What's new
What's new

Mobile Vactra 2

Screwmachine

Titanium
Joined
Mar 8, 2001
Location
Switzerland
Seems I remember a thread where it was explained that the formulation of Vactra 2 had changed in recent years, possibly to accommodate rapid movements of CNC? Apparently the "old" Vactra is still available but under a different name, or maybe I am making things up. Anyone know? Rather ask here than some tech at Mobile who will deny everything whether true or not...
 
As I recall, it was alleged to have changed in the tackifiers to satisfy a different industry, maybe printing.

The story was that the machining industries didn't use enough because there weren't enough customers left to make a decent market.

Probably agitprop as to the sales volume, but the formulation may be different now. It certainly drips and runs more than the old-timers claim.

<<<<<< OK I knew printing was involved, I just had it backwards.....musta believed what I read on the internet..... And yeah, I also have a lot of recent Vactra 2 on hand.... it works OK, but less sticktion would be nice>>>>>>

[ 12-08-2005, 01:03 PM: Message edited by: J Tiers ]
 
Mobil took the tackifier (peritack) out of vactra 2 to satisfy box ways and also the EPA. The printing industry, most notablly Goss, demanded the tackifier be returned due to design considerations. The Mobil solution was to present Mobil Vacuoline 1409 which is exactly the same as Vactra 2 was before the tackifier was removed. There are now three selections in the Vacuoline 1400 series. The 1405 is ISO 32 to replace Vactra 1, the 1409 is ISO 68 to replace Vactra 2, and the 1419 is ISO 220 to replace Vactra 4. The old Vactra's are still essentially the same except without the tackifier, and stick slip can be an issue on some older dovetail ways.
Now, before someone rips my arm off and pummels me about the head and shoulders with it, I work in the printing industry and was one of the driving forces demanding the tackifier be returned.
 
So now you have the tricky part. Vactra II was something else, now its something new and to get the old stuff you have to ask for something else. Get it? Now I have Vactra II on the shelf and dont know if its the good, bad, tacked or untacked. Why didnt they just offer an new untackified product with a new name? :(
 
Hey- Thanks guys, that was exactly what I was looking for. I like tacky way oil, on the last dregs of an old can and need to buy more. Will get the 1409, sounds like the good old stuff. It is quite odd that they would make such a seemingly major change to a standard product rather than introducing a new one. Especially since they introduced a new product name to rebadge the old stuff. Weird.
 
For what ever it is worth, i have been using the Vaculine 1419 on my Deckel FP4NC for the past few years. Seemed to work better when the machine stood still for a long period and then moved (stiction). Was not aware of the change in the Vactra, but the Mobil engineer reccomended the Vaculine and it seemed to work better for me.
Cheers Ross
 
Dittos, jk - I just bought another gallon of Vactra 2 for my lathe & mill ways. I've got a copy of Mobil's 12th edition of "Brief Product Description" booklet that a local oil distributor gave me, and from what it says about Vactra 2, it sounds like it'll work just fine for my home machine shop use. Maybe you guys doing production work would benefit from using Vaculine 1409, but I doubt it'll make any difference to me.
 
The long story of it is, when Mobil first started taking the tackifier out of the Vactra series in the late 80's they took all of it out on the west coast imediatly and 1/2% per year everywhere else. Their belief was that they were only concerned with the machining industry and they needed to cowdown to the EPA, and the machining industry would just have to suffer. Equipment failures on the west coast within the printing industry lead to investigations that revealed the lack of tackifier in the oils at the failure locations. Mobil was called in to explain the lack of peritack in their product. We had been, up until that time, specifing only the use of Mobil Vactra 2 for our equipment lubrication. Our customers tended to follow our recomendations religiously. When the numbers were counted up the results proved that the newspaper printing industry was the major user of Vactra 2, by about 60%. Unfortunatly in todays society it is considered a sin to say, "oops, we screwed up", and with Mobil it was no exception. However, when faced with the loss of the newspaper industry as a customer, they hustled out the new Vacuoline series to accomodate our requirements. Unfortunatly for them, we no longer specify Mobil, but rather publish the specifications of the oil required. There are now several oil suppliers that produce a product that meets our specifications, some better, some worse than Mobil. We aren't angry at Mobil; it actually helped us grow. I don't hesitate to recomend the Vacuoline 1409 to any of my customers. I just don't steer them down that narrow path, when other products are also available.

So now the mask has been ripped from my face and you all know I work for Goss.
 
icehd81 --

Ok, you've gotten me curious. What parts of Goss presses (gears? journal bearings? rolling-element bearings? other?) are lubricated with the Goss-specification oil . . . and what oils other than Mobil Vacuoline 1409 meet the Goss specification?

John
 
Most important we require the tackifier for the eccentrics and gibs. As a secondary benifit the ind drum gears that ossolate do more sliding than rolling and thus require a lubricant that will provide a film that will remain in place.

Without going into a very long dissertation on long string and short string tackifiers and base viscosities, those are the similarities to machind way applications.

Citgo press oil 68, Texico way lub 68 are two oils.
 
I only have some 5 gallon pails of Vactra #1 and #2 in the shop because it was free. When they liquidated the factory across the street the guy told me I was free to take anything hazardous I wanted. :D

I order my way oil from a local distributor by giving him the specs straight out of my Bliss press manuals. That stuff is tacky. It has to be to hang on the vertical slides and gibs. The Bijur automatic oiling system metering orifices are sized based on the tacky way oil. If I was to use a non-tacky way oil there would be a virtual rain of oil off the presses.

Les
 
The real Leigh:

Thanks for the data sheets.

Note at the bottom: " Due to continual product research and development, the information herein is subject to change WITHOUT NOTIFICATION. !!!

Jim C.
 
Mobil took the tackifier (peritack) out of vactra 2 to satisfy box ways and also the EPA. The printing industry, most notablly Goss, demanded the tackifier be returned due to design considerations. The Mobil solution was to present Mobil Vacuoline 1409 which is exactly the same as Vactra 2 was before the tackifier was removed.
Is there an on-line source for Mobil Vaculine 1409?

MSC, Enco, and McMaster don't carry it.

Any opinions on the Hangsterfer's Way Oil at MSC? Does this still have the tackifier?
 
I've been using Vaculine 1409 in my home shop since some time last summer, and like it a lot better than the generic "way oil" that I previously used. No problems at all. And sticky it is.

I did a little phone book research and found a local Mobil distributor who was happy to sell me a 5-gallon can. They don't (or didn't at that time) package it in smaller containers.

Brad
 
There are a number of components in my lathe that are not serviced by the pumped lube system: compound leadscrew, various parts of the taper attachment, etc.. The consensus seems to be to lubricate them with Vactra #2 (but it sounds like I should be using Vacuoline instead). I’m curious HOW LONG THE VACTRA/VACULINE WILL REMAIN EFFECTIVE IN THESE SORTS OF APPLICATIONS. (The lube hotline guy at Mobile was absolutely useless here.) The tech at the manufacturer of my lathe recommended disassembly, cleaning and lubrication every 3 to 12 months, depending on use. But I don’t remember any lathe at any shop that I’ve been around getting that kind of attention. Any thoughts?

Cal
 
Hey Newmiller -

This thread has presented good technical arguments that Mobil Vacuoline 1409 and Chevron Vistac 68 are the best way oil.

Campat Supply, close to my job in Plano, has a catalog listing Vistac, but only in 5 gallon buckets. A bunch of gallons beyond a lifetime supply for me. Any chance you might be willing to sell a gallon of that Vacuoline? Rowlett's not so far away.
Actually, 2 gallons; I've convinced someone else that premier way oil is a good idea.
 








 
Back
Top