6 ms·
Lubricate Your Keyholes
- woliveirajr 3y ago> I was surprised by the effectiveness of this intervention. An average of 2.442 seconds saved per entry. If I enter that door every day for a year, that amounts to around 15 minutes Should have considered how much time will be lost lubricating the keyholes (including buying the lubricant, applying it, storing it and so on)
- mankyd 3y agoThat's first sentence: > Now, you might argue that the number of seconds required to research, acquire, and implement keyhole lubricant would easily outweigh the amount saved through optimal key insertion — and you'd probably be right.
- gorjusborg 3y agoYep, and good maintenance is its own reward. The feeling that you are keeping things in working order, and reap the benefit every time you unlock your door, isn't something you can capture in just the time accounting. That said, it might make for a better article to just mention that it took less than a minute to squeeze graphite into the keyhole, as well as an estimate of how often it needs to be done.
- declan_roberts 3y agoWhat about when you’re having a bathroom emergency on the way in the house???
- owlstuffing 3y ago> Should have considered how much time will be lost lubricating the keyholes This is controlled time. The lost time in the article is about uncontrolled time, particularly when the consequences of a jammed lock are dire.
- onemoresoop 3y agoAnd while at it don't forget to lubricate the hinges as well.
- cassianoleal 3y agoShake the tube? It's graphite powder. Imagine how many milliseconds per year can be saved if you refrain from shaking it!
- Swalden123 3y agoLost me at calling WD40 lubricant. Although I do agree with the premise, it is very satisfying when it is easy to open your door.
- stcredzero 3y agoLost me at calling WD40 lubricant. I know it's for keeping water away. I use it for that purpose on my swords. But why isn't it a lubricant? Maybe it's not the best, but it can serve that purpose.
- mikewarot 3y agoIt wasn't intended to be a lubricant. When it "dries" it gets gummy. Quoting Wikipedia[1] The spray, composed of various hydrocarbons, was originally designed to be used by Convair to protect the outer skin of the Atlas missile from rust and corrosion.[11][12] This outer skin also functioned as the outer wall of the missile's delicate balloon tanks. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WD-40 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WD-40
- hansonkd 3y agoFrom the article: > It acts as a lubricant, rust preventive, penetrant and moisture displacer. and the article is in the category of "Petroleum based lubricants" So it seems just because it wasn't intended as a lubricant doesn't mean it can't be be.
- dharmab 3y agoWikipedia says a lot of things. Many of them are wrong. Ask anyone who works professionally with machines and they'll tell you WD-40 is a temporary lubricant at best.
- stcredzero 3y agoSurely, there is some context where WD-40 is just fine. I do note that lubrication is actually complex. Soap feels plenty slick in general, but if I try to shave with it, certain soaps give very poor results. So, of course, not everything slick and oily is going to work for lubricating machines. But when I rub soap on wood screws, it works just fine in that context!
- yuck39 3y agoWhat are the dangers of graphite lubricant? I lubricate my keyholes with it but there is always some that gets left on the key, and I tend to fiddle with my keys at my desk sometimes. Occasionally I’ll get some of the graphite on my hands, or possibly even breathe it in I’m not sure. Should I be more careful with this stuff?
- Horffupolde 3y agoIn a home setting not much but it’s electrically conducting so one must be careful if that’d be an issue.
- seren 3y agohttps://www.ilo.org/dyn/icsc/showcard.display?p_lang=en&p_card_id=0893&p_version=2 https://www.ilo.org/dyn/icsc/showcard.display?p_lang=en&p_ca... Inhalation is not recommended, particularly if it happens often.
- pbourke 3y agoDry graphite powder is messy. I would recommend a teflon-based product like “DuPont Easy Entry Lock Lubricant”
- meta-level 3y agoShould reference https://m.xkcd.com/1205 https://m.xkcd.com/1205. .
- eatbitseveryday 3y ago> Warning: This product is a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer.
- dharmab 3y agoI take it you're not familar with Prop 65? In California, you'll see that everywhere thanks to a well-intended but counterproductive ballot measure that introduced steep liability for anything that could possibly cause cancer at all, even if only egregiously mishandled. It's even on packages of food now!
- ggreer 3y agoIt still surprises me that after 38 years of this obviously ineffective and wasteful proposition, no group has gotten around to putting a repeal on the ballot.
- dharmab 3y agoIn California, ballot propositions are a form of direct democracy, and changes often require a referendum. Who has the time or money to campaign to convince voters to remove cancer warnings?
- fnordpiglet 3y agoCarbon?
- chaxor 3y agoIf there's nanotubes in there, You're **ed
- SAI_Peregrinus 3y agoYes. If you never consume any carbon, you won't die from cancer!
- OliveMate 3y ago
- jeffbee 3y agoImagine how much time you can save by not locking the doors.
- stcredzero 3y agoAvid readers of practical betterments should note: here I refer to the classical meaning of the word keyhole: a hole you put your key in and not my own definition a hole you put in your key. If some of the lubricant gets around the pins, then one is lubricating the hole in the hole you put your key in.
- ldmosquera 3y agoI lolled at the "egress optimization" tag, then followed it and found this other gem: https://practicalbetterments.com/drill-holes-in-your-keys/ https://practicalbetterments.com/drill-holes-in-your-keys/ Makes sense in an XKCD kinda way.
- supertron 3y ago> How to drill holes in your keys > Drilling holes in your keys is easy. > 1. Find a partner whose father is a retired precision engineer who owns a pillar drill. > 2. Ask him to do it. > 3. Be very grateful. Ok, I'm now subscribed to this joker's RSS feed.
- owlstuffing 3y agoBallistol is your friend here.
- declan_roberts 3y agoSkipped down to make sure they don’t recommend WD40 and sure enough they get it exactly right! WD40 is so grossly mis-used. In almost all circumstances it makes things worse over time after making them better in the short term.
- masklinn 3y agoNote that the WD40 company sells a bunch of other stuff under the WD40 brand-line, including actual non-penetrating-oil lubricants, like grease (https://www.wd40.com/products/true-multi-purpose-grease/ https://www.wd40.com/products/true-multi-purpose-grease/) or silicone (https://www.wd40.com/products/silicone-lubricant/ https://www.wd40.com/products/silicone-lubricant/). You're right though, that classic WD40 is intended to get mechanisms unstuck and de-moisturised, it does have lubricating properties but is a very light penetrating oil so it should be followed by actual lubrication of the relevant parts. In fact misused as a lubricant I assume classic WD40 can flush out the actual lubricant, which leads to making things worse over time.
- Nifty3929 3y agoThe key is that it’s MIS-used. WD40 is excellent when used properly - as a penetrating solvent for removing stuck things. But not as a lubricant otherwise.
- dzhiurgis 3y agoIs it same as CRC?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- logifail 3y agoI don't think a page which is basically not particularly compelling content built around an affiliate link deserves to be on HN. Surely we're better than that :(
- oh_sigh 3y agoI was positive until the very end that this was just some tortured metaphor for finding a cloud provider with lower data egress fees, or something like that. And then the article just ended.
- madsbuch 3y agoThis website seems to be quite honest about it though. This is magnitudes better than AI generated content that in covert ways promote affiliate links.
- jawns 3y agoI read through the post, and the way it was written, I was expecting it to be an extended analogy for something else. Does "Lubricate Your Keyholes" mean that you need to plan efficient ingress/egress strategies for your cloud services? But no, this was not an extended analogy. This is really just about applying lubricant to physical keyholes. While it is possible that this shaves off a couple of seconds every time you use your key, there are a few things it does not fully take into account. Unless you already have the lubricant at your disposal and understand how to properly use it, you need to take into account the cost and time to acquire it and the time to research how to apply it properly and then actually do the task. That time needs to be subtracted from the time you expect to save via the intervention. And the thing about time is that its value is not static. The author admits as much: "But some seconds are worth more than others, and some seconds have little worth at all." But the author gets the proportion wrong. In the vast majority of cases, you'll likely find that whether it takes you 1 second or 4 seconds to unlock a door, it makes no practical difference to you. Sure, in an emergency, ever second counts, but outside of that (hopefully rare) case, I don't see high ROI.
- shultays 3y agoIt reads like a satire but it doesn't look like it is.
- sleepybrett 3y agoFunny story, but my family owns a mountain cabin. The lock on the front door is 100% no operable because of the elements and lack of lubrication. To make matters worse the screws that hold the doorknob on are also fully seized meaning that it's going to take heroic measures to actually fix. You can open the door from the inside just not using the key. So we've resorted for the last couple of years to just using the back door. I'm not sure lubricating the keyway is my actual problem, I think the the plug itself is bound but yaknow.. maintence is important. Lube your machines.
- woleium 3y agoAnd dont fuss, just use any old kitchen oil. It’s just a simple lock!
- nmeofthestate 3y agoI used spray silicone lubricant on a door lock that was hard to get a key in and out of and it was a massive improvement - highly recommended. I didn't time the improvement but it was night and day. There's been no problem with the lock "gathering dust", so no need to get graphite powder for this job.
- Tade0 3y agoI can attest to that. I used to rent an apartment that had two locks which opened with the same key. Both would gradually become harder to use until one of them eventually broke, at which point I began to regularly lubricate the other. It lasted past the end of my rental agreement and was much easier to use when lubricated.
- odiroot 3y agoAlso don't use WD40 and other cheapo sprays. They can gunk up the hole. Graphite or PTFE-based sprays are much better.
- fmajid 3y agoWD40 is a brand. The do sell a dry PTFE (Teflon) lubricant for locks, among other things.
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- Turkeypies 3y agoI wasted some time reading this article because I recently lubed my keyhole using https://www.amazon.com/WD-40-300059-Resistant-Lubricant-Spray/dp/B00IAJVVSI/ https://www.amazon.com/WD-40-300059-Resistant-Lubricant-Spra... However I was surprised it wasn't really dry. I am now left with more questions then answers. Would this be bad lube for my keyhole?
- zokier 3y ago5.5 seconds to insert a key?! How gummy are (presumably US) keyholes??
- syntheticnature 3y agoBased on other posts on the site, I get the impression the writer is in the UK.
- ectospheno 3y agoI thought lock lubricants like Houdini were preferred over graphite powder and all oils.
- Chirael 3y agoThey are. Most locksmiths hate graphite. The two lubes most used and recommended by locksmiths are Houdini and Tri-Flow. The latter is available in some hardware stores (it’s in the lube section of my local ACE Hardware), and while you can special order Houdini online, you can also buy it locally under its alternate name Super Slick Slick Stuff. I’ve seen it in my local Lowes, not sure if Home Depot also has it now.
- superjan 3y agoA long time ago I practiced to use a kitchen knife properly. Rewarding AND timesaving.