Chakster is your man, but he’s been away from the forum for a while. The simple answer to your question is that the bearing and the spindle shaft are what needs lubricating in a direct drive turntable. If you have purchased one that has not been serviced for a while, it makes good sense to remove the platter, pull the spindle out of its bearing shaft, and take a look and see what’s going on in there. The first step would be to clean it out using a tissue that does not itself leave a residue of paper fibers. You don’t want anything foreign to get into that hole. If possible at this point in time you would also inspect the thrust pad. Once you have cleaned out the bearing shaft and if the thrust pad is OK, then a very few drops of almost any lubricant is fine. The platter spins at relatively low speeds and is never spinning fast enough to generate any heat, so many different bearing lubricants will work fine. Many of us use a single grade synthetic motor oil of light weight. No detergent allowed.
