I was thinking motor bearings as I read it but I see that you are talking about the bearings on the capstan bearing.
I was considering ALL of the sintered bearings, but didn’t convey it very well. The first part of the question had to do with the best way, in general, to lubricate the bearings. I planned to ask a follow-up question on how to get the bearings out of the motor if it was deemed necessary. I also referred to the clutch bearings incorrectly as “idler shaft” bearings.
I am hoping to learn about other’s experience with various lubrication methods. I suspect that many of these machines were serviced/restored 15, or so, years ago. By now it should be clear what worked and what didn’t.
I assume that most everything that I’m doing to my machines is old news and was discussed decades ago. I’ve tried searching the archives of this (and other) forums for info. What I didn’t find much info on is: 1) the long term performance of the fixes and 2) the idea to swap the higher load bearing with the lower load bearing.
I’ve started working on cobbling together a small vacuum chamber. I think I figured out how to make a good connection to my vacuum pump with parts that I have on-hand.
My gut feel is to try option #3 above for the capstan/clutch and #2 for the motor unless someone has a compelling argument for one of the other options.
Glitch