Home Spindle Lube Test

In anticipation of an phono preamp switch I gave my 30+ year old Dual 1219 turntable a lube job. It's rim drive so the platter spins freely with the drive disengaged. The test involved only common household lubricants that have other uses.

Procedure: clean the mating surfaces with 99% isopropyl alcohol; lightly lube all sufaces using Q-tip; spin platter by hand at high speed for a few minutes.

The test (taken at 58F degrees room temperature): Engage drive at 33 1/3 then disengage it, noting how long it takes the platter to come to complete rest. I repeated each test once to verify the result. The results in the order tested:

Light machine oil - Gunk Household oil: 105 seconds
Bicycle bearing grease - Castrol Synthetic: 65 seconds
Automotive motor oil - Mobil 1 grade 0W40: 160 seconds

Note: when mounting the platter on the spindle, with Gunk the platter seemed catch as it slid down. On dissasembly, the Castrol had coated the surfaces reassuringly. I left the Mobil 1 undisturbed!