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recommended oil for well tempered spindle cup

have classic well tempered TT and arm from the 90's, upgraded to black arm and platter.
can someone give some insight for the contradiction i read in several forums:

"The type of oil can be specific to a turntable design, but in general, motor oil is not a good choice.

Motor oil is usually multigrade and contains all sorts of additives. This bad. Light multi=purpose or sewing machine oil is a bit to thin. I use a monograde oil sold for air compressors at about SAE 20 or 30. Quite cheap. Synthetic is better than mineral oil if you can find some. I am just using mineral oil as sold at Tradetools for about $10 a litre bottle."

on the other hand:
“...any synthetic motor oil of any brand within a viscosity range of 5W-50 is acceptable.”
and this:
"For the spindle, he said Mr. Firebaugh, the designer, has updated the fluid to be synthetic motor oil, 5w20 or 5w30, whichever is cheaper. he said viscosity is not that important."

 

128x128stone1
lewm
13,038 posts
 

33 or 45 rpm is not much of a stress on any bearing using any oil. The Mobil One recommendation is good as any.

stone1's avatar
stone1 OP
112 posts
 

btw, the link above is for 0w20
the recommendation of the designer was for  5w20 or 5w30

lewm
13,038 posts
 

There is just no need for two weights, unless you’re planning on 5000 rpm.

This is not to contradict Firebaugh. He was probably exaggerating. Or picked some numbers out of the air. By all means do go with his recommendation.

armstrod
612 posts
 

I owned a WTRP and my experience was that the stretchier the belt the heavier weight oil was optimal. When I had my original stiff belt or the mostly OEM Stanalog replacements, the then recommended 50W motor oil worked great. When George went out of business, only stretchier belts were available and 90W gear oil made them tolerable. When I was finally patient enough to make a proper string drive, then 5W mineral oil helped the string not to slip but didn't raise the bearing noise level.

Not sure of the current state of belt availability for WT tables, so YMMV. If Bill has OEM belts as replacements, then you should definitely follow his oil recommendation.

David

lewm
13,038 posts
 

I am sure your direct experience is more cogent than my guesswork, but one might think that with a stretchy belt, higher viscosity would engender more belt stretching which might lead to more speed irregularity.  Just thinking out loud. Anyway, my bottom line contention is it doesn't make much difference what lubricant you use.  If I recall my friend's WTRP, the "bearing" actually consisted of some white protrusions in the well, maybe one or two rounded hemispherical white plastic mounds, which contacted the spindle when the belt pulled the platter toward the motor.  Very unconventional to begin with.

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