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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
johnto
1,023 posts
 

On my VPI Scout I'm using 40-weight motor oil and  .25 teaspoon of white lithium grease as recommend on the bearing.

stone1's avatar
stone1 OP
112 posts
 

"There is just no need for two weights"
what do you mean by "two weights" ? - lewm.
did not find any correlation between the oil type and belt strech or speed.
i am using now a thicker belt than the original, which made the speed more stable.  



 

bobby1945
79 posts
 

My Linn Sondek LP12 bearing housing is partially filled with 0W20 full synthetic .

The spindle platter assembly is  engaged into the housing ,displacing some of the oil-To avoid a mess wrap some tissues around the housing.

This procedure guarantees oil in the microscopic annulus , between the bearing housing and the spindle.  

clearthinker's avatar
clearthinker
1,582 posts
 

And how often should you change the oil?  I do it on my Simon Yorke S10 about every two years.  After that time there is a bit less left in there.  It must evaporate a bit and will therefore thicken, perhaps slowing the table fractionally or introducing more rumble.  I use the oil Simon supplied.  Dunno what it is.

But I guess you need a different grade oil when running at 45rpm than at 33.  Very troublesome if you run 78s as well.

stone1's avatar
stone1 OP
112 posts
 

as i wrote, right now i use sewing machine oil.
plan to check if there is any difference with what was recommended by the designer

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