Never understood the idea of using a hard thrust pad. Any mechanical engineer is taught that one surface of a plain bearing should be hard and the other sacrificial surface should be soft. Hardened steel shaft running in soft bronze bearings or a very common usage is in engine bearings, a bearing shell with layers of material that can be scratched with a finger nail that runs against a steel or cast iron crank pin. As long as there is a film of oil between the surfaces than no wear will occur.
Wear should always take place in the softer sacrificial material.
A time proven design for a turntable thrust bearing is a steel ball at the bottom of the spindle and a Delrin thrust pad. I have used it in my rebuilds and the Delrin seems to hold up very well with no wear on the steel ball.
My lubrication of choice is a light hydraulic oil, usually AW-32. I don't use engine oil, it has tons of additives, most not useful in a TT spindle at all. Any of the oils that have particles added and being touted as some kind of "super lube" have no place in a TT as well.
I don't understand the folks that think they will gain something by using some kind of magic oil, this stuff has been understood for well over a century and is proven. Most commercial TT oils are either a light hydraulic oil or very similar. Most general lubricants that you purchase in a hardware store are again just hydraulic oil.
Turntable manufactures don't have a tribologist on staff to formulate oil, they will look at the engineering specs on the oils available and choose one, mostly it's just hydraulic oil. This isn't rocket science.
BillWojo
Wear should always take place in the softer sacrificial material.
A time proven design for a turntable thrust bearing is a steel ball at the bottom of the spindle and a Delrin thrust pad. I have used it in my rebuilds and the Delrin seems to hold up very well with no wear on the steel ball.
My lubrication of choice is a light hydraulic oil, usually AW-32. I don't use engine oil, it has tons of additives, most not useful in a TT spindle at all. Any of the oils that have particles added and being touted as some kind of "super lube" have no place in a TT as well.
I don't understand the folks that think they will gain something by using some kind of magic oil, this stuff has been understood for well over a century and is proven. Most commercial TT oils are either a light hydraulic oil or very similar. Most general lubricants that you purchase in a hardware store are again just hydraulic oil.
Turntable manufactures don't have a tribologist on staff to formulate oil, they will look at the engineering specs on the oils available and choose one, mostly it's just hydraulic oil. This isn't rocket science.
BillWojo