Where exactly do I add oil to VPI classic motor

The noise I am hearing isn't a wooshing sound. It is a ticking or a knocking sound. The sound isn't loud. I can only hear it when the room is really quiet. It reminds me of the sound of a self winding watch escapement. Just a very slight tick every revolution of the motor. I will try to use a syringe to get oil through the very small gap. I think I do see a brass piece below the pulley. I don't see how it would be possible to get oil below the brass piece. As far as I know, I put a single drop of oil on the spindle where it meets the brass piece. Is this correct? The gap is barely big enough to fit a needle through. I am pretty sure my table was made last year. It does have the rounded corners on the plinth.

Ok, I understand now. My "brass piece" is powder coated black on my table. There is no brass to be seen. They should have referred to this "piece" as the motor cover and that would have saved me alot of confusion. I will use the syringe method as was suggested by actusreus as I cant see any other way to apply oil without making a mess. Thank you actusreus for helping me to understand this better. It was a big help.

Andy

I have found the brass piece that was mentioned in the instructions. It is a brass collar on the shaft that is hidden beneath the pulley. You cannot see it with the pulley installed. I will write out step by step below what I have done to lubricate my VPI motor.

* You will need a syringe with a 23 guage needle or smaller. *

I'm not sure how it is in your state but, where I live they sell syringes at most agricultural stores like tractor supply or southern states. You may also check with veterinary supply clinics. Some people have said syringes are hard to get where they live.

You will also need 40wt. oil for the motor and and an allen wrench to remove the set screws from the pulley.

I used mobil 1 full synthetic 40wt. motor oil. Not 10w-40. Just pure 40wt.

Step by step:

1. Remove belt from pulley.
2. Remove three set screws from the pulley and set aside
3. Remove pulley from shaft and set aside.

Now the brass piece VPI speaks of in the manual is shown.
It is the brass collar on the shaft that sets the height of the pulley. There is no need to remove it or alter it's height. There will be a small gap underneath the brass collar. This is where the needle will slide in.

4. Fill syringe with a very small amount of 40wt. oil.
5. Insert tip of syringe into the gap under the brass collar.
6. dispense a single drop of oil under the brass collar next to the shaft. Try to get the tip of the needle as close to the shaft as possible.
7. Turn the motor on and let it run for a bit to circulate the oil.

* after I applied the single drop of oil and let motor run for a bit, I still had a bit of a ticking sound present. I did add another drop of oil and it solved the problem. My motor must have been really dry. VPI says to use a single drop of oil so, use your own judgement on this one. I assume no responsibility but, it worked in my case. You can also mess up your speed stability if you add to much oil. I wouldn't go more than two drops at the most. I checked my speed stability afterwards and it is still correct.

Now just put your pulley back on and replace the set screws and belt. Make sure you do press the pulley down against the brass collar like it was when you took it off.

That's it. This has eliminated the motor noise that I had previously. Now spin some records and enjoy.

Andy

Actusreus,
I can respect your opinion and am greatful for the suggestions. I wasn't trying to discredit you or start an argument. With regard to removing the pulley, it is quite simple to do. It is only press fit onto the shaft. The tolerance is so tight between the shaft and pulley you really can't install it wrong. As long as it sits down on the brass collar. If you do a google search on lubricating VPI motors you will see it mentioned elsewhere to remove the pulley.

I did try to do as you suggested with the syringe at first. The gap between the bottom of my pulley and motor housing was so small I couldn't even get the needle through. In my case the pulley had to be removed as others have done. It could be our tables are manufactured a bit differently. This method did solve all of my motor noise. It is dead quiet now. I also strobe checked my speed and it is correct as well.

In any case, I think we both agree that VPI should be more specific in the owners manual about this and not contribute to the confusion by only having one single sentence that says to put a drop of oil below the brass piece. In my opinion, I believe the brass collar on the shaft is the brass piece that the manual refers to. This makes sense as the shaft enters the motor directly under the brass collar. I just wanted to post my experience and what worked for me.

The brass collar I am speaking of is hidden below the pulley. The collar is held onto the shaft with a single grub screw. This collar is on the spindle to set the height of the pulley and you cannot see it with the pulley installed.

Taking the pulley off is not that big of a deal in my personal opinion. You simply loosen the grub screws with a regular allen wrench and slide it off. It is a tight tolerance fit so, there isn't any play between the pully and shaft. This means that it is almost impossible to re-install it the wrong way. You slide the pulley back down the shaft and make contact with the brass collar. Then you tighten the three grub screws. It's not that delicate of a process to do. Like I stated earlier, The gap under the pulley was too small to even get a needle through. This is why I had to take it off. There was no other way to get the oil in there. I have had no problems since doing it this way and my motor is silent now.

Actusreus,
I agree with you that, if there is enough space under your pulley to pass a needle through, then there is no need to take the pulley off. On your table there was enough room to do this. On mine there was not enough room. I don't think my method is correct and yours is incorrect. Both ways will work to achieve the same end result. I thank you for your suggestions as I would not have thought to use a syringe to apply the oil. Using the syringe was very easy to do and did not make a mess.

There is clearly more than one way to do this. In reality, you don't even need to take the pulley all the way off. You can just slide it up enough to expose the brass collar underneath. Then you can easily slide it back down after you have applied the oil