Question for TW Acustic Owners

I was told by Jeff at HWS to do it every six months.

If the lube you are using is the older spray can type which was very thin I would recommend 3 times a year. If you are using the newer squeeze bottle type which is much more viscous and adheres to the bearing twice a year is probably sufficient. It also depends on your listening time. I listen 2 to 3 hours each day 7 days a week so I pull the platter at least 3 or 4 times each year and apply lubrication.

I asked Thomas this question a couple of months back.

He said every 12 months.

Cheers

Phil...I e-mailed Jeff the same question when I got my Raven One last year. His response:

Standard oiling is one drop on the ball of the spindle bearing and one drop in the bearing well. If two drops, ok but, no more.
I would do it every 6 months. Each time, wipe each surface clean with a dry cotton cloth. No chemicals and then, re oil.
Best wishes,
Jeff

Though I feel Thomas' recommendation sounds more correct, Elinor's comment on use makes good sense.

A while back I realized that I had gone over a year with out a lube job. When I pulled the platter there was plenty of lube still there and it looked fine. After relubing there was no change in sound that I could tell. That is with the newer lube that Elinor described. I listen to 3 hours of actual playing time twice a week on average. So once a year seems to be enough.

Thanks for all the answers and responses everyone. Td, it sounds like out listening schedules are about the same. I have the newer squeeze bottle oil/lube.

Any indication to lubricate the motor like I did with the VPI motors?

No motor lube under any circumstance.

Philb7777
Thanks for the wakeup call. Its been over a year if not more since I did this.
Cheers
Pradeep

Phib7777, Based on my modest experience with VPI, owned a Aries 2 and later upgraded to the super platter, the VPI bearings are much much smaller than the Raven. That means that pressure per square inch, psi, is way higher with the VPI.

No expert in this area but the lubs required for each application would be considerably different.

Hard for me to see how one could damage the Raven bearing. The VPIs is fairly small and lub maintenance would be more an issue of neglected imo.

As TdAudio says, this 12 month thing sounds more precautionary than anything else.

If you are using the T/T regularly then the oil will be directed to the top of the bearing in which case I don't see the need for constant re-lubing?
I'd be more concerned if it was left inactive for very long periods?

When TW first went into manufacture (despite the old style of oil application) the emphasis was more on the Raven being "maintenance free". I bought the Raven on this premise so it's too late to move the goalposts now! :)

Currently I've done one relube in 4 years and see/hear no change in performance on reference recordings.
Kind regards....

What is the type of oil used for TW turntables?

...and good luck not smashing your fingers if you own the 45 lb heavy copper platter. 

My new dealer helped me to re-lubricate for the 1st time after >10 years since I bought the TT. Couldn't tell if there was any difference in SQ.