DCH
Well-Known Member
Posted this over in the Turntables forum, thought y'all might be interested.
I got a kinda-sorta working PL-530 last week and have spent some time trying to fix it up. It has a few issues: a crack in the front of the plinth; the infamous PL-530 tonearm wobble; the infamous PL-530 auto-return-not-going-all-the-way; and no dustcover.
Here's how it's going so far, with the commentary I put on the Imgur album:
Got this gorgeous if in need of work Pioneer fully automatic PL-530 locally for $70. I knew it needed refurbishing. I knew I might not be able to do it, but $70 is a gamble I'm willing to take on what could be a fantastic table. The issues: no dust cover or hinges, crack in the plinth, tonearm is wobbly and the auto-return doesn't go all the way back to the tonearm rest. The good: all the automatic functions seem to work pretty well (although after I'm done they might not any more... we shall see).
Closeup of the plinth crack. Looks like something fell on the front of it, although there's no obvious impact on the surface of the top of it.
Mostly clean, all the pots and buttons work and the strobe works. Holds speed at both 45 and 33 great.
Tonearm is intact, but this has a problem that is apparently common to the PL-530 - I can wiggle the tonearm around a lot, as though it's not totally anchored to anything. This is caused by the plastic inserts it's screwed into cracking over time. It's the bigger issue I'm hoping to fix.
Original Shure M91E cartridge installed. No stylus. I've ordered a cheap-ish N91ED stylus from Amazon that will primarily be a test to see if the cartridge itself is in good working order. If not, Nagaoka MP-110 here I come.
Surgery begins. Platter is off. I've DeOxited everything I can think to DeOxit. All in all the veneer is in really good shape, other than the giant crack on the front.
Shot of the bottom before removal. Tonearm is locked in place and I've balanced the table between a stack of books and a Gilt box. For access and whatnot.
Bottom cover seems to have taken a bit of damage, too. I'll fix that with a little Loctite or JB Weld. At the end of it all.
The majesty exposed! I can't tell you how much fun I had pushing the start-stop buttons and watching the little pulleys pull. The mechanical parts of this turntable are so neat and fun to play around with. All the capacitors visually appear to be in great shape - no leaks, no bulging. Which is good. I don't wanna dick around with them. There's enough other stuff to do.
The crack from below.
Closeup of the automatic mechanicals. I'll be detaching the arm you see here, because I need to get to the plate underneath it. This picture is 90% so I remember what everything looks like assembled. I do have the service manual, but this is... slightly more helpful.
Round plate controls the tonearm movements. Hard to see in this picture, but that little swoopy outcropping actually has a rise of about a centimeter. I believe that's the cueing mechanics.
Arm detached, cueing (I think) plate removed. Those little E-brackets are kind of a pain in the ass to get off without launching them across the world.
The stuff I removed. The little washers are very important to keep, and the little plate you see with the spring in it is involved in the auto-return.
See the foam there? That is the reason these tables' auto-return functions stop going all the way back - the foam has deteriorated into basically soap fizz over the decades. I will be replacing this with a 1/4" x 1/4" square of foam weather stripping, which will in theory totally fix the auto-return. Hurrah.
Tonearm wires soldered onto the PCB. I must desolder. I have never desoldered (or soldered) anything in my life. Luckily I work with engineers with equipment. FYI, a desoldering pump is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY and REALLY AWESOME. Once again, this photo is 90% so I remember where each wire goes when I resolder.
Desoldering done! Next step is to remove that three-cornered plate. The screws are both soft and REALLY tightly in there. I got one out, stripped two, and await the arrival of a screw-removing pliers to continue. Monday night's surgery has ended. We'll pick this up Tuesday evening when the pliers arrive and when I have time to go to Ace and get some plastic-oriented superglue or epoxy.
Since I couldn't make any further progress on the internal mechanicals, I popped some Gorilla wood glue into the plinth and clamped it for the evening. This won't fix the vertical crack on the front, but it will get the plinth strengthened. I'll fix the main crack tomorrow - planning on putting more wood glue into the crack and clamping a short piece of 2x4 on the top and bottom of the plinth itself.
I got a kinda-sorta working PL-530 last week and have spent some time trying to fix it up. It has a few issues: a crack in the front of the plinth; the infamous PL-530 tonearm wobble; the infamous PL-530 auto-return-not-going-all-the-way; and no dustcover.
Here's how it's going so far, with the commentary I put on the Imgur album:
Got this gorgeous if in need of work Pioneer fully automatic PL-530 locally for $70. I knew it needed refurbishing. I knew I might not be able to do it, but $70 is a gamble I'm willing to take on what could be a fantastic table. The issues: no dust cover or hinges, crack in the plinth, tonearm is wobbly and the auto-return doesn't go all the way back to the tonearm rest. The good: all the automatic functions seem to work pretty well (although after I'm done they might not any more... we shall see).
Closeup of the plinth crack. Looks like something fell on the front of it, although there's no obvious impact on the surface of the top of it.
Mostly clean, all the pots and buttons work and the strobe works. Holds speed at both 45 and 33 great.
Tonearm is intact, but this has a problem that is apparently common to the PL-530 - I can wiggle the tonearm around a lot, as though it's not totally anchored to anything. This is caused by the plastic inserts it's screwed into cracking over time. It's the bigger issue I'm hoping to fix.
Original Shure M91E cartridge installed. No stylus. I've ordered a cheap-ish N91ED stylus from Amazon that will primarily be a test to see if the cartridge itself is in good working order. If not, Nagaoka MP-110 here I come.
Surgery begins. Platter is off. I've DeOxited everything I can think to DeOxit. All in all the veneer is in really good shape, other than the giant crack on the front.
Shot of the bottom before removal. Tonearm is locked in place and I've balanced the table between a stack of books and a Gilt box. For access and whatnot.
Bottom cover seems to have taken a bit of damage, too. I'll fix that with a little Loctite or JB Weld. At the end of it all.
The majesty exposed! I can't tell you how much fun I had pushing the start-stop buttons and watching the little pulleys pull. The mechanical parts of this turntable are so neat and fun to play around with. All the capacitors visually appear to be in great shape - no leaks, no bulging. Which is good. I don't wanna dick around with them. There's enough other stuff to do.
The crack from below.
Closeup of the automatic mechanicals. I'll be detaching the arm you see here, because I need to get to the plate underneath it. This picture is 90% so I remember what everything looks like assembled. I do have the service manual, but this is... slightly more helpful.
Round plate controls the tonearm movements. Hard to see in this picture, but that little swoopy outcropping actually has a rise of about a centimeter. I believe that's the cueing mechanics.
Arm detached, cueing (I think) plate removed. Those little E-brackets are kind of a pain in the ass to get off without launching them across the world.
The stuff I removed. The little washers are very important to keep, and the little plate you see with the spring in it is involved in the auto-return.
See the foam there? That is the reason these tables' auto-return functions stop going all the way back - the foam has deteriorated into basically soap fizz over the decades. I will be replacing this with a 1/4" x 1/4" square of foam weather stripping, which will in theory totally fix the auto-return. Hurrah.
Tonearm wires soldered onto the PCB. I must desolder. I have never desoldered (or soldered) anything in my life. Luckily I work with engineers with equipment. FYI, a desoldering pump is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY and REALLY AWESOME. Once again, this photo is 90% so I remember where each wire goes when I resolder.
Desoldering done! Next step is to remove that three-cornered plate. The screws are both soft and REALLY tightly in there. I got one out, stripped two, and await the arrival of a screw-removing pliers to continue. Monday night's surgery has ended. We'll pick this up Tuesday evening when the pliers arrive and when I have time to go to Ace and get some plastic-oriented superglue or epoxy.
Since I couldn't make any further progress on the internal mechanicals, I popped some Gorilla wood glue into the plinth and clamped it for the evening. This won't fix the vertical crack on the front, but it will get the plinth strengthened. I'll fix the main crack tomorrow - planning on putting more wood glue into the crack and clamping a short piece of 2x4 on the top and bottom of the plinth itself.