Bent cantilever. Can I just bend it back?

SubWolfer - I'd be interested in purchasing the cartridge as is. ;) That would relieve you of the stress and I can try my best to straighten her out. PM me if you have interest.
 
I have about a 70% success rate with aluminum, success being it looks fairly straight and sounds right, and isn't twisted; it may have a little kink or dent, which is annoying every time I see it, but doesn't affect play. Failure means I broke the damn thing off, which happened the first two times I tried — I'm surprised I had the guts to try again, but I analyzed my technique and corrected it. Success.

If "bent" means a sharp angle at a single point (as opposed to a gentler curve), and you apply force at that point to bend it back, it's going to break, because it's already partly fractured. So work around that point as much as you can — I mean bend other parts of the cantilever, and bend them just a little. If the total bend is, say, 10° off center, a series of small bends that add up to 10° is the safest approach.

To apply force only to a small area, you need something to bend against (call it a "fulcrum") — it not only focuses the force where you want it, it also prevents the compliant suspension from absorbing the force. Jfrace mentions a sewing needle, it's what I use too. I had a van den Hul bent downwards like you describe. Instead of the normal 15° angle, it was like 25°. That's bad — and working on a VDH is more nerve-racking than a $20 AT. Luckily it was aluminum — also, I was able to "nude" the cartridge, exposing more cantilever to work on. Putting the needle under the cantilever to hold it firm, and applying slight force at a series of points (moving the needle each time), I got it back close to 15° (judging by eye, when it's so tiny, who can tell?). Sounded almost like it did before, and adjusting VTA at the tonearm base fixed the small error that was left.

Tweezers can also focus the force on a single point — But I try to avoid "serious" tools because they're all force-multipliers, making a tiny slip catastrophic.

Also — know when to stop. If it's not perfect, but it's close, STOP — don't try "one more little" thing. You can correct the error that's left by how you mount it in the headshell. And "how it looks" doesn't matter when it comes to playing it — it may have little kinks and dents, but if the stylus is in the right place it will play right. Then just forget about it, you can't see the cantilever anyway unless you lie on your back on the floor looking up at it.

Sorry it took me so many words — TLDR — must hone my writing skills...
 
This is a good read for me. We had family over for a party and at one point I see my niece kneeling in front of my turntable; at the moment I saw her I also saw the arm in motion toward the platter, there was no record there. I was too far away to make it stop, tone arm dropped to the platter and glided across...bent cantilever...:eek:...:wtf:

I'll try bending it back now that I've read this, thankfully it's a cheap Pickering...I think.
 
how bent is it ?, if it's that noticeable then its pretty much done with,if its very slightly try playing a few records u dont care much about to straighten the cantilever
 
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I'm wondering what exactly is going to happen if he succeeds and it looks good. Will it destroy every LP it touches? Will the moon's orbit decay and destroy all civilization as we know it? What exactly is the harm in trying?
 
Well I got a lot of advice here, you guys are great. I reckon it don't hurt to try but my eyesight isn't the greatest.
When I got this cart I actually took the whole table to Audio Dimensions and had Harry setup the table.
I'm in the Detroit area and that was the only place I could find that would do that kind of service.

How bent is it? I posted a few pics below to show what I'm dealing with.
I still can't understand how this happened. Maybe after seeing these pics you guys may tell me not to even bother trying.

g2zntNG.jpg

9iLvCRa.jpg

ITgF6gQ.jpg
 
Well I got a lot of advice here, you guys are great. I reckon it don't hurt to try but my eyesight isn't the greatest.
When I got this cart I actually took the whole table to Audio Dimensions and had Harry setup the table.
I'm in the Detroit area and that was the only place I could find that would do that kind of service.

How bent is it? I posted a few pics below to show what I'm dealing with.
I still can't understand how this happened. Maybe after seeing these pics you guys may tell me not to even bother trying.

g2zntNG.jpg

9iLvCRa.jpg

ITgF6gQ.jpg

look for a new stylus, dont let let your records touch that................
 
Here's the thing... to give it the old college try, you're going to have to remove it anyway. So... if you're going to have to take the turntable to get the cart re-set once you remove it from the arm (unless that has a removable head shell?) then just take the whole thing to the tech as is and have him try straightening it out.

Or go to the thrift and find a brand new unopened Ferrante and Teicher (they will have one) and play that with it. :)
 
Subwolfer, Harry is one of the best in the business. He'll tell you what the best course of action is. From what I can tell from your photos, it looks like the cantilever is not best but rather displaced in the rubber doughnut. That could be an easy fix if it's not displaced from the generator. Harry would know if he saw it.

The 10x5 has an aluminum pipe cantilever, which means that it is hollow. If it was actually bent it would be difficult to fix.

By the way, Harry serves some of the best coffee I've ever had. If you haven't had a cup there you should.

To address a couple of other comments, the people who replace cantilevers and styli don't straighten cantilevers. Just like dented bodywork on a car, bent metal is stretched and doesn't want to go back to where it was before it was bent.

Also, the phono cartridge factories that I have been in have measurement gauges that they use in every step of the process to ensure that the generator assembly is mounted correctly in the body, the coils are the right distance apart, the stylus is at the right rake angle at the prescribed tracking force, etc. If anything is off it's disassembled and adjusted until everything is in the right place.

Happy listening.
 
how bent is it ?, if it's that noticeable then its pretty much ****ed,if its very slightly try playing a few records u dont care much about to straighten the cantilever

Definitely not true. Noticeably bent cantilevers can be successfully straightened and no amount of playing will straighten a bent cantilever.

John
 
I posted a few pics below to show what I'm dealing with.
I still can't understand how this happened. Maybe after seeing these pics you guys may tell me not to even bother trying.
I know it's a hassle, but only macro shots would help in diagnosis.
 
Oh, so we're hypocrites? Nice, Ken. Passive-aggressive much?

Someone puts together these cartridges - a human. Someone retips and installs new cantilevers on them, too, a person. Why can't a person straighten a cantilever? Why can't a person determine if it's straight or not and align it accordingly? If one knows enough about cartridges and turntables to get them set up precisely, they probably have the skills to handle this.

Hypocrites, no doubt every website has their share. As for someone puts these together, I don't think the OP has experience putting them together, do you? Most industries have special tools and experienced, and or trained workers at doing what they do for a living. To assume that anyone can just take such a small delicate item and bend it back accurately and claim it sounds just the same just doesn't add up in my book. If the OP wants to go for it the by all means give it a shot. But he asked us our opinion and I gave him mine. If the OP had a rather cheap table with a low quality cart I wouldn't have made a post. But the OP has a very nice table that warrants a good cart, that can precisely follow a very narrow groove accurately, and I stick to my past post, that to just bend back a lever of this size and get it to a point that it is perfect is unlikely. Now it might look good to some, and it might sound ok to some people but how does a person know for a fact that it is bent back to its exact design, and that it will perform as it did prior to the damage.
 
Hey, if you want to be anal, it's your perogative. Don't pass your narrow-minded judgement on others. To some, the expenditure for a new cartridge is inconsequential. To others, it's a major investment. Maybe trying to save that investment is more crucial to some than it is to you, Daddy Warbucks.
 
Hey, if you want to be anal, it's your perogative. Don't pass your narrow-minded judgement on others. To some, the expenditure for a new cartridge is inconsequential. To others, it's a major investment. Maybe trying to save that investment is more crucial to some than it is to you, Daddy Warbucks.

Having a bad night? The OP asked on an internet thread what our opinion was. Did he only ask you what your opinion was? I don't know what your issue is but last I knew all the members here should be able to offer help or opinions to questions asked of the members. If the OP wants to save his investment that is his decision, based on information from others, his own personal comfort level with trying to repair it, or his personal finances, Not everyone has the same opinion on these subjects, so get over it.
 
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You could try to bend it back, but that looks pretty severe to me. I would be very concerned about it being able to perform at any level even close to the original specifications. Have you contacted Dynavector to see if they can help? Some MC cartridge manufacturers have trade in programs.
 
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