Is slide oil bad for piston valves?

[Hobart]

Alrighty, so I know that piston valves aren't popular on this forum, but I also know there are a decent amount of people who play piston-valved instruments on the side.

I was rehearsing with my band yesterday, and the tuba player needed valve oil because he hasn't had it in months. I didn't have any, he told me to use slide oil, so I oiled his valves with Yamasnot. The action was oddly smooth, and the valves felt great afterwards.

The question is though, before I start oiling my stuff willy-nilly with Yamaha's slide lubricant, will it cause any damage or deterioration to the valves? I know valves and slide oils have different formulas, so there must be a reason for the formulas being different.

[BGuttman]

Yamaha's "oil" may be a bit too thick for piston valves. If you were to use the crap usually provided as trombone slide oil it's still a little too thick but less so. I'd still consider either of these to be a temporary situation; not to be a permanent solution.

Al Cass oil is supposed to wok on everything, but it's really a valve oil; not good for slides.

There used to be a silicone oil that was also universal called Ali-Syn. I found it to be good on rotor valves and linkages, but not on slides.

I've known tuba players to use everything, including 40 weight motor oil, on their valves. But that doesn't make it right.

[vetsurginc]

One thing I have found was Yamasnot, if appllied when old oils were present (Superslick, or Hetmans Slide) would work at first then slow down significantly. Wiping the inner slide without the outer (like you might do during a rehearsal) was not enough. Needed a good clean of inner and outer slide to prevent. This on Holton 180 and 169.

The smell of the Yama always made me think of liquid soap. And I thought perhaps that was reacting wihth the oil?

[brassmedic]

You might want to consider the fact that trombone slides have a MUCH greater tolerance than piston valves. The Yamaha lube (which is not oil, by the way), is designed to fill a much larger space than piston valve oil.

[harrisonreed]

Hetmans or Al Cass for pistons man, depending on what is on the tuning slide. Yamasnot is a silicone based detergent that repels water. If you use it, the real lubricant is the water spray it is repelling.

Yasmasnot is made from Stearic Acid (soap), Oleic acid (soap emulsifier), Palmitic acid (soap), ethylene glycol (anti-corrosive), silicone oil (lubricant), an anti-corrosion reagent, and water.

It builds up over time, and isn't what you want in your valves over the long haul, because using more of it doesn't dissolve the old crud. Old Hetman's will dissolve into itself when you put new oil on the valve.