What type grease for tape deck?

[Skywavebe]

Grease: I know this is a old post and still people need to know what has worked well for some of us that have been doing repairs for a long time.
I have used a product that I bought at a hardware store and then having nothing but good results over years combined with no negative side effects I have come to use Lubriplate 105 from a 10 Oz tube that is kept in a plastic film container on the bench. Over the years, I have never had a single deck come back to me with the problem being caused by a failure of the grease used. Not one. In addition I cam across an oil that I was at the time trying to get rid of. O put it in the motors or a A2000R test case deck- what happened? I had to wipe my eyes and check all my connections but a deck previously able to get down to a wow and flutter of say .07 to .06% was now reading .02% with AMS Signature series 0W30 motor oil which is a synthetic oil. You can use three in one if you like but I know what oil I will use and I continue to use it to this day.

 

[62vauxhall]

Grease: I know this is a old post and still people need to know what has worked well for some of us that have been doing repairs for a long time.
I have used a product that I bought at a hardware store and then having nothing but good results over years combined with no negative side effects I have come to use Lubriplate 105 from a 10 Oz tube that is kept in a plastic film container on the bench. Over the years, I have never had a single deck come back to me with the problem being caused by a failure of the grease used. Not one. In addition I cam across an oil that I was at the time trying to get rid of. O put it in the motors or a A2000R test case deck- what happened? I had to wipe my eyes and check all my connections but a deck previously able to get down to a wow and flutter of say .07 to .06% was now reading .02% with AMS Signature series 0W30 motor oil which is a synthetic oil. You can use three in one if you like but I know what oil I will use and I continue to use it to this day.

How would that Lubriplate 105 differ from Molykote. Asking because I have Molykote And have you ever tried using oil from an oil pen like those sold in RC hobby shops?

I had to return a toilet part that I bought on spec the day that prticular plumbing supply place stopped letting customers inside. They sold me the wrong part. Had to wait until the location near to where I moved began business as usual so I could return it. I spotted this oil by the cashier and took a bottle as part of my refund.

Not used yet but my thought was that if was good for HVAC motor bearings, it should be good for electro mechanical audio components. Using it for motors in the Teac A3300 I got back from Leon was what I had in mind.

I like using sythetic 5W30 engine oil on turntable platter bearings but thought a less viscous oil would be better for motors bearings in turntables and tape machines.

 

[Skywavebe]

I used to use the zoom spout type oil but none even come close to what AMS can do. Molycoat is that same grease used by VCR manufactures that got hard and cause failures. It looks like it has graphite in it but if it gets hard it does not matter as it fails anyway. I never put Molycoat in any new repairs. Why would I use a product that has already been the cause of so many failures over the years? I am trying to make people decks better not worse.
If I don't like a person I will tell them to lubricate the deck with WD40 but you really have to aggravate me.

I have AMS in medical like syringes with real needles but that the lance has been filed off with a file so that it is flat. i am sure I have refilled them at least 6 to 8 times by now.

 

[62vauxhall]

I used to use the zoom spout type oil but none even come close to what AMS can do. Molycoat is that same grease used by VCR manufactures that got hard and cause failures. It looks like it has graphite in it but if it gets hard it does not matter as it fails anyway. I never put Molycoat in any new repairs. Why would I use a product that has already been the cause of so many failures over the years? I am trying to make people decks better not worse.
If I don't like a person I will tell them to lubricate the deck with WD40 but you really have to aggravate me.

I have AMS in medical like syringes with real needles but that the lance has been filed off with a file so that it is flat. i am sure I have refilled them at least 6 to 8 times by now.

Where do get largish syringes line that? I bought a box of 100 1cc insulin syringes at a flea market for $2 but the needles are too small a diameter for oil.

 

[Skywavebe]

The ones I have here are probably from the Ink Jet refill days. Animal medical places can get you syringes. My Sister is a Nurse but I have never had to ask her for this stuff as I had boxes of then from Ink Jet refill ventures. Being these are not used for injections to Humans they do not have to be sterile and the needles I ordered were from Sub Q fluid given to cats that were with Chronic Renal Failure so fluid therapy was required. The needles I buy are sterile but the used ones I clean with Denatured alcohol and file the end so that they are not dangerous and then fill the syringes with oil. If the cops want to give me trouble for having them here- I say go ahead and inject yourself if you think it is drugs- it is clearly oil and I can show them the container I fill them from. A needle that is 18 gauge will be fine for oil. Like most things with government the controls put on things just make it hard for legal persons to get stuff as the drug people will get it regardless of what they do in any way. If you need drugs just ask the CIA as they are involved. That is one of the places they raise money as if they have not already stolen enough from us already.

 

[Skywavebe]

In a lot of cases I get questions from. I can not find this IC or this transistor or this belt. Then when I go to help then the item pops up on E bay or through google immediately as available from many sources. The trouble these days is people don't find things BECAUSE they do not go looking.
Maybe this is a byproduct of those garbage I phone or Androids that guys try and look at schematics on those tiny screens but I tell them to get a real computer with a big screen and stop fooling around with those garbage phones- they are phones and that is what they should be used for not TV screens or internet searches. When will people grow a brain these days. I know I can not expect much from these 20 year olds but people that have been around from the 50's and 60's we should know better.

 

[Skywavebe]

In the many shops I have worked in and in my shop now I use a very easy to find product that has never failed in all the years I have used it. It is called Lubriplate 105. The only thing that can be said negative to it that it works too good and in the 122 Mk III decks that are loaded with dried out damping grease the transports work so fast and friction free is that they are noisy. So some gears in there can be cleaned and the operation slowed down by adding Silicon damping grease that I sell in small bottles to resolve this one issue. I do not use the Silicon all over as it present too much
friction just like the old dried out grease did and caused all these gears to crack. When I see strange and abstract grease that is purple in pinch roller linkage I clean it out because it is my material and work that is covered by my warranty not so crazy purple stuff that I have no idea what it is. NO I do not use that fancy expensive grease- some things are made just so they can sell you something- it does not mean it works well or for many years.

I trust Lubriplate 105 and will continue to use it.

 

[laatsch55]

Good enough to put motors together...

 

[Skywavebe]

The thing is if in the profession you use it for many years and have experience that a substance works wonderful that there are still others that will go to Menards or Home Depot and buy the most marketed stuff regardless of if it works or not but as long as they can make you believe that it does.
This is why I don't go buying all these fancy marketed items without test that indicate the product is worth it. Now AMSoil did a fair amount of comparative tests against other brands as there was this demonstration called the Ball test. Well the truth was I was trying to get rid of the oil I had as it was just sitting around. I used it in my car back in 2006 or 2007 but I did not get 100 miles to the gallon so I thought it might be another hyped up product. Then The first deck I put the oil in then showed me what it was capable of- .02% in an old Teac deck is never seen before results. Now I use that oil all the time exclusively and it gives results again and again. The grease is not such a product that makes itself known by instruments but over time. In the time I have greased Pinch roller linkages probably starting in 1977 or 78, I used a grease that was sitting around but eventually I came upon Lubriplate 105. As I continue to use the stuff, I notice that in all the decks I work on, they never come back no matter how many years they are out there with Lubriplate in there. Time will tell as they say so maybe that is in itself the proof of a good product. I have had units come in that had a rotating rod. This had this purple colored grease on it. The person who applied it put the grease on but never made sure the rod the linkage pivots on was tight which I do. With a lose rod the angle and consistency of the support for the Pinch Roller linkage is now not perpendicular to the face plate which is the reference for the bearing so as this gets more and more lose the sloppiness causes the Pinch roller to meet the capstan shaft at a number of different angles- wonder why tape wonders off the pinch roller? This is why professional service is best as they use the right materials and also make sure the deck is put together again as it was made. The purple stuff got cleaned off and Lubriplate put on as I don't know the characteristics of that purple stuff and the color tells me it is product made to market it to those that do not know. Why does it have to be purple of all things?

 

[George S.]

Lubriplate 105 is a great product. I was a bicycle mechanic through high school and college in the 70s and we used it exclusively for any and all bearings. Fast forward to the early 2000s and I was building small and big block Chevy motors using it as a assembly lubricant. I still have some old squeeze tubes of it, only issue is the lighter oils tend to separate from the heavier grease over time. Just knead the tube or stir the can and it's good to go. Good stuff, never seems to set up and harden. I can see why you like it for precision mechanisms.

 

[mlucitt]

Lubriplate is a calcium soap grease with a zinc-oxide wear additive, it uses regular napthenic hydrotreated base oil stock and other additives. Originally made as an motor assembly lube, its off-white color makes it easy to see where it has been applied. Back in the day, "motor" meant "engine" but because the tube of Lubriplate 105 says "Motor Assembly Grease" many thought it was for electrical motors. It is waterproof and works up to operating temperatures of 105 degrees F.

That's the grease the USMC used on every M-14 rifle just before going to the range in boot camp at Parris Island, SC.

 

[Skywavebe]

That makes sense but I also saw it in a episode of Black Sheep Squadron where they had a barrel of it but may not have been 105 then. I can't imagine they put the name in for authenticity unless it was in use then.

 

[mlucitt]

That makes sense but I also saw it in a episode of Black Sheep Squadron where they had a barrel of it but may not have been 105 then. I can't imagine they put the name in for authenticity unless it was in use then.

Lubriplate is made in the USA and has been around for 150 years. Lubriplate 130-A has been used in the aviation industry and has a Mil-Spec number (only for water washout). So very likely it it was available to the Black Sheep Squadron.

 

[Skywavebe]

I was surprised to see wsuch a thing but show what extent the show went to to try and be authentic. I found it to be enjoyable to watch but reminds me of high school kid behavior a lot of time.