Garden centre ones seem to work ok for me, I have got a couple of them that must be at least ten years old and work every time. One has W40 in it and the other has Duck oil.

I was given a bulk WD40 container, along with a WD40 spray bottle.  It has been totally reliable so far.

I don’t know if a used kitchen-cleanser spray bottle would suffice. For querying compatibility WD-40 seems to be mostly white spirt with some light oil dissolved in it.

On 28 August 2024 at 21:39 Nigel Graham 2 Said:

I don’t know if a used kitchen-cleanser spray bottle would suffice.

In my experience, the answer is ‘maybe’.    Some work well, others fail quickly, usually because the pump stops pumping!   Never dissected a failure to be sure but I guess it’s because the piston ring, valves or nozzle are made of a plastic that’s attacked by the liquid.

As we have no idea what spray bottles are made of and little knowledge of plastics and solvents, it’s hard to choose one!  However, the kitchen type are so cheap, it’s worth experimenting.  If one doesn’t work, throw it away and try another.

Garden sprayers are more likely to resist solvents other than water, but they are on the pricey side!   Twenty years ago I successfully prayed a spirit based wood-preservative out of a Hozelock 7l pump bottle, which still works.   Can’t guarantee that Hozelock’s current model will do the same;  the design or materials may have changed!

Dave

You could try this with a used WD40 spray can?

https://youtu.be/doLPFPeJ6JE?si=YHVn7XI7FLiJnu-X

You can buy commercial ones but they are quite expensive.

What are folks using WD40 for in such large quantities? I have a can of the stuff but rarely use it, mostly for tapping aluminium. When that runs out I’ll likely mix up a white spirit/oil mixture.

I sprayed the table of my first milling machine many years ago to mistakenly stop rust in the winter. When I went out to the shed a few weeks later the table was covered in rust. Strangely other bare metal parts not sprayed with it were fine. You learn by your mistakes.

Agree with Graham.  That was the essence of my earlier post.  Unless of course we’re missing something?