is that common practice for assembly of these things because I have only found these discussion talking about oil only anyway any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Yes, you can use lithium greases for that purpose. I use Valvoline X-All which is a general purpose marine lubricant.
Valvoline X-ALL grease.jpg
 
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