Found that there Snake Oil

[trio leo]

Without sounding too girlie, OMG!!
A friend of mine gave me a little glass phile of black oil saying "liquid gold mate, liquid gold", he has a similar set up to me.

So I took it home and took the platter, idler wheel and belt pulley off my TD124mkii, cleaned it all and replaced the oil with this "liquid Gold".

WOW!! :harp: instantly it was as though a veil had been lifted from infront of me, an extra clarity had appeared, fantastic.

I've always known different liquids can change the delivery of a deck, some more noticeable than others, when I worked at Bespoke Audio in the 70/80's we tried various "oils" Johnsons baby oil was good but we weren't happy as it had a detergent in it, water was good, but not happy with that, mercury was great, but we felt it was dangerous stuff ( we bought it at the local chemists" so thin oil became the norm really.

My friend got this from a fellow that builds model steam engines, I don't know what it's called, but I guess being black it's got millibdenum, mellubdenim, mal... oh you know what I mean, :-)

So, if you can, have go at changing the bearing oil in your deck, it may be a nice, cheap upgrade, whatever you do don't try WD40!, great at first but after about 3 days it turns to glue, (tried it, lol).

Enjoy your music

Cheers Al

[Ali Tait]

Folk often make that mistake with WD40. It's not a lubricant.

Sounds like you had a good result, let us know if you find out what it is.

[struth]

quite like clock oil myself

[Gazjam]

I use Audio Origami's "super slippy" bearing oil in my Turntable, noticeable change in sound over the standard Michell stuff.
Changing the oil is a tweak well worth doing imo.

Did a test,. with the AO oil in place the platter spun for more than twice as long as with the Michell oil in the bearing.

[walpurgis]

I've always known different liquids can change the delivery of a deck, some more noticeable than others, when I worked at Bespoke Audio in the 70/80's we tried various "oils" Johnsons baby oil was good but we weren't happy as it had a detergent in it, water was good, but not happy with that, mercury was great, but we felt it was dangerous stuff ( we bought it at the local chemists" so thin oil became the norm really.

My friend got this from a fellow that builds model steam engines, I don't know what it's called, but I guess being black it's got millibdenum, mellubdenim, mal... oh you know what I mean, :-)

So, if you can, have go at changing the bearing oil in your deck, it may be a nice, cheap upgrade, whatever you do don't try WD40!, great at first but after about 3 days it turns to glue, (tried it, lol).

Enjoy your music

Cheers Al

I'm not sure where water or mercury would fit in with lubrication. Water obviously would be useless and mercury would eat away bronze bearings and probably be useless at lubricating. WD40 is made from cheap mineral oils with a diluting agent.

Molybdenam Disulphide has been used in oils and greases for donkeys year. Thick oils with it in are sold as car transmission additives. Lubricants with PTFE (teflon) and graphite in are available too.

For the last thirty or more years I've been using EP80/90 gearbox oil with about 5% STP petrol treatment added to lubricate turntable main bearings. The STP is just very thick silicone oil. Wynns can also be used, as it's basically the same stuff. I never get noticeable wear or corrosion on any parts.

[trio leo]

We tried water just for the hell of it, we knew it wouldn't work as a lubricant, we tried mercury because of the connective ability of it being a metal, we knew it would be no good as well, but through all the lubricants I have tried, thin oil gives the most musical results, thick oil, thick, plodddy sound
IMHO. the bearings on my deck seem to be fine, it's over 50 years old and still sounds fantastic to me. (luckily I have a spare anyway)

If I find out what this stuff is I'll let you know.

My friend suggested PTFE spray as it contains Teflon, maybe worth a try, that's the hobby.

I remember 30 years ago my friend Tom Fletcher RIP, made me a silver steel bearing base plate for my 124, he told me to take out the oil and run the base plate in with Brasso, yes Brasso metal polish, under his supervision I ran it for 10 minutes, he assured me that at the beginning in microscopic terms the ball bearing would wear the silver steel plate quite quickly, but equally as the contact area grew larger the wear reduced rapidly, we are talking a very tiny contact area here and compared to Toms heavy platter Dais T/T, the 124 platter is light.
I cleaned it out and replaced the oil, it was brilliant then and it still is I don't have any rumble at all.

Love this hobby,

Enjoy your music :)

Cheers Al

[walpurgis]

That makes a certain sense. The Brasso providing a hone/polish prior to proper lubrication. I have to say it's not something I'd do.

As for thin oils. I won't use them on main bearings. The idea is that once rotating the platter main shaft and bearing are not in contact at all, being separated by the oil film. The angular/lateral forces are quite large on a heavy, slow rotating item like this, so I feel the higher viscosity the lubricant the better, to keep the lubricant film consistent.

[awkwardbydesign]

Has anyone tried Militec-1? It's a gun oil/treatment that is claimed to impregnate the metal. Although it is intended for hot operation, I use it for lubricating longboard bearings, and it lets them spin longer than anything else I tried. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008YN4Q7I/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_3?pf_rd_p=1944687742&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00AAX4LOI&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1NX79NE1RTM7Q06HV4VD