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arriflex special grease and oil


Michael Leake

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​I need some arriflex grease and oil for the internal gears on an arriflex 16mm S. Some thread already in your system mentioned trying to get it from a German company that may still make that type of lubricant. I have not heard from them yet. Any help is good.

Michael Leake

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The Chronosynth 1/8 special oil price is $38.00 for a small vial and the Arri grease Isoflex LDS 18/05 small tube is $16.00.

Lubricants for the Arriflex S 16mm, both from Arri NY,

email: Laura Stagg <lstagg@ARRI.com>

Thanks JJ Cotter

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  • 4 years later...
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Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but it seemed like the right place.  I've contacted Arri trying to buy some but no reply yet.  But come on, someone must know the equivalent "real world" oil and grease?  Oil only gets but so esoteric, and in 1952 even less so.  Surely "Chronosynth 1/8" is just 10-weight or something, and "Isoflex 18/05" is just Molyslip or something, right?

 

Duncan (recent purchaser of a 16S)

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Oh greases can get esoteric alright!

As a camera/lens tech I have about two dozen different greases and six different oils on my workbench.  A single Angenieux zoom alone can use 5 different greases. Different materials, different applications, different lubricants. With cameras, there can also be specific viscosities or textures required so that a mechanism isn't slowed by the lubricant, or a particular slipping friction is achieved (in the take-up clutch for instance). Other factors might be whether the grease separates over time, the temperatures you're operating in, whether you need anti-oxidisation protection, or a dry lubricant to avoid dust contamination which can turn grease into lapping compound.

Now in many cases if you use the wrong grease or oil, it won't be catastrophic. You'll probably just induce early wear. Perhaps the mechanism will require more motor torque and so your batteries die quicker, or the motor brushes wear sooner. Worst case the grease reacts with the material to cause damage, or metal surfaces fuse together through overheating. In the case of film camera owner operators who may only shoot a few thousand feet a year (rather than rental house cameras which worked all the time) the need for the "correct" lubricant is not as consequential. But most owner operators won't be lubricating their camera themselves anyway.

The only user-accessible lubrication points in a 16S are the spring ball oiling holes in the film chamber and they only supply oil to the sprocket rollers and dial gears. These are simple bearings (shafts spinning in holes) and you could probably use any decent quality machine oil. This is not connected to the pull-down movement, which is the mechanical heart of the camera. For most users, it's not something you want to pull apart and lubricate unless you have fine mechanics experience and the right tools or don't mind the possibility of your camera never working properly again. So you probably won't need the Isoflex grease. 

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6 hours ago, Dom Jaeger said:

Oh greases can get esoteric alright!

 

Ha!  Thank you for the thorough breakdown.  I guess what I meant was that, especially in the 1950s, there wasn't so much esoterica in oils that Arriflex would have likely had one designed for them.  They certainly would have chosen wisely from among available lubes for each different application within the camera. 

My camera seems to have been serviced by Chambliss twice over the years, but not for a long while (unsurprisingly).  It runs quite well (after replacing the rubber coupling with the one Sean Charlesworth sells) but I'm worried about running it too much without at least topping up the spring ball oiling points.  Sounds like a good quality machine oil is all I need there.

 

Thanks,

Duncan

PS to Michael Leake: as to the Amazon idea for the grease - I see lots of Kluber lubricants there, but not one I can match up with Isoflex 18/05.  DO you have a link?

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 years later...

Does anyone have an update on where Arri lubricants are available? Should one just try Arri NY.....maybe Laura Stagg is still there, or the tech service dept at Arri in Germany? 

Searching for Arri grease as described above online... "Kluber Isoflex 18/05" all I can find is Kluber Isoflex LDS18 Special A. Does anyone know if this is the same grease, or is it a suitable replacement?

In a similar vein, has anyone replaced Arri Oil Chronosynth 1/8 with Nye Synthetic #140B clock oil?

And one more question...does the grease for magazine friction clutches or steel belt take up drives need a higher viscosity? Anyone know what has been used historically?

Thanks,

Gregg.

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