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Sintered bearing oil.

Agaton Sax

Agaton Sax

Active member
Joined
Jul 10, 2023
Messages
205
Location
South Africa
Another year has passed and it is time for routine maintenance. So disassembly and 1 drop of the carefully guarded sintered bearing oil on the capstan motor. Oh dear! It is gone. The container is there but there is no oil. German sources on E bay are no longer sending here.

There must be a local source. What is suitable? Please advise. Google (or I) is especially stupid on "Sintered bearing oil"

https://flic.kr/p/2pKVozG
 
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Sintered bearings must be reoiled under pressure and higher temperatures. That is my experience from the industrial side of things.

Any idea what the specifications are of the oil you used? Getting something from Germany to myself can be arranged.
 
This is CONSTANT GLY 2100 made by Klüber. I have asked them for availability in SA.

Shell makes an equivalent which I know is a special order in SA.

Basically it is a turbine oil with soap.
 
Thank you all.

I saw the Kluber and it matches with the Studer application note. What worries me is the soap bit.

Anorak is on and wading in territory I know nothing about.

Studer in the units up to the midlife of their final mastering machine, the A820, used a sintered bearing for the capstan ( A 80 and early A 820). Mid A820 ( coinciding with Willi Studer's retirement and their motor supplier taking over? ) they changed Capstan motors to ball races as well. An A-80 uses about 20 bearings. These are all sealed ball races packed with a special low-noise grease. For some reason for the Capstans, they used a sintered bearing.

A sintered bearing ( Ooh I am on dangerous ground) is a high-precision shaft that is made of a porous material. This shaft absorbs the lubricant and acts as a bearing. Any fool, like me, who took an A80 Capstan apart will never get it back together with the same precision. Shafts and motors of the same type are not interchangeable (Don't ask how I know). It is for this reason that only Audio House in Switzerland could rebuild the Capstans at an enormous cost. It is t vital that the oil contains no cleaning solution or soap or it will wash all lubricant from the pores with disastrous results. I think so as I read it somewhere long ago. I may be wrong but not taking a chance.
 
Lekker lag ek nou ... no it is not soap as you know it.

If you look at the safety sheet you will see GLY 2100 consists of:

Contains N,N-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-5-methyl-1H-benzotriazole-1-methylamine, N,N-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-4-methyl-1H-benzotriazole-1-methylamine, 2H-enzotriazole-2-methanamine, N,N-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-4-methyl-, 2H-Benzotriazole-2-methanamine, N,N-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-5-methyl-, 1H-Benzotriazole-1-methanamine, N,N-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-6-methyl-(Mixture)

These chemicals are a mixture of plastisers, UV inhibiters, anti-oxidants for copper, nitrogen etc. etc. What is known in the chemical world as a soap.

Looking at the contents, I see you can burn this, spray with water and get Nitrous Oxide (laughing gas).

So if you want to have a good laugh at your work, this is the stuff to burn!

A sintered bearing ( Ooh I am on dangerous ground) is a high-precision shaft that is made of a porous material. This shaft absorbs the lubricant and acts as a bearing. Any fool, like me, who took an A80 Capstan apart will never get it back together with the same precision. Shafts and motors of the same type are not interchangeable (Don't ask how I know). It is for this reason that only Audio House in Switzerland could rebuild the Capstans at an enormous cost. It is t vital that the oil contains no cleaning solution or soap or it will wash all lubricant from the pores with disastrous results. I think so as I read it somewhere long ago. I may be wrong but not taking a chance.
Click to expand...

With respect, this is actually not factually correct. It is all about the precision machining/boring to create a match set that has the correct tolerances. Any decent micro CNC shop will be able to do this. The trick is to know the tolerances under pressure at final state of assembly.

Here is the sintered bearing. The bearing's ID is machined to match the OD of the shaft at the point of contact at correct vertical force applied and radial force applied by the housing (press fit).

bearing.png

Rest assured that there is no Lifeboy soap in the GLY 2000! This is a highly respectable product used in turbines etc.

Trust that this helps a tad!
 
Yes, it helps tremendously. Thank you. By sticking my neck out in a field I know absolutely nothing about I learnt that I should buy GLY 2100 from Kluber. I cannot get it in less than a litre. That should see me through for about, ooh, 200 years or so. Glad you got a laugh but in the process, I learnt a lot.

Almost 20 years ago when these behemoths started falling in my lap, nobody wanted to know. "Experts" wouldn't help and swore they would never touch an RtR again. The only way forward was through trial and error. Fortunately, there are 20 or so various machines and the odd mistake can go in the parts bin. I have a wonderful tech who excels at all things electronic but baulks at all things mechanical. There were mistakes, ooh boy. Like the Ampex motor that was sent at a huge cost to the US and returned with a hefty bill and more noise than ever, the disassembled A80 capstan in the Tupperware, the corrupt A 810 brain from a supposedly trusted European specialist. This was fixed by a lovely Nuclear Scientist in Seattle. As this genius was not considered "one of us" he was denied access to a Studer Forum, despite becoming a world authority on those early "computer-driven "Studers ( A 810,820,826 etc).

Now it is even worse. These "experts" got back on the wave as RtRs became big money again. They can spread disinformation and "fix" real and imagined disasters at huge cost often by denigrating the client. But I learnt and am learning and most importantly I am learning how to treat and encourage questions in my field of expertise.
 
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What a jewel of a reply!

The capstan in the Tupperware. It can be a very valuable asset as we can reverse engineer it.

Keep on learning!
 
Kluber has come back to me. They no longer keep this so has to special order it—a minimum of 6x 1 litre containers.

All I can think of is the old song;

"In the year 2525,if man is still alive...." I can add that he will surely have enough oil to keep his Studers going!

Umm, Plan B is? 3 oz from Athan ar $US 50 and $60 shipping-probably the Post Office!
 
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