SF-600 Gage Oil ?

[Mark Workman]

My SF-600 is about 13 years old, and as time has passed, the inclined manometer has gotten slightly dirty on the inside, around the zero pressure mark(too close to the grinding room). This manometer also has had a very slight leak in it for a long time, causing the zero point to creep about 3/8ths of an inch to the right. This dirt makes setting the zero reference level difficult, as the oil meniscus is slightly obscured. It needs to have the oil drained, the manometer cleaned, and then refilled, which is not that big of a deal, except the SF manual warns that the blue gage oil is rare, very expensive unobtanium, and not to fool with it. I'm not sure I would get 100% of the oil that came out back in, and the level is slightly lower than normal now.

On another recent post, a link was put up to Dwyer red gage oil, and on the very same WW Grainger page was a blue Dwyer oil. Is this blue oil the oil that is used in the SF-600, and is the SF warning just a case of "best to buy from us" syndrome, or is the SF blue oil indeed, special?

[bruce]

If you look at the MSDS on the Grainger webpage for this oil you will notice it is manufactured by Dwyer.

[gofaster]

SF gets the manometers and oil from Dwyer, and the blue oil is neither unobtainium nor prohibitively expensive. Here is a link to the Dwyer price list page for gage oil:



Dwyer will probably sell directly to you, but you'd pay shipping from Indiana. If you have a W.W. Grainger nearby, you may save on shipping by buying through them. I don't know who else carries it, but there may be other industrial or laboratory suppliers you could try. Usual disclaimers apply, I have no stake in either business, just trying to help.

There is also some advise on cleaning manometers in this manual page:



Basically tells you to use soap & water, but there's a drawing and some info there if you're interested.

[larrycavan]

The Blue 1.91 fluid [dwyer number A110 is $33.75 for 3/4 Oz bottle.

Take great care when you drain your old oil.

Larry C

[Thomas Vaught]

I have seen people buy a new Dwyer 246 manometer for a couple of hundred bucks, switch the scale with the old manometer (percent) vs the new (inches) and then put the old manometer up on E-Bay and get most of their money back.

The 1.91 fluid is going to cost you money anyway. Why not put in new blue fluid in a new manometer? The old manometer will be hard to clean properly from my experience without scratching the inside of the tube.

Tom V.

The other alternative is to move on to the FP-1 software and box.

[Mark Workman]

[Thomas Vaught]

I bet it did not take you long to buy it either! LOL!

Looks like you now have a couple of them.

Tom V.

[trader]

I am curious if Dwyer offers the option of buying a new scale, to allow you to change from one (sp gravity) fluid to another. It would change the effective range of the manometer, (if the "verticle differential" is the same for the two fluid types) VD X sp gravity. This would also change the calibration of Marks SF600 (?), as the 246 with (red fluid) has a measurement range of 6", the (blue fluid) has a range of 13.874" (100%). Simply changing the scale from one to the other without reguards to the s.g. of the working fluid, will not yield the same results.

Why I question this is, I have a Meriam incline that has 2.0 s.g. blue fluid with a range of 6.4". Changing to a 1.0 s.g. (water) it would have a range of 3.2" (50%). Meriam no longer provides the 2.0 s.g. fluid, so when you need a refill, they send you 1.9 fluid with a new scale, and you return the old one..... Fortunately for now, I have a full can of 2.0 fluid, but like Mark, it would be cheaper to me to acquire another 246 Dwyer, than to buy a new can of 2.0 fluid, for my Meriam. Unlike Mark, I need to work in a 6" range and not 100% of a orifice. I'm sure that a spread sheet, would put you back in calibration, and I'm sure Mouse/Larry C. have figured this into their product/software for use as an upgrade to the SF benches.

I appreciate this site, and the think tank associated with it. I am making progress on my "puny" bench (LFE), and will post pic's when I near completion.

..............trader

[maxracesoftware]