Cutting compounds

[ban-all-sheds]

when using a die to thread the end of steel conduit..

Trefolex, Texamol, Molyslip etc - votes for & against, and reasons why?

 

[^neo^]

Trefolex is the green one that smells of lime
Ambersol etc they all do the same job!

 

[holmslaw]

Tallow cos it works, and you can fry your egg and bacon in it.

 

[neds]

Hmm when threading LCS I only every used regular machine oil! Is there a any reason why you need to use something different for steel conduit?

 

[RF Lighting]

I would expect machine oil would be too thing and run to the bottom of the conduit before you get it threaded.

I personally prefer trefolex, probably just because thats what we used when I was an apprentice.

I recently had to buy a tin of temaxol as the wholesalers had no trefolex in stock. It seems to do the job OK, but is seems a little thinner than trefolex, especially when the tube gets warm whilst you are threading it.

 

[swbjackson]

I asked for a tin of Temaxol in Pipe Center the other week and got blank looks. Bought and aerosol of Ridgid pipe threading lubricant instead. Nice stuff to use, a lot less messy and I didn't go home stinking like I used to with temaxol. Probably a damn site more expensive but as the company were paying it didn't worry me too much.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I'll be using so little of it that price isn't a concern to me...

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I would expect machine oil would be too thing and run to the bottom of the conduit before you get it threaded.
.
.
(Texamol) seems a little thinner than trefolex, especially when the tube gets warm whilst you are threading it.

Would HMP grease be any good?

 

[RF Lighting]

I don't see why not. It's probably not that far off the consistancy of temaxol anyway, and by the sounds of it, you are not going to be doing that many threads.

The main thing you need to do to ensure a good clean thread is to turn the die half a turn anti-clockwise after every one and a half turns clockwise.

This snaps off the swarf, which causes bad threads.

 

[Symptoms]

Unless it's a left-hand thread