Vpi Classic motor lubrication

THANKS all very much for the responses. Will consider.

Buconero

Actually I admire VPIs repeat business strategy, whom else does this better in the audio industry then VPIs marketing managers?,...Harry is NO fool.

May I ask, why does not Harry include such 40wgt with the original purchase? No, Harry needs to ask another $10 for such. Remember, Harry is a marketing genius. He knows a cash cow when he sees it.

Yes, I went through this brain puzzle as well. The "brass piece" is the plate with four hexagonal screws around the motor pulley. I saw some threads on here from a few years ago where posters would advise removing the plate to get to the "brass piece." Not a good idea; you don't want to be messing with the motor assembly. The challenge is that the space between the brass plate and the pulley is probably about 2 mm, if that. It appears after many years of owners complaining about this, Harry finally got the clue -- current versions of the Classic have a much bigger space between the brass edge and the pulley as I saw at my dealer's.

For the those like myself with the "older" versions of the turntable, a dropper that you can purchase at a Right Aid or Duane Reade can do an ok job, but I would strongly suggest a syringe with a needle, if you can get one. As Swanny noted, you WILL leave oil residue on the brass plate, which is a pain to clean up as you have to be super careful not to get any oil on the pulley or the platter. I live in San Diego and it is impossible to get a syringe with a needle here; I guess it's good I'm not a heroin addict. (As a side note, how restricting access to syringes helps with drug addiction is a mystery to me; it seems it would simply force users to share syringes and increase the risk of contracting HIV.) I had a friend bring me a syringe with a needle from Tijuana and it made the job much easier and cleaner. You stick the needle below the pulley and apply a little bit of oil on the pulley bearing.

Yes, I know...that brass piece is a head scratcher. What you want to do is get a drop of oil into the bearings below the shaft that comes up and holds the belt pulley. VPI will sell you the proper oil in a dropper bottle. Be careful you don't get any oil on the belt...

Yes, just get standard 40 wt motor oil from the car parts store. It's not easy to find--I had to go a few places til I found it. Most carry 10W30, 10W40, etc. I went for true 40--it's pretty thick.

Then I got a plunger type thing from the Ace hardware that allows you to suck up the oil and then hold it in the syringe part. I labeled it with a sharpie "VPI Classic motor oil" and put a drop right at the area where the spindle (below) meets the pulley (above), while the motor is spinning and the belt is attached, to keep the speed where it should be in use. I have a brass bushing at the bottom of the pulley where the spindle meets (I have the first edition with the squared corners), so that's about where I put it. Maybe the newest versions have changed a bit. I think you'll figure it out.

You only need one drop and then after the pulley spins a bit, you'll see some microdroplets splattered around the table area, so be prepared to wipe them up over the next week. Good luck!