Turntable oil bearing

I have been refurbishing an old Thorens TD165 and decided to stick with Singer "sewing machine" oil as a safe bet (not their cheaper all purpose machine oil). Some of the synthetic oils contain Teflon and/or other materials, which has been said can break down and change into an abrasive with time (this is just heresay from the web, mind you). They sometimes contain other preservatives, which might be iffy depending on what material(s) the oil comes comes into contact with, like the TT belt and spindles. As far as I know the Singer oil has no negatives as long as you are not using it in a "grease" bearing and in this case it is not thick enough. Better yet is to use whatever oil the manufacturer recommends for your bearing as it was designed with this particular oil (and the weight of it) in mind, I would hope. I am not saying that all synthetic oils are bad, just that caution is advised in selecting the right one (don't just use anything).

Another synthetic I think worth investigating is Redline. They offer the usual weights 5w30, 10w30, etc. However, they also offer gear/bearing oil in various weights which is said to be safe with rubber. This oil is the MTL, MT90 and 75/90NS. They are sulfur free also. The MTL is about the same viscosity as 10w30, the MT90 about a 10w40. They have all the low friction properties of synthetics in fact I prefer the shifting in my car with the Redline after trying Mobil 1, Valvoline and others. I don't know if there is sulfur in motor oil. There is in gear oil. Jeff

This from Van den Hul's FAQ's. I have no idea where to get it from?

171 Q: Do I need to change the oil in the bearing of my turntable ?
A: Each bearing wears in a way. So a change of oil after a good cleaning of all mechanical parts involved is an option. In my own turntable I change the bearing oil every 2 years.
Lately I use an oil doped with ceramic (zirconium oxide) marbles (1 micron diameter each). This means that there are always very small marbles between the rotating and stationary metal parts. So no metal-to-metal contact anymore. And that is what we need after all.
(This oil works for all non air-cushioned metal-to-metal turntable bearings and if requested is available from us).

I thought I'd chime in for my very first post- the Logic Tempo manual says use only "their" oil, which smells and behaves very much like 80w-90 transaxle or tranny oil, I kid you not. Hope this helps.

I actually bought a 30ml bottle of vdH Zirconium TT spindle bearing oil as mentioned by dougwebb. It is insanely expensive -- now about $150 I think. It's great stuff though. I'm using it on my direct drive Goldmund Studietto, and there's absolutely no mechanical noise. Obviously, I've got more than I'll ever use, so if anyone wants to try some, I'm willing to sell a couple ml (2 cc) to a few people for, oh say $20, which should provide two full oil changes for most TT bearings!