On 25 Sep 2016, T i m <
ne...@spaced.me.uk> grunted:
> On Sat, 24 Sep 2016 16:25:19 -0700 (PDT), 
tabb...@gmail.com wrote:
> 
>>On Saturday, 24 September 2016 22:37:47 UTC+1, Lobster  wrote:
>>> The manual for my rowing machine tells me I need to lubricate the
>>> chain every 600 miles with "20 weight" oil. I've never heard this
>>> term before but Google tells me (not surprisingly) it's a grading
>>> relating to viscosity. 
>>> 
>>> I've got two containers of oil in the garage - one's a can of motor
>>> oil, rated 10W40 (for which the "W" refers to "Winter" not "Weight")
>>> and the other is a small can of thin oil branded "Woolworths",
>>> bicycles and sewing machines for the lubrication of.  Neither label
>>> has any indication as to the content's "weight".
>>> 
>>> Experience suggests to me that my Woolie's can will do the trick,
>>> but can anyone shed any light on this?
>>
>>20 is a thick oil, the light stuff won't be at all suitable. 
>>
>>Your multigrade car oil will be 40 when cold, 10 when hot, so that's
>>not right either. Presumably it uses thick oil so it doesn't drop off
>>the chain. 
 > I'm also guessing this wouldn't be an 'o-ring' chain so it might
> benefit for a good cleaning before a good re-lubing. If you can get it
> off easily (joining link?) soak / wash it in some suitable de-greaser
> (that would have been petrol in 'my day' <g>), allow to dry and then
> I'd put it in my tin of 'Linklife' on the stove. ;-)
Ah, that takes me back 30 years! My mum really used to love it when I
boiled up my motorbike chain on her cooker.  (Hey, I never did actually
spill it though, mum...!). Actually, I've very recently come back to
motorbikes again after a long layoff, and it seems that method is now
out of favour (I suppose probably because you don't get many non-O-ring
chains these days).  Anyway, I don't think it would be appropriate for
my rowing machine, which has a very lightweight chain in comparison to a
motorbike (and it's not done 'de rigeur' for bicycle chains either), and
it could be awful messy in my spare bedroom! 
As there seemed to be a lot of disagreement here, I've done some more
digging.  Seems that 20-weight oil is what's usually used inside
motorcycle forks or shock absorbers (eg
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/282042649506).  As it's 30+ years since I
last played with that stuff I can't remember what it was like (though I
expect Mum still has half a can in her garage somewhere!); however I had
a look on the website of the rowing machine manufacturer and found a 
how-to-do-it maintenance video. This has a bloke using 3-in-1 (ie, the
same as my Woolie's oil as far as I'm concerned!)  See
http://tinyurl.com/j9w2smr (2 mins 5 secs in) or 
http://www.concept2.co.uk/service/indoor-rowers/model-d/maintenance. 
That'll do me.
Thanks all
-- 
David