The last weeks I was and still am searching for a replacement oil for the soft eject mechanism. I have no idea what material it exactly is. It is very simple, only a rotating plastic wheel with some oil, which is similar to a glue, that slows down the rotation process. More expensive devices contain a hydraulic cylinder or similar. It might was a cheaper solution for Philips, since I am not a professional I do not know about the mechanism on other devices.
An online research has not been successful. I even visited some local radio repair shops – only a couple exists anymore – none of them know what material this is. Only one mentioned he knows the material but cannot remember its name. And asking me why I want this I can use it without. Hello? It’s a soft eject and I want it soft eject! Well, not helpful.
I found some leftovers from East-Germany used in radios from the time but the oil is also more then 30 years old and maybe suffer from the same issue – it is getting liquid. Since they are quite expensive I do not want to just try them to figure out they are not working.
Right now I ended up by ordering different silicone oil with different viscosity in 35,000cps to 100,000cps. We will see if one of these fits and can be used.
The picture below is from Unit#4 where the Soft Eject function is working. Although you can see it already starts to getting fluent. If one of the silicone is working I am going to replace the lubrication on all Sound Machines.
