Cleaned up quite nicely, Techincs SP10-MK2.

[the_nines]

I already have a Technics SP10-MK2 which some of you may have seen on some of my posts in the Music forums.


I also have a second SP10-MK2 which I had picked up a few years ago, basically a rescue. After I bought it, it sat in a room where I keep a couple of pieces of gear which are out of rotation but which I refuse to part with (like my Marantz 2245, I bought new back in 1973). I figured one day this spare Technics may come in handy but given the condition it was in, I couldn't possibly display it. A table like this deserves better. It breaks my heart to see such a wonderful and classic piece looking so shabby.

And internally:

I will be moving into a new office sometime in the coming year so I have been thinking to set-up a little office system and this table will be a part of it. Time to take it apart, remove the four circuit boards, on/off speed switch, strobe and main in:

......

 

[the_nines]

And the flip-side, removed the motor cover, brake, solenoid:

Removed the badge with an exact-o blade, came out quite nicely with no problems. The old glue had dried and was brittle:

Naked as a jaybird :

The On/Off switch was in excellent mechanical condition, all "clicks" felt and sounded good, however the lettering had faded to almost being invisible on the speed selector pieces:

 

[the_nines]

Using an Ultra Fine Sharpie, I filled in the top part of the "T" and with a small brush I applied some acrylic white gloss paint over the numbers and cleaned off the excess by dipping a Q-Tip (and toothpick for the finer details around the numbers) into isopropyl alcohol and removing the paint around the numbers:

Body and platter off to the shop:

Both pieces went into the sand-blaster.

The platter:

I had pre-covered the underside rubber damping material as well as the strobe markings around the rim perimeter. The platter was sand-blasted, sanded and polished to a nice, fine brushed finish.


Sand-blasted and first sanding, not yet fine-sanded or polished:

The body:

Sand-blasted, rinsed in some solution, holes plugged and prepped for initial heating before powder coat is applied. The owner says they prefer to pre-heat the metal before as this makes for a more uniform and minimal orange peel effect.

......

 

[the_nines]

The powder coat being applied. I chose a piano black high-gloss:

Cooling off:

I replaced the neon strobe with LEDs. I tried a few different colours. The blue was really gorgeous, but a bit too much.

Eventually, I settled on the amber. It gave a really nice light. I used four LEDs (3.2 Volt, 200mA) in parallel circuit, each with its own 100 ohm resistor. By replacing the neon strobe, I removed it from the PCB plug by snipping its wires and just placing some heat shrink on the exposed wires:

The LED strobe was connected to the 5V and N2 rails of the PCB:

Re-assemble:

......

 

[the_nines]

And we're done:

It cleaned up quite nicely indeed. Should look pretty cool in the new office.

Tonearm not yet decided, I have something lying around. All depends on the plinth, and which way I decide to go.




......

Thanks to: https://sites.google.com/site/mpbarneysources/sp-10-mk2-pro for being a great source of information.

 

[Montycat]

Dude!! Gorgeous!

 

[squirrelnest]

Can I send you my wife so you can redo her?!

 

[mprince]

Beautiful work, love the black finish.

 

[the_nines]

Oh, did I mention? ....

The shop that did the powder coating is family owned. The son who took care of my table is a big vinyl fan who owns a couple of Technics SL1200 MK2 and freaked out at what I asked him to do. We spent some time talking records, turntables and such. He's a big jazz fan, studying electrical engineering, and paying some of his tuition by doing disc-jockey gigs during events like the Montreal Grand Prix.

The work done was "on the house". Free!

I supplied coffee and doughnuts one morning.

 

[needforspeed]

And we're done:

It cleaned up quite nicely indeed. Should look pretty cool in the new office.

Tonearm not yet decided, I have something lying around. All depends on the plinth, and which way I decide to go.




......

Thanks to: https://sites.google.com/site/mpbarneysources/sp-10-mk2-pro for being a great source of information.

Truly top shelf work man, Through a pic on our thread, Those dudes love this stuff

 

[Cactus Bob]

Gorgeous, love the black finish well done nines!!

 

[4-2-7]

I don't know how you do it, you never say anything, nada, nothing till you have a table done.

It's like.... oh BTW,.... Bam!!!, look what I did

Looks very nice nines

 

[jsg1974]

very impressive work and you are courageous for taking on this task well done

 

[heavyrock]

Beautiful! What platter mat is that? I think my SP10-MK2 needs one...

 

[sqlsavior]

Thank you for documenting the process so meticulously.

You have another beautiful table!

 

[jamie123]

Beautiful! What platter mat is that? I think my SP10-MK2 needs one...

its a tenuto mat,sold here in the uk by puresound,5mm thick gun metal,ive just bought one as well as having great damping abilities it looks mighty fine too.

 

[jcamero]

 

[Norliss]

Bravo, sir. Absolutely great work - thanks for sharing that with us all

 

[ghamilton]

 

[malden]

Beautiful work!!!