<whitequark>
self-fusing silicone tape. not just sticks to itself but actually bonds on molecular level, forming a connection as strong or almost as strongas the original material
<whitequark>
inert, waterproof, doesn't become brittle, doesn't degrade under UV if black, doesn't turn into goo or leak glue all over your connections, corroding plastics or degrading the contact
<whitequark>
stretchy as heck. insulates well. doubles as heatshrink, more or less
<whitequark>
oh and doesn't harden when cold or melt when hot, in some ridiculous temperature range (this says -65 to 260, which is a bit hard to believe)
<whitequark>
so my advice is to drop the harmful nostalgia and look for what actually works well :p
<whitequark>
oh and re: tape, i don't mean that particular brand, it's a completely generic thing. was just first link in amazon search.
<kyak>
very well, i'm buying it :)
<kyak>
the blue tape - yes, it was a joke. "Everything can be fixed with a blue tape"
<whitequark>
well, it's sort of true, isn't it? with the right amount of skill you can go very far with utility tape
<whitequark>
the thing is, the blue pvc tape you are talking of is a really, really awful one...
<whitequark>
as for wd-40, hmmm, i would replace it with a few different things
<whitequark>
you need a cleaner and a lubricant. they do not really mix. lubricant is an easier choice, most things that are fixed by wd-40 should either be re-lubricated with the cheap mineral oil they started with, or cleaned and then lubricated with a thin or thick ptfe-based lubricant. superlube is the american brand
<whitequark>
ptfe lubricants aren't cheap if you have a car repair shop, but for a hobbyist they are a perfect choice, really
<whitequark>
a cleaner is harder. there is "brake cleaner", which is actually not a single cleaner but a set of completely unrelated solvents in a pressurized can
<whitequark>
that shit is always extremely flammable, always a CNS depressant and inhalation hazard, and sometimes strongly carcinogenic
<whitequark>
on top of that it tends to attack virtually every polymer, including chemically resistant specialty ones, I think only the PTFE-based ones will withstand it for prolonged periods
<kyak>
that's a LOT of information :)
<whitequark>
oh and old brake cleaners used to contain chlorinated hydrocarbons, which absolutely *excel* at being solvents, but are potent greenhouse gases *and* decompose to phosgene when welding the surface afterwards
<whitequark>
in general, if it has plastic parts, use absolute ethanol or isopropanol, or ether solvents like THF or dimethoxymethane as they are milder
<whitequark>
if it's some sort of organic gunk, a mixture of methanol/ethanol and acetone and/or heptane is nice
<whitequark>
if it's water-soluble, well, use water
<whitequark>
if it has fats on it but not aluminium parts, apply (NaOH) drain cleaner to it
<whitequark>
or pure acetone, that also works rather nicely
<whitequark>
I *think* if I had to choose only one, it would have been, in order of preference, isopropyl chloride, ethyl benzoate, or a mix of isopropanol with 2-methylpentane or hexane
<whitequark>
aggravatingly, it looks like only a mix of isopropanol with hexane is cheap and available enough to use for a hobbyist without a nearby chemical supplier.
* whitequark
makes some vague gestures
<whitequark>
you might conclude that I had a hard time getting unidentified gunk off expensive shit. you will not be wrong.
<wpwrak>
does it move ? if yes, should it ? if yes: no problem. else: use duct tape (US) or wire (AR).
<wpwrak>
if it doesn't move, should it move ? if not: no problem. if yes: use hammer to increase degrees of freedom.
<wpwrak>
see, no tricky chemistry involved ;-)
<whitequark>
wpwrak: that works if your problem is mechanical in nature.
<kyak>
a guy walks into an auto shop and asks for WD-40. The salesman responds <insert last 20 minutes from whitequark>. I think it's a good anecdote for some chemistry class :)
<whitequark>
but not if you have a problem with leaking or seizing or insufficient insulation...
<wpwrak>
whitequark: if your problem is a leaking pipe, a hammer will eventually make that problem go away, too, either by somehow stopping the leak, or by gradually converting the pipe into a non-pipe :)
<whitequark>
kyak: a guy walks into an auto shop and asks for WD-40. the car part he applies it to fails. he blames it on some sort of "planned obsolescence" and not the fact that applying wd-40 actually removes lubrication and promotes corrosion
<wpwrak>
corrosion: putin did it !
<whitequark>
wpwrak: if you take that line of thought to its logical conclusion, then suicide is the answer for all problems. they will certainly stop bothering you, what's not to like?
<kyak>
whitequark: i use wd-40 ocasionally to make wipers push better to the window. They tend to rust at joint point..
<wpwrak>
whitequark: it's more fun if you take a gradual approach. there are a lot of pipes you can abuse before you have to resort to more drastic measures.
<whitequark>
kyak: WD-40 reminds me of antivirus software. widely promoted by "experts" and considered an absolute necessity, but it actually makes you strictly more vulnerable
<whitequark>
the main benefit of both is enriching the people who are selling them
<whitequark>
oh also, do you know those springy lock nuts? same thing. they make the connection come apart *faster*.
<whitequark>
but suggest this to someone, even supplied with empirical data, and they will defend them as if you insulted their religion.
<whitequark>
and the "use two nuts immediately adjacent" thing too, though that's just placebo
<kyak>
but.. why?
<kyak>
i thought lock nuts do work
<whitequark>
effective methods are, 1, loctite, 2, nylon inserts, 3, lock nuts from hardened steel that impinge the base metal and the nut
<whitequark>
the "star" style ones are slightly less bad though still basically placebo
<whitequark>
kyak: well
<whitequark>
there are two possibilities
<whitequark>
eiher the split lock washer gets completely flattened and plastically deformed (when was the last time you used a torque wrench for it?), and then it just becomes a regular washer
<whitequark>
tighten it, then remove the nut, observe
<whitequark>
or, the split lock washer actually does not get flattend, and actually does act as a spring, in which case it works as a sort of "ratchet" that, with the aid of vibration, helps unscrew the nut
<whitequark>
you can prove it by building a vibrational test stand and then testing the different kinds of connections
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<wpwrak>
whitequark: hmm, i though the mode of operation was to press the nut against the thread, to increase friction. e.g., if the things your screw holds together are non-elastic or may even yield, the nut would become unloaded over time. the split washer should prevent that.
<whitequark>
wpwrak: well however it is supposed to work, it empirically doesn't
<kyak>
i conclude: lock nuts work :)
<whitequark>
kyak: lol they should just use an angle grinder
<whitequark>
not at the rods, at the plate holding them together
<wpwrak>
kyak: they need to go to quite some extremes to keep their vodake from the coworkers ;-)
<whitequark>
or even better, switch to drinking isoamyl alcohol
<kyak>
i say, they should unbend the rods
<whitequark>
not only you don't get a hangover (it's almost completely nontoxic), but you also need just 2-3ml to get drunk
<whitequark>
i mean there's a few other ways too, like about 100mg of beta-parachlorophenyl-gammaaminobutyric acid, or about 2g of beta-phenylgammaaminobutyric acid, though that might not impair your cognitive functions quite enough to achieve the desired effect
<whitequark>
like honestly, who even drinks *ethanol*, like some sort of goddamn *animal*
<whitequark>
next thing you'll tell me you're inhaling *smoke* like the uncivilized rube you are
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<whitequark>
or making plant *infusions* containing dozens of potent alkaloids, as if we're in a hunter-gatherer society still
<whitequark>
honestly, I would pay someone to remove all ethanol from cider or wine, to make it drinkable