Shiva
2004-11-10 22:26:19 UTC
Don't really want to be a pest, simply to get a plausible answer to the
dogmatic "use only Hammond oil".
Could anyone show me a data sheet, or at least some qualities
differentiating it from commonly available (over the counter) products?
Is it viscosity? Shear strength? Film strength? Detergency? Reactance with
[insert weird material here]? Foaming-resistance? Electroconductuivity?
WHAT? At a glance,
the tone generator, mechanically, seems to be a fairly simple set of
wick-oiled
[sintered?] bronze
bushings supporting a steel shaft, rotating at a pretty leisurely speed.
What
am I missing? Wick & felt oiling has been the defacto standard for
everything mechanical since - well, a darn long time ago. It was the
poor/lazy
man's gang oiler.
Gumming up due to impurities (as some sites imply)?
Silly. Organic oils will gum with age - nature of the beast. Simply not
inert. wicks will gum up, no matter what, and will usually be adequately
"unclogged" with "solvents" or thin oils (semantics here...)
The application is simply not demanding enough to warrant all the
hoopla - especially since the things (tonewheel generators) usually come to
us frozen with crap (dirt, oxides, resins, sulfates - i'm not a chemist),
and the oil's used to dissolve that crap (which, in turn, winds up either
in the felt or in the troths). No filtration system (other than the wicks
themselves (err... string)) is provided that I could make out, so the
"special" mail-order mystery oil (not to be confused with the Marvel red
stuff, which, btw, is a neat brew) turns into something similar to drain oil
as soon as it is applied.
I'm yet to see a tonewheel organ ruined due to improper (other than "lack
of") oiling.
Just for giggles, I've filled my M3 with *straight* 30-weight motor oil
(not the 5/30, which is ... a 5). Guess what? Longer startup times, no
increased pitch hunting (wow & flutter to us recording geeks), and, after a
quick kerosene rinse (a 20 cc oiling syringe and a shallow pan to catch the
overflow), and wicking out the synch/vibro scanner cup with a paper towel
(and a refill with clock oil), the same satrt=up times as before, now with a
*clean* lock at half-speed (shut the main switch off, letting the synch
motor slow down to ~1/3 speed (you'll hear the pitch if a key is pressed),
and then clicking it on again. Any techys out there with an opinion?
dogmatic "use only Hammond oil".
Could anyone show me a data sheet, or at least some qualities
differentiating it from commonly available (over the counter) products?
Is it viscosity? Shear strength? Film strength? Detergency? Reactance with
[insert weird material here]? Foaming-resistance? Electroconductuivity?
WHAT? At a glance,
the tone generator, mechanically, seems to be a fairly simple set of
wick-oiled
[sintered?] bronze
bushings supporting a steel shaft, rotating at a pretty leisurely speed.
What
am I missing? Wick & felt oiling has been the defacto standard for
everything mechanical since - well, a darn long time ago. It was the
poor/lazy
man's gang oiler.
Gumming up due to impurities (as some sites imply)?
Silly. Organic oils will gum with age - nature of the beast. Simply not
inert. wicks will gum up, no matter what, and will usually be adequately
"unclogged" with "solvents" or thin oils (semantics here...)
The application is simply not demanding enough to warrant all the
hoopla - especially since the things (tonewheel generators) usually come to
us frozen with crap (dirt, oxides, resins, sulfates - i'm not a chemist),
and the oil's used to dissolve that crap (which, in turn, winds up either
in the felt or in the troths). No filtration system (other than the wicks
themselves (err... string)) is provided that I could make out, so the
"special" mail-order mystery oil (not to be confused with the Marvel red
stuff, which, btw, is a neat brew) turns into something similar to drain oil
as soon as it is applied.
I'm yet to see a tonewheel organ ruined due to improper (other than "lack
of") oiling.
Just for giggles, I've filled my M3 with *straight* 30-weight motor oil
(not the 5/30, which is ... a 5). Guess what? Longer startup times, no
increased pitch hunting (wow & flutter to us recording geeks), and, after a
quick kerosene rinse (a 20 cc oiling syringe and a shallow pan to catch the
overflow), and wicking out the synch/vibro scanner cup with a paper towel
(and a refill with clock oil), the same satrt=up times as before, now with a
*clean* lock at half-speed (shut the main switch off, letting the synch
motor slow down to ~1/3 speed (you'll hear the pitch if a key is pressed),
and then clicking it on again. Any techys out there with an opinion?