[Yukicore]

Hello, I've recently purchased headphones, they're mostly plastic, and make creaks when I move the hinges. I used a silicone spray on the hinges, which was quite a big mistake, I thought that I would even out and make for a good lubricant, while it has been worse than before.
I use the spray on mouse-pad to keep the glide nice and smooth, turns out in moving plastic parts it doesn't work, it sticks.
 
What product should I use? I've found DuPont Dry Teflon lube, Would that work?

 

[nick n]

I've always used a very tiny amount of silicone grease. Plumbers grease basically. But tiny tiny amount. Got rid of creaks for me where those are caused by plastic to plastic contacting/rotation spots.

 

[Fart Knockerz]

Anything that isn't a 'dry' lubricant, and not water-based should work just fine. Personally I prefer just a spot of trailer ball grease. Just dab a small amount inside the pivot once you get it all apart, then work it in with your finger so that it covers the entire surface that makes contact while moving. I did this with my cans that I use for jogging and they don't squeak at all.

 

[Yukicore]

Anything that isn't a 'dry' lubricant, and not water-based should work just fine. Personally I prefer just a spot of trailer ball grease. Just dab a small amount inside the pivot once you get it all apart, then work it in with your finger so that it covers the entire surface that makes contact while moving. I did this with my cans that I use for jogging and they don't squeak at all.

I have Boeshield T-9. It's said to "not harm paint, plastic" but it doesn't say anywhere that it's meant to be used with plastic, meaning that it it isn't a good idea to use it for lubricating plastic parts?
 
And why do you say anything that isn't dry lubricant will work? What's wrong with dry lubricant?
 

  I've always used a very tiny amount of silicone grease. Plumbers grease basically. But tiny tiny amount. Got rid of creaks for me where those are caused by plastic to plastic contacting/rotation spots.

Doesn't that make the headphone's sticky? Like I said, I have used silicone spray which is said to lubricate and protect plastic parts, but it only makes the headphones move with sticky, noisy, clumsy movements now. I really regret using the product, and to remove it I probably have to unscrew the product and wipe with isopropyl alcohol. 

 

[McPatD]

I've used good old WD40 on a couple Audio Technicas. Did the trick.

 

[Yukicore]

I've used good old WD40 on a couple Audio Technicas. Did the trick.

If you're really referring to the old WD40 (standard), then plastics is the last thing it should be used on. And as a lubricant it's not a very good option as well.
But hey, that boosted my confidence of using T-9 on them. Gonna try it, hope I don't ruin the headphones... probably not an option, so I'd better hope that it resolves the problem I'm having.

 

[Fart Knockerz]

Yukicore, I said anything but dry lubricants because I tried using graphite (a dry lubricant) on plastic pieces in my headphones and I still got a squeaking noise. Graphite is usually used more for metal components, but since it is my favorite go-to for stuck zippers, squeaky door hinges, slightly rusted tools and so on, I thought I would try it first before goobing up my headphones with grease. In my case, it didn't work out well.

Maybe different dry products would work well with certain plastics, but I wouldn't be too sure as I have not done any experimenting beyond this one instance.

 

[Yukicore]

Ah, graphite, I've heard it's quite a messy thing. But once it's in there it's great (for metal), not for plastic IMO. I'm not sure what I will try to use. Teflon powder/paste seems like an option, but it's nowhere mentioned that it would be meant for use with plastics. Maybe I should try a different silicone based lubricant.
 
Boeshield T-9 didn't seem to do the trick, although it is better than with silicone, or maybe I wiped it off too early. Though it is a combination with paraffin wax, which might be causing the stickyness with high friction, the headphones swivel flawlessly, but when I put them on, and more friction is on one side of the hinge, they are not moving smoothly.

 

[zazex]

  Hello, I've recently purchased headphones, they're mostly plastic, and make creaks when I move the hinges. I used a silicone spray on the hinges, which was quite a big mistake, I thought that I would even out and make for a good lubricant, while it has been worse than before.
I use the spray on mouse-pad to keep the glide nice and smooth, turns out in moving plastic parts it doesn't work, it sticks.
 
What product should I use? I've found DuPont Dry Teflon lube, Would that work?

 
IME, you'll be best off with a purely synthetic liquid lube.
Mostly, they're used by machinists, serious gun owners,
armorers, and the military.
 
Over several years, the two I've personally found to be best
are BreakFree CLP, and Shooters' Choice FP-10.  FP-10
dries relatively quickly without changing any tolerances.
 
They're both available at amazon, among other places.

 

[Yukicore]

   
IME, you'll be best off with a purely synthetic liquid lube.
Mostly, they're used by machinists, serious gun owners,
armorers, and the military.
 
Over several years, the two I've personally found to be best
are BreakFree CLP, and Shooters' Choice FP-10.  FP-10
dries relatively quickly without changing any tolerances.
 
They're both available at amazon, among other places.

BreakFree CLP uses the same main formula (PTFE) as well as FP-10, so I might just try one of the product with this formula. DuPont is actually the company that discovered PTFE, but I might need to do some serious research to find which one is the best. I'm not gonna be doing any physical research, only research the information, and find out which seems the best that way.

 

[Yukicore]

Couldn't find any other spray or paste in my country at the local shops, I got Motip PTFE Spray. It's been sitting in for about a full day. It doesn't really dry up, it seems. I will try wiping some of it off after some time, but at this point it works very well. Very low friction and minimal creaking from the headphones. I would be very eager to try out a so called PFTE dry-lube.

 

[Yukicore]

I wiped off multiple times each surface (that I could access) with a paper towel, wasn't enough to wipe all the visible layer, some of it keeps getting back from other areas I couldn't reach. It seems there's not much beyond the visible, the hinge seems to have a more friction now as there is less of a layer, and wiping it off completely will most likely remove the effect altogether.
 
I'm gonna have to buy the dry-PTFE, I guess.. Heard that some of them don't even dry off. I'm not even sure that what I'm trying to accomplish is possible. Is there such a layer that remains for a long time, and isn't smearing your fingers/clothes?

 

[Yukicore]

I purchased Motip DRY PTFE, and sigh... while it works quite well at first, while having still a bit too much friction, when I swivel the headphones when they're on my head, they do not move smoothly like with oily PFTE, and also this leaves a white residue quite annoying to get it off each time I spray it. And well, it doesn't last very long...
 

   
IME, you'll be best off with a purely synthetic liquid lube.
Mostly, they're used by machinists, serious gun owners,
armorers, and the military.
 
Over several years, the two I've personally found to be best
are BreakFree CLP, and Shooters' Choice FP-10.  FP-10
dries relatively quickly without changing any tolerances.
 
They're both available at amazon, among other places.

Well I might try out that FP-10 or breakfree. Only thing is that I have to pay 15€ or 16.5$ for 118ml or 4OZ. And that's on Ebay, on Amazon they want me to pay 40$, haha.
I recently ordered 4 OZ of Boeshield for 11$, and that I thought was really expensive. Are you sure that this product will work? And which is better one of them?

 

[zazex]

Super Lube Dri-Film has a good reputation.
 
I've never tried Boeshield, though it's been around a long time -
often a good sign.
 
Also, I highly recommend that you not use paper towels for 'precision'
applications.  They're abrasive and full of lint.
Microfiber cloths are the way to go - can be found quite inexpensively on eBay
and amazon.
 
 
 

 

 

[Yukicore]

  Super Lube Dri-Film has a good reputation.
 
I've never tried Boeshield, though it's been around a long time -
often a good sign.
 
Also, I highly recommend that you not use paper towels for 'precision'
applications.  They're abrasive and full of lint.
Microfiber cloths are the way to go - can be found quite inexpensively on eBay
and amazon.
 
 
 

 

I got the Boeshield for other applications actually. More specifically my Bike's chain, it does a really good job there. But by no means it's a good plastic lubricant, it actually seems more like an protection over lubrication. It seems to last very long and it barely picks up any dust. It leaves a wax like film after application, so definitely a no-go for plastic.
 
Thanks for the paper towel tip, I didn't exactly use them to smear the lubricant's, but I used them to hold off the stream behind the part I sprayed. Don't think that allows lint enter the area or not, probably some amount.