Comment by 7bees
18 hours ago
> The actual ingredients are literally on the safety data sheet
This is an oversimplification, in a way that is likely not obvious to a lot of people on this (software-focused) forum. An SDS does not have to list exact amounts, does not have to disclose some details of how an ingredient or mix of ingredients was processed, and (depending on jurisdiction) may not have to identify some "safe" ingredients at all. Some ingredients may be identified in relatively vague ways, that are sufficient for safety purposes but do not reveal the exact product. As the SDS you linked to says "The specific chemical identity and exact percentages are a trade secret". An SDS is certainly very helpful to reverse-engineering a product, but it doesn't tell you everything.
All that said, yes, the main strength of WD-40 is its marketing and ubiquity, and claims about its secrecy have more to do with marketing than anything practical.
> Some ingredients may be identified in relatively vague ways, that are sufficient for safety purposes but do not reveal the exact product
Where I find this can be fun is that different countries seem to have different requirements for precision. Or just straight up different formulations for the same thing.
German wd40 says it’s all c9-c11 carbon chains:
https://smarthost.maedler.de/datenblaetter/EG_SIDA_WD40_EN.p...
US has a CARB and non-CARB formulation which are also different:
https://files.wd40.com/pdf/sds/mup/wd-40-multi-use-product-a...
https://files.wd40.com/msds/latam/GHS-SDS-WD-40-Multi-Use-Pr...
I wonder how many different chemicals can be described as ‘c9-c11’ chains. Thousands?
Yes but I doubt the manufacturer is consistent with how much of each is in there either
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The SDS should include all SAFETY relevant information/ingredients for whatever jurisdiction. If the local area doesn't really care if it's hexane or pentane from a safety perspective, they'll likely just be lumped together behind a generic name/cas number.
It's absolutely not a BOM to reproduce a product.
I'd say a BOM is more like the list of ingredients (or inventory) of what's in a product.
Depending on what the product is, this may still be a long way from the full "recipe" (or method) to recreate the product.
Hopefully if you sum enough of those SDS across different jurisdictions, the actual list of ingredients will come out. Though I guess it isn't that simple.
I once had a problem with the ignition lock I couldn't turn the key, my mechanic told me that that could happen on a very hot day with that model. "use a lubricant or wait till it's colder" - "Would WD-40 do?" -"Guess so" made it worse. with the help of the AAA (well, the equivalent in my country) and an oil spray I could turn the key, since then I've always an oil spray with me
Had the same problem with my moto (key not turning the lock). Fortunately, there was a car nearby and owner had a spare jug of oil. I put some oil on the key, put it in the ignition lock, waited for 5 minutes, and it started to turn again.
Although I must admin WD-40 helped me in the past opening an old door lock.
I suspect the difference is whether (as with the old door lock) there is no lubricant at all and anything is better than nothing, or whether (as with the ignition key) there is a lubricant there which was designed for the purpose but for some other reason isn't working as intended, and which the WD-40 will displace and replace with something worse. "Fails in hot weather" sounds either like some sort of thermal expansion problem or the intended grease gets too thin to properly lubricate a high-pressure contact area. Or there just isn't enough of it.
2 replies →
> An SDS is certainly very helpful to reverse-engineering a product, but it doesn't tell you everything.
NMR and gas chromatography to the rescue!
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