Pre-dusting high quality routine after wet/ultrasonic cleaned LPs

Yes, I've looked, Neil, also measured. In fact, as an early adopter, mine arrived with a defect causing the bearing to stick: the top corner of the shaft was mushroomed over slightly and rubbing against the sleeve. I could've returned it or ordered a new one but I was anxious to hear hear the table so I chose to dismantle it and lap the shaft sides to remove the mushrooming. It is 100% insulated, at least on mine; they may have made changes later. As it is an inverted bearing without any oil pumping to keep it lubed I think it could only work with the low friction of plastic on metal. Plastic seems to have an affinity to oil (at least my Tupperware does haha) much more so than does non sintered metal.

I'm curious to know if this has any impact on the static, as it is the first metal platter I've had that wasn't grounded. I was initially experiencing huge static discharges through the phono pre some time after removing the record. That's when I discovered the plinth and arm weren't grounded either despite the presence of a grounding post! I won't bore you with the details, but needless to say I've since learned that a table needs at least one grounding point, which must be at the arm if nowhere else. Also, if one wants to learn how something works, get one that's broken and fix it haha.