On Tuesday, May 2, 2017 at 5:22:46 PM UTC-4, rickman wrote:
On 5/2/2017 1:34 PM, wrote:
On Tuesday, May 2, 2017 at 11:57:29 AM UTC-4, wrote:
Luckily I had
purchased a few sets of the lovot blocks and other parts fron the
manufacturer when I bought the windowsn(I worked for the dealer) so I
was able to replace the swollen blocks. No amount of soaking in
alcohol or any othe substance was effective in returning the block to
the proper size. No idea what kind of plastic it was- but it sure
didn't like WD-40.

I've heard of certain materials that swell in the presence of oils. Maybe it wasn't the solvent in the WD but the mineral oil it contains. IOW, any spray with mineral oil might have had the same effect.

Does it really matter which component of WD-40 causes the problem or if
other products cause the same problem?

For the purposes of the discussion, I think it does. If most spray elixirs use some sort of petroleum based oil that has a long term affect on certain plastics, then it's not fair to single out WD40 particularly. In any case, I don't recall any other spray solutions that use a synthetic lube that trumpet the fact that they are safe for all plastics. If WD had a known issue with plastics, someone (if not the WD folks) would surely step in with a fix product to steal the sales.


The point is that WD-40 is not a
good product to use on electrical devices unless you know the materials
won't be affected by it.


That's good advice for any external additive. I always test the material in question. Still, other than the fellow with the swollen window blocks (probably an interference fit as it was designed), I think WD-40 will have no affect on electrical connectors.



Some people here are in denial about the issue and refuse to consider
that anything other than their own personal experience constitutes
reality. You seem a bit more reasonable.



I don't even use the stuff...