VPI Classic motor question

Davt,
The sound seems to be coming from the motor, and I re-powdered the belt when I lubricated the motor a few weeks ago. I replaced the belt a few months ago so it should be fine. However, I do admit it is difficult to test it as the pulley does not seem to spin without the belt on, only vibrates. But I will give it a try again.

Brf,
You might be onto something here. Yes, I removed the little brass collar as well, and did notice that the shaft can be moved up or down a few mm, and the collar holds it in position. I believe I pulled it all the way up and tried to fix it in that position by tightening the collar. From your experience, which position renders most silent results?

Thanks guys. I don't think it's the collar position. I removed the pulley and the brass collar, and the plastic washer. (Btw, the washer should be on the bottom, under the brass collar right?) So only the shaft is spinning. The noise is still there. I suppose it's small particles of dust plus excess oil that possibly are responsible. I think I probably put too much oil at this point into the motor.

I'm trying to reach Mike, but I keep missing him.

I pulled the shaft all the way up and fastened the collar. The motor still makes a swooshing sound. I think the noise is a combination of dirt that made its way into the motor over time and any excess oil I applied. The speed is spot on so I'm going to stop obsessing for now and enjoy the music.

Last question: does changing the motor entail soldering? If you DIY, how do you go about it given the fact that it is located underneath the plinth? Seems like a big challenge without a professional workbench.

Thanks all.

I did. All the way up seemed to sound most quiet.

Brf,

I called them all day yesterday, but apparently only Mike is knowledgeable enough to give advice on the motor issues, and he was not there every time I called. I'll probably give it another try tomorrow.

Every time I called Mike was not there. I asked the person who answered the phone whether he could help me, but he didn't even know whether replacing the motor entailed soldering, and whether the shaft should be all the way up or down. After asking other people there, he said it should be all the way down, which is the opposite what someone said Mike had told them. So back to square one.

That's what I did. There is still a little bit of swooshing sound coming from the motor, but it's quite low. The playback does not seem affected so I'm going to leave it for now. Perhaps the oil needs to settle a bit more. Thank you all of your advice.

That's good info, Andy. Thank you. Yes, I do recall our exchange regarding the lubrication of the Classic motor. I advised not to disassemble the pulley and to use a syringe to put the oil in the space between the pulley and the brass plate. Having dealt with the current problem, it appears to me I was right on one issue, and probably wrong on the other due to VPI's awfully unclear instructions regarding the lubrication.

Beginning with what I think I was wrong about, VPI's instructions simply state to put a drop of 40 Weight motor oil "below the brass piece." No mention of removing the pulley or shaft adjustment. Considering that the brass collar is not visible without first removing the pulley, and you need to loosen up the screw in the "brass piece" to apply the oil, this is just unacceptably inadequate. The fact that the manual warns "not to disturb [the pulley] at all" in another section makes the lubrication instructions even more confusing. Then you have a brass plate around the pulley so to me it seemed it was the way to go. I wonder now whether putting oil around the pulley rather than at the shaft contributed to the noise problem.

Now, what I think I was at least partly right about. The screws on the pulley must be perfectly tensioned as the pulley will otherwise wobble/vibrate. VPI uses special tools to balance them; I had a lot of difficulty getting the screws perfectly balanced with a standard Allen key. The manual does not explain it, VPI in their email responses never mentioned it. I wonder how many Classic owners who removed the pulley to lubricate the motor now have vibrating pulley, which is either easily noticeable or barely noticeable depending how well balanced the screws are. So my advice still stands: do not disturb the pulley unless you want to spend a lot of frustrating time adjusting the screws afterward.

Andy, btw, do you use the SDS with the new motor, which you used with the 600 rpm motor? I want to upgrade the motor, but need to know whether I'll be able to continue using my SDS. Thanks.

Thanks Macster. I appreciate your response.

Captain_winters,

Your method makes sense to me. Mike's response does not. Do you understand it? It sounds like he suggests pulling the shaft all the way up. "Very little vertical motion" would simply depend on whether you pulled the shaft all the way up or not before fixing the screw so you're either supposed to do it or not. Also, the shaft turns with the collar, so I don't understand how "turning freely" is a dependent factor in the correct re-installation.

Getting the pulley not to vibrate was a very painstaking process for me so I am very reluctant to remove it yet again to try what you suggested, but it sounds to me like you might be onto a fix. Any other shaft position will necessarily result in the collar virtually touching the stationary area of the motor save for the tiny washer. My only concern about what you suggested is the fact that when I had the shaft all the way down, I could hear a clicking noise in addition to the swooshing noise, which I thought was the shaft rubbing against the bottom of the motor. Moving it up reduced the noise and got rid of the clicking.

So what did you end up doing?