Make WD40 replacement straw

WD40 come with a small straw for precision spraying and those are notorious to be easily lost. Sometimes you can buy replacements at the local store, but sometimes you can't or you just need a replacement immediately.

There are a few advices how to make your own replacement, and I tested a few. The closest that came to reality was to use cotton swab, remove cotton ends and use the remaining tube as a replacement straw. Of course the problem is that the cotton swab diameter are usually just a bit too large, so for example this site recommends to taper off one edge lightly using a sharp knife or a pencil sharpener.

What I found is that the cotton swab tube is so thin and you cannot taper it to the required diameter. So I came to the opposite idea: to increase the diameter of the WD40 nozzle.

First remove the WD40 nozzle and measure its diameter (in my case 2.4mm).

Next, firmly hold the nozzle with clamps (it is well lubricated, so it tends to move) and using a drill with just a bit smaller diameter (in my case 2.3mm) augment the hole. Turn the drill with your hand, so you better control the drilling. You don't want to drill through!

Clean the nozzle from drill chips and the thin hole in the end with the needle.

Mount the nozzle back to WD40 can and use the cotton swab tube!

Another advantage of this method is that if you lose one cotton swab tube, you can easily replace it with another one.

Created by Marko Pinteric.

Updated . Web page has been read by visitors since March 2017.