Posted by David on January 17, 1999 at 16:59:35:
In Reply to: Rotary valve maintenance posted by JD on January 17, 1999 at 12:58:01:
JD,
One thing you might want to check out is a maintainence manual that will come with an instrument. These very often have tips on how to clean and what type of oil to use. But that mainly pushes that brand of oil and no others. What kind of oil you use depends on the horn. Some rotary valves have such a high tolerance that you can only use the thinnest valve oil, while others will let you use the thicker synthetics, like Alyson valve oil. I found that oil to work will with older Mienl Westons and Miraphone just so long as it isn't mixed with other types. It'll gum up and slow things down as well. That is the case with WD-40. I've tried it under advise of others, only to find white gunk in the slides and valves from the mixing with water and other stuff. I would adise using the same type of oil on spindles as well as valves so you won't have to worry about mixing oils and making a mess of stuff. On slides, depending on tolerances, you can use anything from Pro-Oil (I use that on my 1st and 3rd slides on my Besson) to slide grease. Use your own judment on that. Take care!