Oil the piston valves

[Chen]

How often do you do it?

Obviously, there are many factors to consider, such as climate, usage, etc. but realistically, how often should one oil the piston valves? Does it depend on the oil used, too?

[Rick Denney]

Every time I play...minimum once per each day the instrument is utilized.

Yup, whether they need it or not. It's a ritual that keeps sticky valves away. It also helps keep worn-out valves away.

Rick "thinking wear prevention is much better than the cure" Denney

[Ryan_Beucke]

Yup, I agree, every day you use it. Although with some oils, especially synthetics like Alisyn, this is not favorable and won't do good. With most natural oils though and Hetmans, I put a few drops on daily.

[Rick Denney]

Yup, I agree, every day you use it. Although with some oils, especially synthetics like Alisyn, this is not favorable and won't do good.

Hmmm. I have applied Alisyn every day I've used my Yamaha 621 for the last 15 years since I bought it, the valves only got gummy when the horn was dirty and needed cleaning.

Now, BiNaK, that's another story.

Rick "who doesn't want to use any oil that can't be applied at will" Denney

[Will]

It's the same for me. I oil the valves every morning before my warm-up. I didn't do so much with my 188. I usually found that rotor horns could go longer between oilings.

Anybody noticed the same thing?

-heads

[Uncle Buck]

In my experience, you can never oil piston valves too much.

[Will]

Woah! It was more like once a week with the 188, partly due to it being a pain to oil all five rotors. But, the rotor 5th valves on my new CC and F can go a couple days without me oiling them, not when they need it but when it's more convenient for me. I do oil the pistons every morning though, like I said in my previous post.


-heads

[ThomasDodd]

Using AliSyn, I haven't needed to oil my valves after about 12 hours of playing. It doesn't seam to evaporate fast, so non playing time isn't a factor. Currently on the third week, but I'm lucky to get 6 hours a week.

[Chen]

On a similar note, how often should you oil rotary valves? I usually oil them once every week or two. Also, how often should you put a few drops of valve oil down the lead pipe?

When I owned rotary tubas, I oil them once a week, or when the valves start making noise or don't feel as smooth as when i just oiled them, whichever comes first.

To answer your question, the answer is never - oilng through leadpipe brings dirty stuff to the inside of valves.

[Rick Denney]

There is some good advise on oiling rotary valves at this website http://www.stusmusic.com/icrotor.html

I have to say that I think this advice goes a bit too far. They recommend a heavy oil for the linkages, for example, and with modern ball-joint linkages this is unnecessary and will make the linkages feel gummy. I think it's entirely reasonable to use the same lubricant on the linkages as one uses on the rotor spindles.

And I have a couple of bottles of Hetman's rotor oil, and it comes with a needle applicator that can only be intended for the rotor spindles. The article suggests that this oil should be used on the valve bodies themselves, with something heavier on the spindles. This is incorrect. The rotor spindles need a light machine oil (Hetman's rotor oil is a good choice, and so is the Nyoil that I have been using because it's handy). The valve bodies themselves need regular old valve oil.

The article mentions that the rotor bodies need to be lubricated with the casings because they make contact like piston valves. This isn't correct. In a properly setup rotary valve, the valve body should not touch the casing. The purpose of squirting oil down the leadpipe is to accomplish two things: corrosion prevention, and a liquid seal. The liquid seal will be established by condensation after playing for a few minutes. But valves will build up crud that eventually fills the space between the rotor and the casing and causes drag. The oil, being oil, coats the surface of the valve to prevent that buildup in large measure. Squirting it down the leadpipe also coats the leadpipe, and helps keep corrosion at bay there, too.

I oil the spindles on my rotoary tubas periodically--no more often than weekly for a horn plalyed frequently, to much less often for instruments I only play occasionally. The mid-weight oil used for spindles, especially if it is formulated for the purpose, does not evaporate quickly and will last a while. Fresh oil serves to keep the old oil from thickening as much as anything.

I rarely squirt valve oil down my leadpipe, but I realize that I should do it more often. Once a session makes sense from a corrosion prevention point of view, depending on how acidic is one's saliva. I might be tempted to apply the oil after the session rather than before, especially for a horn played frequently.

Old horns do better than new ones, because the rotors have a layer of hard oxide (the brown tarnish), and so do the casings. That oxide layer helps prevent corrosion. New instruments with shiny brass rotors and casings need frequent oilings and cleaning to keep corrosion away while that oxide builds up. But cleaning that removes the oxide is, to me, a bad idea. As always, preventing corrosion is better than having to remove it.

Rick "not trying to sell oil" Denney

[corbasse]

There is some good advise on oiling rotary valves at this website http://www.stusmusic.com/icrotor.html

....

I oil the spindles on my rotoary tubas periodically--no more often than weekly for a horn plalyed frequently, to much less often for instruments I only play occasionally.

Perhaps its interesting to see what Alexander says about valve maintenance http://tinyurl.com/6hmrr

[Getzeng50s]

i oil my valves upwards to 2 times a day.

[8vabasso]

I always oil each time I play, preferably at the end of the sesson. It is more important to oil after playing, unless of course they are sticking or slow, to help cut down on the corrosive effects that moisture and harmful residue in ones saliva have between play times.

[bigboom]

I got a good chuckle out of that bloke.