New wires? - Mayware Formula lV tonearm

Rockon1

Well-Known Member
OK so going over my set up, I noticed (stumbled upon) the fact my arm had "built in anti skate" - in other words even with no bias weight attached , if I set it to float, it would swing back to the arm rest by itself. Sarcasm alert - there's no built in anti-skate. Check the level, adjusted, nope. Something else was going on. Took the arm apart enough to notice the wires were a bit bunched up where they enter the swing arm. Carefully straightened them out ,pulled the excess thru to the front of the arm, leaving enough to make a nice bend going into the tube down toward the base. All seemed well.
A couple weeks later I checked it and , though less, its drifting back toward the arm rest again. Rechecked the level to be sure.
I'm thinking maybe the wires are to old, stiff, and retained some "memory" so to speak?
Looks like a pita but I can't see anything else to cause it. Thoughts? Bob

The arm
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Thanks - you missed the part where I stated "even with no bias weight attached" - perhaps I just was unclear . I removed the weight/string from the bearing it normally rests on so there was no anti skate action....The arm is very sensitive and I guess that's a good thing. Its hard to believe the wiring is pulling it backward like anti skate but that's all I can think of. Bob
 
That quite alright, I appreciate the response! - I'm finding it hard to understand how those tiny wires are acting like a spring but that's all Ive got. Bob
 
Well I did a little experiment. Removed the stylus. Placed the tonearm down near the spindle and left it there over night. Checked this morning and it no longer pulls back toward the arm rest so I can only guess the culprit must be the wiring! Argh... Bob
 
No experience with this arm but I'd be worried if it didn't do this. The whole idea is to have extremely low friction in the bearing. So, even the wires provide enough force to overcome the friction. It's as it should be IMO.

Not an issue during play as it's smaller than the anti-skating you need anyway.

As an aside, dressing the wires just right is the only anti-skating available on an AR XA...
 
The have been known to do it quite frequently; there is more than one and the OP reports them turned' twisted or something.

They they were kind of bunched up. Thought I straightened them out. Guess complete disassembly is required. :( Bob
 
No experience with this arm but I'd be worried if it didn't do this. The whole idea is to have extremely low friction in the bearing. So, even the wires provide enough force to overcome the friction. It's as it should be IMO.

Not an issue during play as it's smaller than the anti-skating you need anyway.

As an aside, dressing the wires just right is the only anti-skating available on an AR XA...

And that gives me another idea. Lighten my bias weight accordingly. Not so scientific but tracking at 1g the weight should be 1g. I could compensate by lowering the weight to.75g. :idea: Bob
 
Do you ever check your AS with a blank disc? It's not the final word in accuracy but it's certainly more reliable than simply matching the VTF. Lower the stylus on the spinning disc, it will stay in the same spot if AS is set correctly.

I have a blank 45 somewhere but most of the time I just use the deadwax. Side 4 of The Köln Concert is a good one for this.

I should add that all my experience is with gimballed arms.
 
Do you ever check your AS with a blank disc? It's not the final word in accuracy but it's certainly more reliable than simply matching the VTF. Lower the stylus on the spinning disc, it will stay in the same spot if AS is set correctly.

I have a blank 45 somewhere but most of the time I just use the deadwax. Side 4 of The Köln Concert is a good one for this.

I should add that all my experience is with gimballed arms.

This uni-pivot is extremely sensitive which is a good thing though a bit more of a hassle to set up. Ive wanted to try a blank disc of sorts though I don't have any in my small collection. Bob
 
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