Cleaning turntable parts

Matt Mincer

Active Member
Hey Vinyl Folks,

A guy brought me a couple turntables to look at. They have both been sitting around in less than ideal conditions and are pretty filthy. Any suggestions on how the clean schmutz off of a cartridge? Not the stylus, the actual cartridge. lso the tonearm pivot or bearing or whatever the proper name is?

Thanks
Matt
 
It is a challenge as the stuff is on pretty tight. Try whatever small brushes you can with alcohol or diluted dishwashing detergent, Careful to not run water inside. I have used Q-tips, small paint brushes of various stiffneses and between teeth brushes like below - they come in differing widths. It is a bit of trial and error depending on the material being cleaned and kind of build up.

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It's a TP-16 TA with a TP-50 headshell (for some odd reason). It's tough enough to dip in IPA, leaving aside the cart.
Some sewing machine oil after it's dry in the vertical pin bearing and the lateral ball bearings - and it's good as new.
Other than the motor - you can probably dip the entire turntable in IPA.
Actually, you can dip the motor too, except you need to make sure it's completely dry before usage.
 
It's a TP-16 TA with a TP-50 headshell (for some odd reason). It's tough enough to dip in IPA, leaving aside the cart.
Some sewing machine oil after it's dry in the vertical pin bearing and the lateral ball bearings - and it's good as new.
Other than the motor - you can probably dip the entire turntable in IPA.
Actually, you can dip the motor too, except you need to make sure it's completely dry before usage.
Thorens TD 145
 
TD-145 or not, the TP-16 ships with a TP-60 headshell.
With the TD-145 auto-shutoff PCB, there's more reason to rinse
everything with IPA.
 
Corrosion isn't going to clean off regardless. I use a combination of soap, IPA and, for tough stuff, VM&P Naptha. Always test that last one on a unexposed area, but it's safe with a surprising number of plastics. Especially watch out for lettering.
 
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