Comptometer / adding machine oil?

[Gordon JC Pearce]

Tony Duell wrote:

>> You do need to strip the mechanism and remove the old lubricant - if you
>> just wash the mechanism, all you do is drive dirt into the pivots, and
> 
> I am sure I was flamed either here or on a camera repair forum for making 
> much the same point. I regard fluching a mechanism with solvent as being 
> a real bodger's trick, likely to do more harm than good. 

I know it's not quite the same thing but on the small mechanical parts 
of hydraulic systems I work on, I find that some of them are almost 
impossible to get sorted out unless you dunk them in a bucket of petrol 
for a while and flush the worst of the crap out before you even *start* 
to take them to bits.

Of course the key here is that you do still take them to bits and clean 
everything properly.

Gordon.