Well...I'm not an expert, but I can tell you something about that good stuff. I used to manage a group of Printer Repair Techs, and I did a little repair myself to keep their respect. They loved to use that Silicone. I used it too. It was almost like a cure all. Like what you were describing, on the shafts where things slid back and forth...we called them print rails, but anyway it worked really well as a lube between two metal surfaces with a really close clearance, usuallyfor example, brass/bronze shaft bearings with a steel rod riding in the bearing. One tech even used it to clean his desk, a practice that was not looked on favorably by the other techs, because if you sat at that desk, it would get all over your hands and clothing. I still have some of it and use it in my airguns. It works as a great general cleaner on the blued metal, takes rust and fingerprints right off, and leaves behind a nice gloss and/or protective layer. I use it in my B3leather seal, to help it swell and it seals up really nice, keeping the walls of the compression chamber lubed at the same time. I've also used it in the front of the compression chambers as a substitute for air chamber oil. It seems to work well if you ask me, no detonations. Also I've used it as a replacement for cedar oil which is used in the high power microscope lenses. It's a whole lot easier to use than cedar oil, it's thinner, optically clear, and cleans up cedar oil too...which is really sticky/messy.
This stuff is good stuff. You can also add it to other lubes to make them a little thinner for custom applications. Like mixing it with moly lube, for example. Experiment with it. It's great stuff, and it won't corrode anything that I know of. Warning...it gets on *everything*...which could be a good thing, but also could be bad depending on the particular application.
