Oil For Nottingham Spacedeck?

Wow! A week and no replies, and then some very interesting observations, opinions and suggestions for which I am most grateful indeed!

Atmasphere, I am definitely going to try your suggestion. If there is an issue, be it sound-quality OR mechanical, I can always wipe it out of there and use something different.

Chazro, I remember all that hoopla about the green markers and am inclined to lean in the direction you suggest....I definitely WILL post an update, so stay tuned and thanks for your kind advice.

Wish I had a chemist friend who would be able to break it down precisely and tell me how many "snakes" it would take....:-)

I found a suggestion from another Spacedeck owner that Royal Purple Synfilm GT is supposedly very similar in terms of viscosity to the NOTT oil, so that might be an alternative. See it here:

http://royalpurpleindustrial.com/prodsi/sfgt.html

Also, another owner has been using this product without complications:

http://www.musicdirect.com/p-7304-michell-synthetic-main-bearing-oil-8cc.aspx

I am very interested in maintaining the integrity of this deck so will be very cautious, but $125 a bottle for a few ounces seems very much like gouging to me, especially when one has just contributed quite heavily to the corporate health by purchasing their product. Seems to me they would be only too happy to send along a bottle from time to time rather than take this approach. But, who knows what their stuff costs them so perhaps I am wrong in my observations....kind of doubt it though.

The real travesty is that Nottingham has to date and to my knowledge NOT PROVIDED EXPLICIT SETUP DIRECTIONS FOR THE ARM!!! The owner's manual for the table itself is marginally adequate as it takes a lot of time for someone not too familiar with such things to get it.....but I took the time, and now I "get it," but the arm is still a bit of a mystery to me and it sure would be nice to know I have it precisely as NAS intends.

I know, I know, "take it to a professional...." Well, I live in a fairly rural area and I just can't do that without driving a very long way, likely 8 hours or more, to find such a person.

Sigh....will limp along, trial and error it is.

Thanks again, everyone.

I think, you can get the Nott oil cheaper from divineaudio.co.uk
They are reliable, shipping was quick enough. I bought a belt from them. The bottle is good for five/seven oil changes that you should do from time to time, say, every year or so.

Quality Service Audio www.qsaudio.nl, produces EOM turntable lubricants.
I use it in my Spacedeck incl. heavy kit with great succes!
Send them an E-mail with respect to prices and dekivery.

Frans de Kok

The oil's viscosity may be different. There are other oils cheaper to use, but will it affect the speed (faster with thinner oil or slower with heavier oil)?

I should point something out here.

The main deal with the oil is to prevent the bearing from failing. I have heard rumours that some manufacturers use the oil to produce drag on their drive system so that their speed controls will work properly. I don't know if the Nottingham does that BTW, but such use of oil is a mistake. It should be obvious why- misapplication will cause the speed control to not function ideally, and there is no way to know once the unit ships from the factory that its working right!

So, from an engineering point of view, that idea is flawed and something that no-one should do on account of poor reliability and repeatability. Thus, a proper oil that protects the bearing is what is needed. The Dextron I mentioned does this beautifully- I have used it in professional tape deck bearings and all sorts of turntables over the last 35 years. I have yet to run into a situation where it did not work splendidly. You can pay $100/bottle if you want, but I would not be surprised to find that the oil thus obtained is very similar.