Having another listen this morning to the revitalised sound by 'remaking the connections' . . . you may have seen the title in the hifi forum. One reflects on the past couple of years, change after change, 1% here a couple of percent there, even half a percent, hardly audible but they all ad up as a whole to a solid '+' performance. As I have said many times; 'the sum of the parts . . . etc'. So here I am listening and enjoying music from my simple, no cost upgrade, 'remake connections' bringing musical pleasure to my ears. At the same time reading some web sites, I ran across a post that mentioned dry platter bearing and the obvious problems :? I have not looked at my bearing oil for over 12 months . . . more like 18 in truth :wall: Having recently increased the mass of my Rega glass platter to 3.2kg . . . the bearing thread rang a bell in my mind. I have some Isokinetik TT bearing oil, specially formulated for the job, they say? So lets give it a go, everything to gain. Believe me lifting 3.2kg of platter from the sub platter is not easy, I need bigger hands, once moving it has to keep coming with out lifting the sub platter. Platter and sub platter off, there was evidence of 'oil creep' and a little bearing wear in the residue. Oil creep means oil level will be low, examining the bearing spindle showed no sign of visable wear. Removed the old oil with a pippet, cleaned up and replace with fresh oil, lightly oiled the spindle, it took a good few minuets to drop back into the female section, even with 1kg of weight on top. A test finger spin had it turning for what seemed like for ever, happy. Record in place, carry on listening . . . we, Hazel and me, really did not expect any noticeable change. Think again, small yes, but tighten up it did, small in percentage changes but there was an audible positive. I had put on the last record we had listen to, Art Garfunkels 1978 album 'Watermark'. Not expecting a change but one has so often noticed these tiny improvements and presentation offerings, I cant say I was that surprised. Another 'tweak'? is it a tweak? . . . We change the oil in our cars, an oil change on a TT bearing in retrospect seems a natural thing to do every, say 12 months, the bonus for me, tightening my sound up, the real purpose was to preserve the bearings life. A bottle of oil is much cheaper than a new bearing and it may well improve the sound of your TT? CJSF
Essential part of a TT service most forget about?
- Thread starter CJSF
- Start date
Stresses are far higher in cars than turntables, you know. I agree, you should check oil level, but a change once every 5 years or so is more than adequate.
altruistic.lemon said:
Yep altruisic.lemon, I have seen the 5 year figure. In my book it depends on hours run and how fussy one is where TT maintenance is concerned, especialy when the platter is heavy, the weight onto a tiny bearing surface is massive. I have recently almost tripled the mass of my TT platter.
Oil change does not take long, and gives peace of mind . . . with the bonus that a positive performance improvement may be the result?
But I agree with you, 5 years is the accepted figure.
CJSF
Good point CJSF, especially when you buy a s/h turntable. A new belt/oil change is par of the course and should guarantee years of trouble free usage. Its the first thing I do, amongst other things.
I remember well the uproar I've caused over at vinyl engine when I said that I use Mobile fully synthetic engine oil in my tables, even the thorens with the sintered bearing
Glad to say all my turntables still work well and none have disintegrated ...
regards
I remember well the uproar I've caused over at vinyl engine when I said that I use Mobile fully synthetic engine oil in my tables, even the thorens with the sintered bearing
Glad to say all my turntables still work well and none have disintegrated ...
regards
drummerman said:I remember well the uproar I've caused over at vinyl engine when I said that I use Mobile fully synthetic engine oil in my tables, even the thorens with the sintered bearing
Well thats what you get for rubbing shoulders with idjuts. I use Mobil 1 , which is as near as makes no difference what Michell use. I know this cos Steve at Mich told me so. Of course there are obv paranoiac Mich users who think their bearing with fall to bits if they dont use the 8quid for a teaspoon full of the real deal. Or sewing machine oil will do ya D .
Yes, light full synthetic is what I was told to use, however, the oil came with the sub-platter/bearing upgrade. As you say Floyd, you dont get much but at 3 or 4 drops a time, I recon it will see me out
Thats of course unless I stay around for 'ever' and annoy you lot
CJSF
Thats of course unless I stay around for 'ever' and annoy you lot
CJSF
plastic penguin
Well-known member
plastic penguin said:
Good synthetic will do nicely. Will do a year or 6000 miles, whichever comes early.
regards
The fancy new diff in my car runs on fully synthetic limited slip high pressure oil — perfect I reckon.
Considering the abuse oil takes in an engine I'd imagine that it never ever ever needs to be changed in a turntable — there's no heat, no water, no fuel.
As for grade of oil — I would think something fairly heavy would be good for damping speed changes.
Considering the abuse oil takes in an engine I'd imagine that it never ever ever needs to be changed in a turntable — there's no heat, no water, no fuel.
As for grade of oil — I would think something fairly heavy would be good for damping speed changes.
jcarruthers said:
Light, full synthetic grade is best, see above, heavy oil would slow things down :? Oil creep means the 'pot' will run low/dry eventualy, there was evidance of wear (as one would expect from moving parts) in mine, so a clean up and chang to new oil is a good idea.
Run and forget is not a good idea . . . :O
CJSF
It would only slow things down if the motor didn't have enough torque — so depends on spec of the motor.
The gearing is pretty high so I wouldn't expect it to have much of an issue.
Oil creep means a dodgy bearing design in my book…
We could go around forever
(not arguing abour maintenance, just considering the facts)
The gearing is pretty high so I wouldn't expect it to have much of an issue.
Oil creep means a dodgy bearing design in my book…
We could go around forever
(not arguing abour maintenance, just considering the facts)
Sewing machine oil is about right for belt drives. Linn used to use machine oil, as (I think) did Rega.
jcarruthers said:It would only slow things down if the motor didn't have enough torque — so depends on spec of the motor.
The gearing is pretty high so I wouldn't expect it to have much of an issue.
Oil creep means a dodgy bearing design in my book…
We could go around forever
(not arguing abour maintenance, just considering the facts)
. . . "much of an issue", is to much? IMHO
. . . its a simple bearing with out a seal . . . needs maintinance. Thats coming full circle is it not?
CJFS
altruistic.lemon said:
Changed my oil for the first time earlier this year. I bought the TT2 new in the early 80's so about 30 years before a change. Bearing looked fine to me and I can' t hear any difference, but some peace of mind I know the oil is fresh!
It will either be an issue or it won't — if the torque is enough to overcome the extra drag then I'd expect that the heavier oil would be better. However for all I know a motor with more torque may cause more vibration through the belt.
Surely the oil should not come out? I would suggest you could get rid of this by adding a chamfer at the top of bearing race (I don't know the right name in terms of turntable bearings) — if it comes out it'll only be sitting on the flat top surface.
Surely the oil should not come out? I would suggest you could get rid of this by adding a chamfer at the top of bearing race (I don't know the right name in terms of turntable bearings) — if it comes out it'll only be sitting on the flat top surface.
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