If you want an excellent lubricant for all things turntable and tape machine, Dextron style automatic transmission fluid is an excellent choice. A few drops is good in any TT main platter bearing, and if you have to lubricate a motor it works well there also. The only caveat is it does not cost much.
Don't use this to lube your VPI Classic bearing
I recently lubricated the bearing on my Classic using white lithium grease purchased from ACE Hardware. The brand is AGS; it came in a white 1.25 oz tube. After about a week, I heard a whooshing sound coming from (under) the platter at each spin. I removed the platter and the sight was not pretty - some of the grease turned into a gooey brown substance and pooled at the bottom of the shaft; there were some chunks of the grease inside the hollow. I didn't use that much of it and it looked worse than after a full year of use with the original job performed by VPI.
I cleaned it all out, and the whooshing sound went away. So if your Classic is due for maintenance, stay away from this particular product.
Does any Classic owner have a brand/product they can recommend for lubricating the bearing? Considering that you only need a little bit of it about once a year, $26 for the lube from VPI is a bit steep.
I cleaned it all out, and the whooshing sound went away. So if your Classic is due for maintenance, stay away from this particular product.
Does any Classic owner have a brand/product they can recommend for lubricating the bearing? Considering that you only need a little bit of it about once a year, $26 for the lube from VPI is a bit steep.
- ...
- 38 posts total
Captain Winters, Please let us know how this Super Lube works. It looks like it should work quite well, and saw they also sell 1 oz tubes for $3. Atmashpere, The Classic has an inverted bearing so would transmission fluid work? I don't know its viscosity, but anything thinner than peanut butter in room temperature would most likely not work. Or to put it differently, I don't think any "fluid" would work. |
So I finally lubricated my Classic with this particular grease that was ok'ed by VPI. I found it quite thick and not slippery, almost like toothpaste. But what do I know; after all, it has Teflon in it, which is one of the most slippery substances known to man... Well, I started listening earlier today and actually heard the pitch was off on a U2 album. My SDS was set to 60.20 Hz. When I checked the speed with the KAB strobe, the platter was spinning way too slow. I had to go up to 61.85 Hz to get the speed dead on. So what the hell? That can't be right. If I didn't have the SDS, I could not listen to without removing the grease. I find this extremely frustrating as this should be a simple maintenance job that turned into a major headache. |
- 38 posts total