What castor oil do I buy to add to fuel? Is it just normal grocery store variety?

We normally use SIG brand castor oil. Usually a Hobby Shop can provide it or you can buy it online too. http://www.sigmfg.com/IndexText/SIGCO001.html
You can also get the Klotz Benol from many motorcycle shops or buy online too.
http://www.klotzlube.com/proddetail....od=BC-175_Pint
Some of the model engine glow fuel companies also sell their brand label version too. Byron Fuels for example sells a "Oil Booster" for people.
If time is tight, like you need it fast, then you can use medicinal castor oil, but you must ensure it is plain, with no flavoring or sugar or other additives added to it. You can typically get this at many pharmacies all about. But it has to be 100% pure with no additives. Generally this castor oil can be the most expensive which is why it is a last resort kind of thing, but sometimes it is cheaper though. Medicinal castor oil is merely a more sterile version versus the commercial lubricant oils.

For years I bought castor oil in five gallon containers from "American Shortening and Oil Co" in Livonia, Michigan . The stuff worked just the same as what we had been buying from Sig (Baker's brand) Never had a complaint with the stuff . It was food grade but also used widely in industry as a lube for metal forming etc.

I had always heard to get the 'degummed'.

Virtually all castor on the market is the degummed type today.

All commercial castor is degummed because it's done in the first step (settling and degumming) of refining after being pressed out of the castor bean. It's then bleached, neutralised and deodorised.

There are basically 3 types of castor. The best (for our use) is what's called first pressing which is the oil that's removed from the bean by being pressed out which removes about 80% of the total oil.

The remaining 20% of oil is removed from the solid waste by chemical extraction using either hexane or heptane. The problem here is that some of these chemicals remain in the oil which can then be mixed in with first pressing. This generally isn't a problem except it can cause white flakes to appear in very low temperatures when used in glow fuels.

The third type is medicinal castor which basically just has extra refining and testing to ensure there's no trace of any ricin poison in it (and presumably uses pressed and not chemically extracted oil). However there's a possibility there may be some sweetener added to it. Merco instructions warn several times against using medicinal castor.

Originally Posted by downunder

All commercial castor is degummed because it's done in the first step (settling and degumming) of refining after being pressed out of the castor bean. It's then bleached, neutralised and deodorised.

There are basically 3 types of castor. The best (for our use) is what's called first pressing which is the oil that's removed from the bean by being pressed out which removes about 80% of the total oil.

The remaining 20% of oil is removed from the solid waste by chemical extraction using either hexane or heptane. The problem here is that some of these chemicals remain in the oil which can then be mixed in with first pressing. This generally isn't a problem except it can cause white flakes to appear in very low temperatures when used in glow fuels.

The third type is medicinal castor which basically just has extra refining and testing to ensure there's no trace of any ricin poison in it (and presumably uses pressed and not chemically extracted oil). However there's a possibility there may be some sweetener added to it. Merco instructions warn several times against using medicinal castor.

Howdy there D.U. Ive heard a rumor that you like castor so much that you use it on your weetbix in the mornings . Im a big fan of gods gift to moddeling as well but I use it 50/50 with synthetic . Please dont hate me for my confession . Cheers the pope

thanks for all the replies its been very informing. to be honest i always tend to buy fuel that has castor in it but I also have gotten into nitro cars and seen all the LHS fuels only use synthetic so i was wanting to add some to that fuel

Synthetic should be fine in modern engines unless the instructions specifically say otherwise. if youre buying premixed fuel you shouldnt have to add any extra lubrication. too much can make the fuel hard to run and it just makes more of a mess.

Originally Posted by GeetarJoe

...if youre buying premixed fuel you shouldnt have to add any extra lubrication...

Suggest reading the manual that comes with the OS's LA engines. ex. There's only two domestic manufacturers I'm aware of who sell any stock mix of fuel that meets OS recommendations for the LA .46 -- Sig and Fox.

Originally Posted by NACA0012

Suggest reading the manual that comes with the OS's LA engines. ex. There's only two domestic manufacturers I'm aware of who sell any stock mix of fuel that meets OS recommendations for the LA .46 -- Sig and Fox.

Thanks for pointing that out. I dug up some info:

Originally Posted by OS LA40 manual

..Do not use fuels containing less than 18% lubricant.

taken from the OS LA40 manual available here, page 12:
http://manuals.hobbico.com/osm/40-46-65la-manual.pdf

Byrons AeroGen 10% Nitro blend has 20% oil, and their Premium 18 has 18%.
Chart here:
http://www.byronfuels.com/pages/prod...l#chart_anchor

Morgan Cool Power 10% nitro is also 18% Oil blend:
http://morganfuel.com/coolpower_mv_detail

Morgan Omega Castor/Synthetic blend has 17% oil. this is usually what I use, but I dont run any bushed engines like the LA.

these are the most commonly available fuels at most hobby shops that I know of. hope that helps out the OP.

Originally Posted by the pope

......I use it 50/50 with synthetic . Please dont hate me for my confession . Cheers the pope

Wellllll pope, now my confession . In my Enya 61 RE I'm using 20% castor with 5% synthetic. Just as an experiment though to find out if a bit of synthetic really does keep any carbon down.

For the OS 40LA, scratch Coolpower off the list. It does not have any castor oil in it. Omega does give its castor/synthetic mix ratio as 30/70%. Byron's and Powermaster do not specify their oil mix ratios.

Powermaster does also make an all castor fuel they call GMA. They have 5 to 15% fuel with varying castor oil ratios from 24% to 29%.

If GRRMISFIT is interested, Schaeffers Hobby in St Louis is a Powermaster dealer. They may have the GMA (or the Sig or Fox) in stock, or may be willing to get some for you.

I'm not sure if it's a company wide thing, but we've noticed here in CO that Hobbytown is bringing on all Cruelpower and getting rid of the good fuels, you gotta love profit margins. I'm stocking up on what old stock remains as Cruelpower is $3 more a gallon too.

Too bad really, SIG has a fine line of fuels and even has an all synthetic called Syn Plus. Its 5 or 15% nitro and 18% lube. It also has an additive to keep down head temps. I have used it often and found it an excellent fuel for whenever you need an all synthetic fuel since it offers so much more lube than some other brands.