Restoring a Pioneer PL-630 Turntable

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Stylus Drop Point Adjustment

You will need an old record, you don't care if it gets scratched, for this operation.

With the platter and mat installed, as well as the headshell, cartridge, and counterweight, adjust the tracking force and anti-skate to reasonable settings (you will get more accurate after the unit is completely reassembled).

  1. Put an LP on the platter.

  2. Press the lift button.

  3. When the lift is complete, verify that the lifter lifts the stylus high enough to clear the LP, but only enough to clear the LP if it had a bit of warp. If it is not set properly, loosen the lifter setscrew (seen earlier) and move the lifter arm up or down, for a resonable lift. Note: If too high, the lifter ramp curve will be incorrectly selected, and the stylus will drop too hard onto the LP.

  4. Slowly move the tonearm across its full range of motion and make sure that the stylus will clear the LP all the way across, adjust the lifter height as necessary.

  5. Leave the arm lifted, and but return it to its rest.

  6. Remove the stylus drop adjustment cap and don't lose it. (see pic 1)

  7. Look down in the hole coverd by the cap, and rotate the tonearm to near where it will need to drop the stylus. You will see a screw head come into view. That is the stylus drop point adjustment. With a jeweler's screwdriver (common), rotate the screw through its range of motion, then turn it to approximately mid-range (gentle here, remember the pickup plate is only just secured to the tonearm shaft, and this screw is on that plate).

  8. Return the tonearm to its rest, but leave it lifted.

  9. Make sure the 'Auto' control is active, and 12" disk is selelcted, then press the start button. The tonearm will move to where it is set to drop the stylus, but stay up.

  10. By repeated 'start' pressings and adjustments, set the drop point to a reasonable place, by loosening the optical pickup plate setscrew and changing its relative rotation to the tonearm until the the drop point is reasonable. Fine tuning will be next.

  11. Before leaving the pickup plate adjustment, shine a light in from the back and verify that the pickup plate clears the top and bottom edge of the optical sensor, being positioned, up or down on the shaft, approximately midway between them. If you don't, you will drag during play and your records will skip. Once satisfied, firm up the setscrew, just enough that the pickup plate does not rotate when the actual drop point screw is rotated.

  12. Fine tune the stylus drop point, via adjustment screw in the hole. Turn the screw one way and the drop point moves in. Turn it the other way, and the drop point moves out. Once you think you have it right, return the tonearm to its rest, lower it, and press start. The stylus drop point is properly adjusted when the stylus puts down just at the bottom of the hill you see on the edge of the LP, when viewed from the side. If too far in, it will drop inside the start of the 1st song. If set too far out, the stylus will slide down the hill and skip across the 1st couple of grooves of the 1st song.

  13. Lift the tonearm and drop it at the end of the last song (a couple of times), and watch to make sure that the table senses the end of the LP and properly returns the arm to its rest. Also verify that proper functioning in repeat mode (where the arm returns to the start of the LP).
36 - Adjustment Cap.jpg

Rich P
 
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Final Adjustments

Reassemble the unit, up to putting on the feet.

  1. Install the feet, adjusting the suspension properly, by rotating the collar on each foot until an equal number of threads are seen above and below the collar. Then push the foot into its place, and hold it so it does not rotate as you insert and tighten its screw.

  2. Check the suspension setting, by putting the platter on, them pressing gently up and down on the platter, making sure that the upper and lower limits of bounce are equal (you can hear it hit the limits). The platter (and tonearm assy) should move up and down readily, and not be pinned to the bottom or the top of motion.

  3. The tonearm height (Vertical tracking angle) should be set so that the tonearm is parallel to the LP when the LP is playing.

  4. The lifter height should be set so that the stylus will clear a slightly warped LP, when lifted, across the full range of tonearm motion. If the stylus drops onto the LP too hard, you have the lifter set to lift too high.

  5. The tonearm rest height should be set so that when the tonearm is lowered onto it, it has to drop only a few mm, and the lifter drops away from the arm.
37 - Final Adjustments.jpg

Rich P
 
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Cosmetic Detailing

Hear are a few tricks of the trade for the cosmetic detailing:

  1. This thread details how to polish out the dustcover: https://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=42972

  2. Do not use harsh chemicals on the plinth, platter, or front panel. Limit your chemicals to a soft toothbrush and dish soap (not dishwasher soap).

  3. The front panel lettering tends to come off "VERY" easily. It is not stamped in like other pioneer products. Do not brush it, rub on it, or even run it under water and soap. Clean it with q-tips and stay off the lettering and labels. If you do not, you will know why I am saying that, first hand.
We are now completely done. Be careful, slow, and meticulous, and you will have a super sweet machine to listen to. I recommend a nice Benz Micro MC Silver cart. It is what I use, and it pairs with this table so well that it turns LPs in almost videos, it images so well.

Additional info:
Enjoy,
Rich P
 
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Hi Rich

Another wicked feature - like the other guy said, "you sir, are a treasure!"
Just think how many people are gonna restore those crappy lookin lids!! :yes:

Rich, ya just too cool.

SUPERB!

Regards
LOZ. (From England) :thmbsp:
 
Thanks for posting this.. I just acquired a PL-630 that seems to have a problem locking in the speed. Sounds like a good excuse to recap and do a full restoration on it!
 
Not sure where you find the time to provide such an exquisitely detailed step-by-step handbook, but there will be an endless number of PL-630 owners for ever grateful.
 
Thank You

As the owner of a partially dismantled PL-600, thank you very much for the extremely informative post. :yes: Murray
 
Rich
What an experience to read your PL-630 restoration job. Thanks a lot !!
If you let me I have something to ask you: can you please help me to buy a new tonearm rest for my PL-630? It's broken and I can't find a new replacement. I'll wait for your answer, thanks in advance !!
If you discarded the broken pieces of the rest, you will need to buy a parts unit (broken unit, for parts only). These parts are no longer available from Pioneer. I have rebuilt broken tonearm rests in the past.

Post detailed pics of whatever you have left of the broken tonearm rest, all the broken pieces, from a couple of angles each. Lets see what you may have to work with.

Enjoy,
Rich P
 
Tone Arm Rest for Pioneer PL-630

Sorry Rich, but I've not taken yet the photos you asked me. In a few days I'll have them ready to send them to you. Thankas a lot for your kind help !!!
 
Sorry Rich, but I've not taken yet the photos you asked me. In a few days I'll have them ready to send them to you. Thankas a lot for your kind help !!!
Just post them here. That way, others can learn from the work.

Enjoy,
Rich P
 
Power pack

Hi, i have 2 pl-630 TT. One is perfect and runs on 110v the other one has a damaged case and is at 240 volts. Can i simply swap over the 240 volt power pack inside the unit and resolder it? I live in an area where there is only 240volts.
 
Hi another question. The pl-630 speed goes up and down and does not respond to the turning of the speed pot. What could be wrong?
 
Hi, i have 2 pl-630 TT. One is perfect and runs on 110v the other one has a damaged case and is at 240 volts. Can i simply swap over the 240 volt power pack inside the unit and re-solder it? I live in an area where there is only 240volts.
For someone with no schematic, and not much tech experience, what needs to be transferred is from the power cord to the power supply board, including the transformer.

On the other hand, why not just transfer the good case?

Enjoy,
Rich P
 
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Hi another question. The pl-630 speed goes up and down and does not respond to the turning of the speed pot. What could be wrong?

Dirty speed selector switch, quartz lock switch, and speed pot. DeOxit is your friend. The restoration thread should give you the instructions you need...

Enjoy,
Rich P
 
Hi, im about to repare the Suspension Boot Augmentation and i noticed on the it is suggested that black RTV is used. I have no idea what this product is? Does it go by any other name? what do these Suspension Boot Augmentation do anyway? Thanks
 
Hi someone has swapped the suspension springs on four feet of the unit. I know that they are all different. How can i know which foot they should go on?
 
Hi, does anybody have the schematic/service manual for the PL-630 available for download, or know of a link to it? I've already managed to fix the tonearm lift in this one by replacing the small belt next to the tonearm. Problem is that platter speed seems way off and far from being locked in either quatz lock on or off. Pitch indicator needle is usually pegged to either side of the dial. The platter sometimes rotates very fast, or sometimes even reverses direction, or goes half a turn one way and then immediately reverses for another half turn and once again reverses direction and then the same cycle will repeat itself. Looks like a washing machine. In one or two ocasions it seemed to lock on 45 altough the pitch needle would indicate plus 1% (this sporadic condition only happened with quatz lock ON). Pitch control seems to have little or no control over speed under any condition. I suspect there might be a problem in the motor servo circuit, hoping it won't be one of those irreplaceable Pioneer chips gone bad.

BTW checked both the 8V and 27V supply lines and saw very little ripple content (less then 20mV), so suspect PS filter caps should still be ok. I can also see a clean square-wave at the crystal oscillator board test point TP1. Haven't replaced any other parts or caps yet, wanted to take a look at the schematic first, if available, in order to troubleshoot the circuit. Once I find the problem to be something fixeable, might replace all caps, but want to make sure first it will be a worthwile investment in time and effort and not a dead end street because of some specialized part (chip) not being available anymore.

In the mean time will read through this long thread and try to get some more ideas.

Thanks in advance for any help.
 
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