Home Spindle Lube Test

Sean,
I agree to a point about your saying different oils should be verified, but one oil that was not checked was olive oil!

You might be surprised to find that it allows the platter to turn even longer than the motor oil.

BTW, longer turning time does not indicate that the lubrication is better, just that viscosity of the lubricant is lower therefore allowing more shearing of the lubricant itself which puts less drag on revolving spindle.
In fact too low a viscosity could be bad, since the lubricant barrier formed between the metal parts would break down and then we would have metal touching metal and increased wear. The platter, however, might turn for much longer, since the actual friction of metal to metal (sometimes ceramic) surfaces might be lower than with the lubricant between them.
Motor oils are for much harder lubricating conditions than a "babbit" bearing, which a turntable bearing is basically. That is why I said that motor oil is over kill. For lubricating a simple spindle, a light machine oil is all that is needed and while I might have been facetious in saying that olive oil would be just as good, I am sure that that is true! Try it, you might like it! (Pun intended).

Salut, Bob P.

PS. As a professional Chemical Engineer and having managed synthetic lubricant plants for several years, I am quite sure of my views on the subject of lubricants and their applications.

Bob,

What would you recommend? Something like Starrett oil, or a type of sewing machine oil? I ask because while I used the oil Chris sends out with the Teres bearing, I'm always open to suggestions. If a lighter oil will work better, I'm all for it.

Joe

I agree. About the only thing you could do to cause harm is to not use any lubrication. Heck, even water is a lubricant.
I judge a spindle lube based on how much extra noise I hear or don't hear from the platter.

Now that's the kind of post that makes this site truly interesting and worthwhile. Bob, your expertise is appreciated. My Gyro SE comes with a thimbleful of oil, which can be replaced for a mere $15.00. As an engineer, I was quite certain that Michell doesn't have a refinery create a unique oil for their application, and that any motor oil would think it was on vacation circulating around in my turntable. Thanks for confirming my suspicions.

Back when the 1219's were new, owner's used to compare who's platter would spin the longest after auto shut off. The Dual manual refers only to an "oiled" plug being pushed out when initially settling the platter.

Bob, correct me if I'm off course but the concept of early Mobil 1 was to create a more uniform concentrate of unwinding long chain polymers for the sole purpose of having an abundance of them to shear off. Isn't this molecular shearing the definition of lubrication itself?

Blast from the past: addressed the assembled 1974 U of D Chem.E graduating class with an unsober yet complete rendition of J.D.Salinger's The Laughing Man. Go Hens! :^)