Kliban by B. Kliban for December 19, 2022

“Mom-6247, I have been a little ‘bound-up’ the last few cycles. May I have a deciliter of WD-40?”

He just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich

well, it’s claimed to be ‘jelly’ right on the label

Vaseline: It builds strong bodies, twelve ways.

Vaseline works well on the bottom as well, so I’m told.

It’s always a preventive measure to keep those nuts and bolts well greased daily!

“Mom, I’m a big bot, now. If you must know, I have a female-internal-thread counterpart now. She’s an old-fashioned Acme girl. We fit together according to specs, with nominal backlash. Vaseline is for kids, and retains irritating metal shavings. I think I’m old enough to use heavy-grade threading oil in my relationships… Please don’t cry, you’ll dilute your coolant to ineffective levels. Take comfort in our Holy Machinist’s Handbook.”

[Forgive me. Over many years, I did a lot of threading and gear cutting.]

I am impressed with his “mom-like” robot in the cartoon.

Just like JIF peanut butter—“smooth and easy to spread”.