Gyro oil change?

My Gyro's now 12 years old and apart from having its electronics/springs replaced (new DC motor/HR Power supply/new de-coupled springs etc) the rest of the thing is as it left the factory. It's 90% Orbe, apart from the platter (there was no way I was going to lose those funky gold weights!!)

Just wondering if any of you folks have changed the main bearing oil? Mine has the later oil-pumping bearing but with this many years' use one would have thought it might be worth doing? If anyone has, what's the best way of going about it?

Thanks for any help.

 

Give Michelle a call, allways helpful.
Im sure they would say how to and what to use if not supply it

 

Thanks

Just given them a call - like you say, couldn't have been more helpful.

 

I'm sure she is
After all, she's a Borehamwood girl (and you know what that means)

 

wears high heels and drives an XR3i?

 

Exarfree-eye???

 

Don't even joke about it...
I worked there for 4 years - I still wake up in the night screaming!

Good pizza place though, and the music shop sells Warwick bass strings at £6 a set (must be a Mafia front)

 

As a Focus S owner i';m interested in what they said (I have not changed mine in 20 years but KJ West One did give it a service last year.) Thanks Dominic

 

Hi Dominic - unless your Focus has the same inverted bearing as the Gyro it'd be hard to say what to do.

Anyway...if this helps, I'll do my best:

Remove platter, and tap gently on the centre spindle to remove ball bearing. Clean old oil off with a cotton bud - don't use any solvent on the bud, just dry, taking care not to leave any build up of lint etc from the cotton.

The Gyro's 'male' part of the bearing is screwed into (this is getting rude!) the subchassis and consists of a 2" long hollow post - the top has a small hole drilled and likewise in the base of the post to allow oil to escape (a shallow circular channel runs around the base of the spindle to catch oil - sort of a tiny 'sump' if you like). The 'female' part of the bearing is held in the acrylic platter, the interior of which is rifled - this draws oil from the base of the male section, allowing it to then fall back down, over the tungsten ball and through the small hole - and so the cycle continues. Bloody clever if you ask me.

Like I say, I'm not aux fais with the Focus's innerds but hopefully some of the above will help. Oh...I used fully synthetic 2-stroke motorcycle oil.

hth

Just had a few hours listening to the thing again - I love this turntable. It just breathes.

 

Cheers Gromit, mine is a Focus 'S' and I believe has the same bearing as the Gyro, i'll check it out. I nearly bought a Gyro two years ago, it really is a good T/T.

 

2 stroke, eh?
Is that what the lovely Michelle said?
My Clearaudio came with a syringe full of oil - didn't say what it was, but being German it's bound to be something healthy like extra virgin olive oil..

 

Michell oil change

You will find some good advice from this excellent web site about Michell turntables:

http://www.angelfire.com/music5/michell_gyrodec/

Regards
Hon

 

Re: Michell oil change

Wow!!

That's one serious page - thanks for that.

 

Dominic,

My Focus is the non 'S' model. Not convinced the 'S' does have the Gyro bearing, though I believe it is a slightly chunkier bearing than my bog std Focus - if it does then Gromit has given you the answers otherwise it'll be pretty similar to mine. Basically its a similar arrangement, but upsidedown compared to the gyro and without the clever oil recirculating thingy.

Take off the plate at the rear left covering the motor assembly

Remove the belt

Carefully lift the platter out.

The male part of the bearing is attached to the platter pointing down and the female is bolted into the centre of the plinth, with a ball bearing at the bottom.

If you go under the platter, you'll find a big nut holding the female part in place - undo it and it will lift right out (you may have to detach the tonearm earthing cable).

Carefully tip out the ball bearing (i've tipped it out under the sofa before now) and clean everything up with some lint free cloth (rolling it up, poking into the bearing hole and twisting works).

Put the ball back in and drop in a few drops of oil (to cover the ball) - reassamble - the pressure of putting the male part back in seems to push the oil up to lubricate the shaft (this really does all sound a bit rude dunnit). Oh and I used Mobil 1.

Hope this helps if Gromit's Gyro description doesn't tally.