Twibright Six Cream, an open source skateboard bearing lubricant
Tools needed
- Old bottle cap or larger container if you want to produce larger quantity
- Toothpick
Material needed
- Medical grade petrolatum a.k.a. Vaselinum Album a.k.a. white petroleum jelly
- WD 40 or another similar general purpose spray oil with anti-corrosion
and cleaning properties
Procedure
- Put a bit of the vaseline into the cap
- Add a bit of WD40 and stir until it's homogeneous
- Repeat until you get a consistency of honey
- Clean the bearings according to the manufacturer recommended instructions.
I use stain removal gasoline (petrol, benzin) to clean the insensitive parts
and rubbing alcohol to clean the rubber sealing that can allegedly blister.
- Apply into the clean bearing with the toothpick. Don't fill completely,
just until the inner mechanism is slimey
- Wipe the Twibright Six Cream from the outer surface of the bearing if you
contaminated it
- Reinstall the bearing shield if any
- Wipe the outside dry again
- Spin the bearing through to see how wonderfully it turns :)
Tweaking
Unlike commercial available lubricants, with Twibright Six Cream a
continuous spectrum of consistency adjustment is available. Use a bit more WD40
to get a faster lubricant for racing, which will however last shorter. Or use
more vaseline to get a thicker lubricant that will not spin so fast, but should
last longer.