Mixing oils

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MTbassbone
Posts: 463
Joined: Sat Apr 21, 2018 3:08 pm
Location: Silver Spring, MD

Mixing oils

Post by MTbassbone »

Hi all,

I have a small number of various oils, some conventional and some synthetic. I know conventional and synthetic sometimes don't work together, but what about synthetics. I am about to run out of Hetman rotor oil, and cannot find much in my area so I am going to switch over to Ultra Pure. Do I need to clean the valve first or can I just apply without cleaning? Also I have lots of Hetman #13 and #15 for bearings and linkages. Can I mix the #13 on the bearings with Ultra Pure inside the valve? I am trying to use up a bunch of stuff I have.

Would it be better to just switch everything over to Ultra Pure? I am going to try their slide lube too.

Thanks,
Derek
Last edited by MTbassbone on Fri Sep 09, 2022 6:37 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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BGuttman
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Location: Cow Hampshire

Re: Mixing oils

Post by BGuttman »

I don't know about Hetman, but I've used UltraPure valve oil on top of Blue Juice, Al Cass, and some generic valve oil (Bach).

I've also used UltraPure slide oil as a "refresher" on Pond's, Trombotine, Slide-O-Mix, and Superslick.

UltraPure is pretty benign stuff; seems to mix well with everything else.
Bruce Guttman
Merrimack Valley Philharmonic Orchestra
"Almost Professional"
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Burgerbob
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Re: Mixing oils

Post by Burgerbob »

Start from scratch and use ultra pure on everything. Keep the leftover hetmans for backup or other people's horns.
Aidan Ritchie, LA area player and teacher
hornbuilder
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Re: Mixing oils

Post by hornbuilder »

Hetman and Ultra are very compatible. You won't have any problems doing what you're proposing.
Matthew Walker
Owner/Craftsman, M&W Custom Trombones, LLC, Jackson, Wisconsin.
Former Bass Trombonist, Opera Australia, 1991-2006
Blabberbucket
Posts: 84
Joined: Sun Oct 09, 2022 5:03 pm
Location: Fort Wayne, IN

Re: Mixing oils

Post by Blabberbucket »

It depends on the base components of the oils. Safest bet is to do a quick wipe/swab of actives surfaces with some sort of solvent or degreaser before changing oils. Ymmv.
David Paul - Brass Repair/Manufacture
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