Lost stylus seeking similar experience

I did some research on the stylast website. They really provide no information that would help to identify the solvent or cleaning agent that is in their preparation. However, they do say that stylast will last for decades, and is just as useful after long-term storage as it is upon receipt. If this is true, that eliminates the content of any volatile solvent in stylast. All the solvents that I know of that might eat into epoxy after it is cured are acetone based and are therefore volatile. Alcohol will not touch cured epoxy. So I think there is some sort of lubricant in stylast at a very dilute level, and it has no potential to eat epoxy. Possibly when a stylus is lost after using stylast, it is simply due to the trauma of the Brush passing over the stylus. 

Thanks lewm.  There is no solvent in Stylast.  According to their website the way Stylast works is that it vaporizes as the stylus rides in the record grooves and this vapor creates a cushion or barrier that reduces friction.  I have been using it for decades, but I am but one person.  The stuff has been on the market and used by a whole host of people for a very long time.  If there was any story associated with it attacking the adhesives holding stylus to cantilever it would be available.  There is no story for Stylast.  For liquid cleaners yes there is a story.

I don’t understand their model. If it vaporizes at a rate in excess of water, then it might contain an additive that reduces the surface tension of water.  Maybe a nonionic detergent. That might make sense. I have a bottle that must be at least 25 years old. I don’t use it any more not for fear of it damaging my cartridge but simply because I shifted over to Magic Eraser and/or the Audioquest sonic cleaner and/or a brush with no liquid. Understandably they keep it a secret I think because it might be very cheap to replicate.  In which case they could not sell Stylast for $45 per tiny bottle.  I bought a stylus cleaner very like Stylast, in Tokyo, for about $10, including brush. I have not translated the package insert which is in Japanese script.

Bill,

Maybe, after years of playing, it simply vibrated out of a laser cut hole, and Steve just mentioned the most frequent cause he sees, due to cleaners (not Stylast).

Steve will be using adhesive to hold the MicroRidge into the Boron, and he will warn you not to use stylus cleaners.

Maybe I hit the edge of my platter, and knocked my tip loose/out, or I loosened it's glue, because I was using Stylus Cleaner, not Stylast. Like lewm, I have a very old bottle of Stylast, but don't use it.

It seems that the confusion concerning Stylast is related to what it is, by that I mean the purpose of the stuff.  It is not a cleaner.  The stylus must be clean before it is applied.  The purpose is to increase the life of the stylus.  It does so by reducing the friction created at the interface between the stylus and the vinyl as the record is played.  There is a lot of heat generated that would allow the state change from liquid to gas that the manufacturer describes in their product description.  This would be a different mechanism than simple evaporation at room temperature.  Without knowing the chemical composition of the compound we cannot know exactly what the vapor pressure is or the boiling point is or any other pertinent details that would account for it's stability in the bottle vs. it's behavior on the stylus under dynamic load.  I can attest that it does usefully extend stylus life.  By profession I am, or was before retirement and befuddlement, a chemical engineer, but this is well outside my field of expertise.  FWIW, to clean my stylus I use a little vibrating gadget that Hudson makes that works like magic.