Fixing cue mechanism in a Technics SL 1400 mk2

xingchoolin

New Member
Hello everyone.
I've been reading many posts and watching several videos from all over the internet about this common issue in this machine and I decided to give it a try and fix it myself.

This is my main guide.
The tt in the video is a SL 1510 mk2 which is a close relative to the 1400.

Removing the platter looked trivial here at 4:53 in the previous video but I couldn't remove mine
 
As always, Youtube had the answer.

You can see how easily this guy pushes the center and pulls from the holes at 0:50. It wouldn't work for me either.
I thought about hitting the spindle with a hammer but luckily I found this piece of light wood instead.
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Great work! That repair should hols up very well for you.

Re: the damping issue, the cause of the insufficient damping isn't too little grease. It's that you used the wrong material. The correct material is silicone oil, used as diff fluid in RC cars.It is VERY thick. The correct product has a rating of 300,000 cSt. Anything less than that (for a Technics) will be insufficient. Anything heavier (they make 500,000 cSt) will cause the arm to drop much too slowly. As you surmised, it should be applied to the grooves in the cuing piston.

Again, great work!

John
 
Great work! That repair should hols up very well for you.

Re: the damping issue, the cause of the insufficient damping isn't too little grease. It's that you used the wrong material. The correct material is silicone oil, used as diff fluid in RC cars.It is VERY thick. The correct product has a rating of 300,000 cSt. Anything less than that (for a Technics) will be insufficient. Anything heavier (they make 500,000 cSt) will cause the arm to drop much too slowly. As you surmised, it should be applied to the grooves in the cuing piston.

Again, great work!

John

I think you are referring to the thread this one spawns from or to the first video. I'm afraid I'm none of those skillful gentlemen. :)
 
I think you are referring to the thread this one spawns from or to the first video. I'm afraid I'm none of those skillful gentlemen. :)

OOPS!!! Well, don't follow his instructions for greasing the cuing piston. Just.... don't.

John
 
Yes, that's the stuff, the 300,000 cSt. It appears to come in 60ml bottles which probably represents a lifetime supply.

John
Thanks for the advice John. I'll buy that grease tomorrow.

I got to the point of removing the arm. I haven't been able to disassemble it. I can see the broken plastic piece. In my case it's not white but black.

I think the shaft is made of steel. I'll check again tomorrow with a better light before ordering a replacement.

I took loads of pictures of the process. I'll post them all tomorrow. Bed time now!
 
I have been able to dissassemble the arm. It has been the most difficult task by far in all this process. I hated fiddling with those thin wires. I tried to access the broken plastic piece without desoldering the cables from the circuit board but I couldn't. They were held in place by some kind of solid white goo. I had to heat it up slightly with a lighter several times to make the wires slide through those blobs.

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At this point I'd just get one of the Shapeways parts (linked in the other thread) for the bronze bushing. The likelihood that the piece developed numerous other stress cracks is pretty high and the part will eventually fail again. $23.00 is cheap insurance.

John
 
At this point I'd just get one of the Shapeways parts (linked in the other thread) for the bronze bushing. The likelihood that the piece developed numerous other stress cracks is pretty high and the part will eventually fail again. $23.00 is cheap insurance.
John
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It doesn't look like steel to me, but the plastic piece resembles more the one in the "steel" URL.
 
I don't know. I was just looking at the fact that your turntable has a bronze bushing.

John
 
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