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Hey guys,

I recently bought a 5/4 BBb Rudy with 4 rotary valves. What kind of oil do you recommend? I am a little lost because I'm used to piston valves and the oil associated with them. Any suggestions on products, where to buy them, and how to use them would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

You may find this page useful

http://www.osmun.com/reference/Rot_Maint.htm

Lucky you, wish I had a Rudy contrabass. Here's my answer last time this came up:

WakinAZ wrote:Check out these articles, they really helped demystify the whole rotary oil thing for me.

http://www.osmun.com/reference/Rot_Maint.htm

http://www.lyricbrass.com/spang/oilrotor.pdf

Are there a lot of ways to do this? Yes. Will anyone fault you for doing it the way these articles suggest? Well, I won't and the authors (Spang and Osmun) won't. Knowing the right places to oil is half the battle.

Eric "not currently owning any rotary horns and not missing this chore" L.

The various Hetman's oils mentioned worked well for me - not the cheapest solution, but worth it for as little as you really use.

When I asked the same questions here on the forum in a thread last year when I got my 186, Roger Lewis posted and recommended Al Cass down the leadpipe to clear up anything, sewing machine oil for the rotor spindle bearings, and 3-in-1 oil for the linkage. Just because of my saliva chemistry, I use Roche-Thomas instead of the Al Cass.

Don't apply oil down a valve slide. All it does is tend to splatter against the walls of the valve slide, dilute the valve grease and wash it down into the rotor, causing the rotors to gum up and stick.

goldenmoose wrote:Hey guys,

I recently bought a 5/4 BBb Rudy with 4 rotary valves. What kind of oil do you recommend? I am a little lost because I'm used to piston valves and the oil associated with them. Any suggestions on products, where to buy them, and how to use them would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Alan Baer's solution:
viewtopic.php?p=114486#114486

Uh, on reading the link, isn't Alan Baer's solution for piston valves, and Goldenmoose asked about rotary valves?

You OIL these things!?

iiipopes wrote:Uh, on reading the link, isn't Alan Baer's solution for piston valves, and Goldenmoose asked about rotary valves?

Correctissimo. I was lulled to segue into the Baer link by the segue of

davemcrobs wrote:10 weight on the bearings and 5w for the rotors. . . .

The point is that synthetic engine oil can be used with other bulk (and cheap) products such as lamp oil. The molecules in synthetic motor oils are uniform length (instead of a range of short to long in natural products) and therefore, despite routine evaporation after application, provide good coverage over a longer time span. Also, the synthetic motor oils are produced with buffers to keep the pH uniform, an advantage for avoiding corrosion in a valve set.

That said, the Hetmans products and needle applicators are very convenient.

Dean E wrote:[ The point is that synthetic engine oil can be used with other bulk (and cheap) products such as lamp oil.

Since I have a lot of this currently would Citronella Oil be pure enough to use as the lamp oil?

SousaWarrior wrote: When putting oil through the slides, first put the oil into the bottom of the slide itself. Push the slide all the way in before tipping the tuba to allow the oil to run directly into the rotor (without first washing valve grease off of the inside of the slide tube).

Sounds a good idea - I have not heard of that technique before