Oil in an Airbalete

[BristolDave]

All, can anyone share advice/opinions on the following.
Decided to give my Omer Airbalete a Winter once over and have been considering the idea of replacing the Omer grease with oil (motorbike fork oil 5 or 10wt?). I've seen pics of corrosion on Airbalete pistons possiblydue to lack of fluid protection (?). Would it be beneficial ? Any seal issues ? And how much volume of oil to use which, I guess could slightly reduce the internal air volume? I'm assuming it would be as simple as removing the piston and pouring it straight in the barrel. Or just stick with how Omer intended?
Advice appreciated.
Dave

 

[kwtony]

No you would use your air pump to put the oil in. unless of course your gun was pressurized already before hand. You know how you would take a syringe and suck up fluid into the tube. The same method is used for the air pump, use a measuring cup, and suck up your desired amount, screw it into the fitting in the gun, and just pump it in there..However, if you are going to be doing a full fletched oil change, you need to drain out the oil that is in the gun and replace as much as you removed. The manual should tell you how many cc it should have from the factory.

 

[BristolDave]

No you would use your air pump to put the oil in. unless of course your gun was pressurized already before hand. You know how you would take a syringe and suck up fluid into the tube. The same method is used for the air pump, use a measuring cup, and suck up your desired amount, screw it into the fitting in the gun, and just pump it in there..However, if you are going to be doing a full fletched oil change, you need to drain out the oil that is in the gun and replace as much as you removed. The manual should tell you how many cc it should have from the factory.

Thanks for reply KW, unfortunately the Omer Airbalete is specced from the factory with 'Omer Airgrease' so, no ref to oil is made in any manual, hence the post. This is why I'm trying to find out if using oil would be preferable to the factory issued grease or if it would cause any problems internally. The Omer grease is not easy to get in the UK so, if anyone knows what the spec of Omer grease is (I'm guessing it may well be standard silicone grease) I'd like to know assuming the oil option is a non-starter.
Sure I've seen a Russian site where they totally tuned an Airbalete and used oil but, I'd be happier with some expert knowledge on here.
Dave

 

[popgun pete]

The addition of oil was discussed here before Omer decided on doing it. Use the same amount of oil as is listed for a gun of comparable barrel length, not including the detachable rear handle. The Salvimar user manual has the oil volumes listed, check out the user manual diagram shown on the "Vintair Plus" thread (or "Vent Air" as erroneously listed).

 

[Diving Gecko]

Hi Dave,
I used 10wt for my Sporasub One Air - it actually came with oil in it, so Spora does not believe in grease as Omer do (or used to do?).
Pete is right, look up the tables for a comparable length gun and how much oil it takes.
Eg. my Seac 90cm takes app. 30ml of oil but the Airbalete/One Air design is different in the sense that it's efficient length is shorter as the inner barrel doesn't continue through the handle. (My One Air 120 has an outer barrel which is 91cm and the inner barrel is 103cm).

Here is a table that I "stole" from Jegwan. I think he compiled it from a manual or perhaps from the Italian site:

Lenght of Gun (cm), Oil Volume (ml/cl) SAE 10W
30-39, 10

40-54, 15

55-69, 20

70-84, 25

85-109, 30

110-, 35

 

[Diving Gecko]

A bit more info here. I nicked this from the Italian forum, hope they are OK with it.

 

[Diving Gecko]

If you are going to take the gun apart, then it's easier to pour the oil in just before you put the muzzle or handle back on. Otherwise, as said, use the pump as a syringe. I use a piece of tape on the inlet hole near the top:

 

[Diving Gecko]

In reg. to 5wt vs 10wt, I recall an Italian gentleman on Pescasubapnea saying that in his experience 5wt had a tendency to not stick to the parts because it was too thin. He felt that 10wt was the sweet spot with good adherence and still less viscous than what used to be in the guns.

 

[BristolDave]

Gecko, thats great, really appreciated. Confirms that oil is good instead of the grease. Tables should make calcs easy.
I was going to remove muzzle and piston and pour oil directly down barrel only because I felt it would be prudent to remove traces of grease from barrel internal and avoid any emulsification taking place between the new oil and existing grease. Maybe this is overkill and I should just inject with pump?
Now, should I use gun oil or is it just rebranded bike fork oil? (I've got plenty of 10wt from mountain bike)

 

[Diving Gecko]

Fork oil is perfect and indeed what is commonly recommended. I wouldn't be surprised if "gun oils" is, as you say, just rebranded fork oil.
As to whether or not, you need to clean out the whole gun, I don't know. I'd probably do it. But I also find it fun to take the guns apart and get to know them. It shouldn't be too difficult. The handle end should be very much like my One Air and you can see a thread here with a lot of pics of mine coming back together again:
http://forums.deeperblue.com/thread...ly-and-other-related-stuff.98991/#post-919388

 

[Diving Gecko]

Also, a few Airbalete dismantling vids on youtube:





I'd say One Airs and Airbaletes are easier to take apart than Cressis and Assos as eg. the handle and trigger mech are kind of self-contained modules. They do consist of a lot of smaller parts, but they don't come apart unless you start taking them apart. Also, there is no power regulator bulkhead so in practical terms, it should be a straight forward job.

 

[BristolDave]

Deeper Blue. Always the answers you want from the people who know.
Many thanks all of you.

 

[tromic]

Video looks like picture in mirror.

 

[Jegwan]

Video looks like picture in mirror.

Absolutely!
Jégwan

 

[kees]

Further on the oil, my Airbalete leaked and it turned out one of the piston seals had cracked, it was quite brittle. A second seal also looked iffy. Both looked like they could have done with a bit of oil so I added some. Incidentally- in absence of Airbalete spares in Australia, I put two Cyrano o-rings on the piston which seems to work, but it is early days.
Kees