Mineral spirits is what I used. It is what is used in Richie compasses. Mine
is an Airguide.
My compass lost its fluid. Turned out the plastic around the plug seal in
the bottom developed a crack. Using clear epoxy I glued a #8-32 brass nut
to the plastic and covered it over with epoxy as well. Formed a nice little
crater into which fits a small rubber o - ring and brass machine screw for
the seal.
I then filled the compass using a syringe but every time I would put it in
the freezer, an air bubble would form. I kept shaking it and refilling it
cold and now there is no bubble. Dissolved air in fluid was the problem.
What the cold does is contract the fluid exposing the air sort of like
creating a little vacuum in the dome. When the fluid warms up it expands and
there is no bubble. So if its cold and there is no bubble, when it is warm
there wont be a bubble as well. At least that is what I think happened. So
far it is good. I searched a long time wondering what fluid to use, I saw
people talk about alcohol, water, stoddard's fluid, mineral oil, glycerine,
mineral spirits, lamp oil, etc... What convinced me to use mineral spirits
was the fact that Richie compass uses mineral spirits. You can buy this
fluid from West Marine. I just went to Home Depot and bought a gallon of
odorless mineral spirits.

" Tuuk" wrote in message
...
There is a group that does work for the St. Lawrence Seaway for items like
this. There is a guy out of Richmond Hill who did mine, a Danforth Corsair
and did a new dome and light and fluid. Real nice job. I will try to find
his number it was years ago but I located him by calling that Seaway
outfit
and they gave me his number.
It is some kind of proper compass oil






"Steve" wrote in message
...
Agree. You should verify what the OEM put in because if you mix the
wrong
stuff, you may get a cloudy mix or the wrong stuff could effect the
painted
on markings of the card.

Steve
s/v Good Intentions