What lubricant is safe to use on a compact camera’s zoom drive gears?

Question

I disassembled a Canon PowerShot A490 to remove sand and likely washed away much of the original grease from the zoom gearbox. Most of the remaining grease appeared to be on the motor worm gear that drives the first gear stage, with less on the later plastic spur gears. I’d like to re-lubricate it appropriately.

What type of lubricant is suitable for plastic zoom-drive gears and a worm gear inside a camera? I’m concerned about plastic compatibility, excess drag, attracting grit, and using something that won’t migrate or condense onto the optics.

user4892 · Accepted Answer

Well I'm no expert on lens diassembly or grease for that matter, but I am one heck of a Googler. Anyways I found quite a few references to using regular lithium grease. But I believe the most comprehensive information that I found in my 5mins of searching was the following tidbit from the "personal view" forum:

I wanted a PAO based oil with a sticky property that had PTFE(teflon). I found Super Lube 51004. It's a high viscosity PAO based oil with PTFE. a few small dabs of oil on the helicals and the lenses move smoothly and easily with no "whispering" that you get with metal/metal contact. Just don't use too much, a small amount is all that is needed.

But then again on that same webpage(link is above), someone who seemed every experienced noted that almost every lens they have disassembled had lithium grease in it. So that might just be your ticket.

What lubricant is safe to use on a compact camera’s zoom drive gears?

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