Got mine from Parma many years ago. Like these link

Riko

 

That's the one, thanks.

 

Pendle and MRE list the SCX 'pen style' pin point oiler. I expect other specialist slot shops carry it too. Also try radio control model stores

 

Pendle also list a new MB Slot plastic bottle with needle point applicator. ModelCraft make one with a general purpose lubricating oil that is stocked by hobby stores such as Hobby Craft - you can also get it from Maplin on-line.

 

Dave,

do you have the link or what I should look for on the Maplin site?

Cheers

 

on mre, search for scx under spares. For pendle, navigate for spares. Or phone them.

 

That's a bit like saying I need an extra toe. Use a pin after dipping it in oil.

 

Go into any shop that sells model railroad stuff and get a bottle of one of the LaBelle plastic-compatible oils. Works great, safe everywhere (except salad maybe) and comes in a pin oiler bottle.

Randy

 

QUOTE (Screwneck @ 24 May 2007, 13:47) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>That's a bit like saying I need an extra toe. Use a pin after dipping it in oil.

Yes. No. Screwneck, buy one and try it. You'll never go back.....

 

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?TabID=...34&doy=24m5

Pendle (just the bottles) spares/mbslot/slot tools

 

Thanks Dave, I'll stop in om my way home

 

Folks that live in the US can look here for needle point bottles: http://www.slotcarcorner.com/store/misc/misc_items.asp

 

Isn't needle point some form of poncy embroidering or other such girly activity?

QUOTE (Screwneck @ 24 May 2007, 13:47) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Use a pin after dipping it in oil.
It may sound crude, compared with an allegedly purpose built hypo oil bottle, but I almost completely agree with Screwneck.

Pinpoint oilers sound good and are most certainly better than nothing. But my personal experience is that there are some downsides. It's way too easy to produce a massive great drop, that is far bigger than needed - it can be messy. In addition, I haven't yet found one that would retain its contents, reliably, during temperature changes and not being kept upright at all times. They always seem to end up messy and manage to spread oil on most everything else after a period in a tool box or whatever. Better pinpoint oilers may exist, but I haven't found one yet that beats the real pin and oil. I suspect one pays well over the odds for these things in any case.

I haven't bothered, but a short length of micro tube might be slightly more effective than a simple pin, in that capillary attraction will produce a small reservoir of oil that will last a little longer and enable lubrication of several points per session. The downside is that you still have a drippy tube when you've finished.
That's why I haven't bothered!

But, imho, best of all in its simplicity and effectiveness, is the crudest of all - a tiny, torn off scrap of softish paper (or fine cloth) torn with a sharp angle at one corner. About the size of a finger nail. You can use it flatish, but it's better if curved and best of all if rolled into a cone. With experience, you will very swiftly arrive at the style, shape and size that suits YOU. Newsprint is perfect, glossy magazines not so good. Toilet paper or kitchen tissues are also great. The cost is nothing and you can produce one almost any time, anywhere. Keep your bulk oil in a reliably sealed container that won't leak in normal circumstances. This way, the oil is cheaper, there is more choice of product, and its application is more controllable than any hypo type oiler I have seen. Just dump the scrap of paper after use, or take it to a recycler if you really care that much!

.

Bear in mind that a so-called pinpoint oiler is only trying to emulate what one does with a pin and oil anyway! (and charge you for the privilege). As always, it's your money and your choice, but the little corner of paper is a real winner in my book.

The spin-off advantage of paper or cloth is that, should you manage to over oil, you use another little scrap to soak it back up. It's a sure fire winner in the oiling stakes but carries no hi-tec kudos. Who cares about that - it works really well, the very best imho.

 

As a part-time business, I repair antique clocks. I also repair watches, but only for my own collection, not for paying customers.

Lubricating a mechanical wristwatch must be one of the most precise oiling jobs there is. So, what does the professional horologist use? Basically, a pin!

For watch work, I use "Bergeon" oilers. For clock work, I made my own, as the ready-made ones are a bit small.
I got a normal dressmaker's pin, and cut off the head.
I heated the cut end cherry red, to soften it, then flattened it with a hammer. This makes a small spade shape.
Using the spade-shaped end, I drilled a hole through a length of 4mm dowelling.
I coated the pointed end of the pin with superglue, and pushed it into the dowel.

The dowel handle makes the pin much easier to hold, and harder to lose.

The spade shape makes it easier to pick up a small drop of oil - a straight pin tends to draw the oil along itself.
The bigger the spade, the bigger the oil drop.

The Bergeon oilers are the same thing, but with machined spades in different sizes, and plastic handles.

 

I've found the pin method to be faffy and a PIA - maybe I just don't have the right technique...

One pin-load seems to supply only enough oil to lubricate a watch gear - not enough for a 1/32 axle bearing - could be I'm using the wrong pins too.

But I haven't had any problems with the pen style pinpoint oilers. The ones I've had have a clear pen style lid and also a rubber cap for the hypodermic bit, I've thrown them in tool bags and tool boxes and mine never leaked, and always let me put oil where I wanted and in the right amount. I haven't tried the bottle ones, so I can't comment on them, but for me the pen ones work great. Each to their own I guess.

 

Try a bigger pin, with the end flattened - one "dip" to each side of the bearing is enough for me.

I must admit, using a pin and a bottle of oil at the track can be a pain in the heat of the moment. I use a small bottle-type oiler for my "proper job" (computer engineer), where I need much larger drops.

 

Topics like this sometimes spark weird and wonderful trains of thought - in me at least.

For instance, I wonder if anyone here has ever tried to estimate/calculate the nominal volume of a single drop of oil, of a given viscosity at a specified temperature, and compared that with the volume actually needed to coat the carefully calculated area of two bearing surfaces with an optimal film thickness of xx microns?

Hmmm . . . I thought not!
Neither have I and now I'll have to consider this not so crazy proposition, dammit!

My gut reaction is that, for our relatively tiny bearings, particularly motor shafts, most visible drops are far too big, leaving a surfeit of oil film in places we definitely don't want it.

 

I just use different injection syringes for different liquids. You can get them with different diameter needles so depending on the viscosity of the liquid you want to use you can pretty much control the drop size and amount. To make them somewhat more safe to have around I usually cut off the pointed ends and leave only the required amount of needle shaft to do the job. Of course, this method is not useful in countries where needles are considered to be controlled items but here in Greece they are easily available in any pharmacy or medical supply store.
Jimmy

 

I use the syringe that comes with a refill kit for a printer ink cartridge. Do you get those in UK?
It has a largish bore and not-too-sharp end.
Tom.

 

For water one drop is 0.1ml. I have been using pin point oilers for many years and I have never had one leak. Pancake style HO cars sometimes need oiling in the middle of a race and you don't have time to fuss around with a pin if you are only allowed to work on your car under green light conditions.