Maintenance qustion for Ampex 440's....!

H

hammerofhathor

New member
This is for the AMpex folks:

I'm about to pick up an AG-440B, and have been studying the manual to prepare myself.

So...in the maintenance section it mentions oiling the capstan motor and capstan idler motor every 3 months....what oil should I use?

Also, it mentions once a year taking apart the scrape-flutter idlers and having them "ultrasonically cleaned by jeweler"......what do I do about this? Do I really take these apart and take them to a jeweler for cleaning? And also it mentions a drop of special oil administered via a hypodermic needle....wow!

Any other special tricks about maintenance with this machine would be awesome, I'm assembling the test equipment I need and am gonna dive right in there!

thanks

mark
 
I used 3 in 1 for the capstan. I need to get my scrape flutter idler cleaned because it is squeaking. Luckily I know a watchmaker so I'm just going to go by what it says in the book and have it ultrasonically cleaned. Hopefully someone else chimes in with more experience.
 
Use Zoom-Spout Turbine oil. Ace Hardware carries it, although not all branches. This only applies on the synchronous capstan, since at the top it is a sleeve bearing, not a roller bearing.

If you have the servo capstan (about 0.4" in diameter, which is much larger than the synchronous capstan) do not oil it.

Use watchmakers oil on the scrape flutter idler. I just pick up a drop on the end of a piece of single-core wire and apply it to each end.

Regards


David
 
capstan......

Oh boy.....what capstan do I have? I'm not so sure about that!

Oh, David, did you see the reply to my thread on the Fostex TT-15? I had another question, seems like you know your stuff!

thanks!

mark
 
The servo capstan is about 0.4" in diameter.
A 7.5/15 IPS synchronous capstan is around .25" in diameter
A 15/30 IPS synchronous capstan (rare) is around half an inch in diameter.

The servo capstan has an external control box, separate from the transport, and no fan.
The synchronous capstan has a fan underneath and no control box.

But I am trying to keep this simple. Measure the diameter.

Regards


David
 
SteveM said:
I used 3 in 1 for the capstan.
Click to expand...

I've done this, but it's not really recommended. You really want an oil designed to work well with turbine motors and not leave gummy deposits. A sewing machine oil would generally be a better choice.

Cheers,

Otto
 
ofajen said:
I've done this, but it's not really recommended. You really want an oil designed to work well with turbine motors and not leave gummy deposits. A sewing machine oil would generally be a better choice.

Cheers,

Otto
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up Otto. And David for the other info.

Where do you get watchmakers oil?
 
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