Dag_3
Active Member
I've been working on restoring a Tandberg/Thorens TD-150 MkII with a TP-13A arm for my daughters birthday, and I thought I might share some of the information I have tracked down in the process. It was in pretty good shape when I got it, but it was missing some important parts. Judging by the pictures I see on the net it's fairly common for these to be missing in action. So here are some vital measurements I've found on the net in case you want to make your own parts or source them elsewhere:
1. The little anti-skating weight-on-a-thread. The weight is cylinder shaped, has a diameter of 6mm and a height of 6,8mm. It weighs 1,4g and hangs off a 55mm long thread. I lucked out with this weight. I opened up the table up to adjust the springs and out tumbled the weight! Might be worth a shot to see if it's been dropped inside your table as well.
2. The anti-skating arm. The anti-skating weight-on-a-thread drapes over an arm which clips onto the tone arm pillar. You can easily make one of these yourself. Take some fairly robust wire (I used the shiny galvanized kind to make it look nicer) and bend it into shape with pliers. Start by bending the end of the wire around something round that has the approximate diameter of the arm pillar to make a clip of sorts. The arms should be 30mm horizonally from the armpillar, then 40mm vertical, then 30mm horizontal again, angled 90 degrees compared to the bottom part. If this makes little sense in writing, see the pics. The notches to drape the weight-on-a-string over are spaced at 9, 21 and 27mm measured from the bend. You can make these with a needle nosed plier. As you can see from the pics I could have made this arm look better if I took some more care when bending, but this is a good starting point.
3. The small VTF counterweight ball that should be sitting on the arm on the right side of the tone arm. This is harder to make, and I haven't made one I'm happy with yet. Good news is that you don't absolutely need it. You can set the VTF with a stylus gauge and the large counterweight on the back of the arm. Still, I belive the smaller counterweight is important for the balance of the arm so I haven't give up yet. Anyway, the smaller VTF counterweight ball is reported to weigh 17,4g. If you can find a small black ball of approximately that weight it should be possible to drill out a hole for the arm to fit through, and then tap in a screw to fasten it. I drilled a 3,5mm hole through a bead and it seemed to be a good fit for the arm to pass through. However it didn't look as good as it should, so I haven't stopped searching for something more appropriate. Some people use an SME part as a replacement, but they are expensive and their shinyness detract from the whole black ball kugelarm experience IMHO. If anyone knows how to get their hands on a little black VTF weight ball it would make me very happy!
The other stuff I've done with this table is mostly regular maintenace. Cleaning it, adjusting the springs and talcing the spring rubber grommets, oiled the platter bearing and motor, cleaned the headshell contacts, adjusted the arm bearings and dropped a hard metal thrustplate into the platter bearing. I also changed the drive belt. Although up to specs, the new belt was too tight and it wouldn't move smoothly on the motor pulley when changing rpm from 45 to 33. The solution was simply to stretch it a bit.
When you choose a catridge for this turntable remember that you need one that can be screwed into the headshell from below. Some cartridges can only be mounted from the top and you can't use these without drilling holes in the headshell. I mouted a Denon DL-160 on this one, and I think it sounds nice.
Hope this info helps others with parts missing from their Thorens. Good luck!
Dag
1. The little anti-skating weight-on-a-thread. The weight is cylinder shaped, has a diameter of 6mm and a height of 6,8mm. It weighs 1,4g and hangs off a 55mm long thread. I lucked out with this weight. I opened up the table up to adjust the springs and out tumbled the weight! Might be worth a shot to see if it's been dropped inside your table as well.
2. The anti-skating arm. The anti-skating weight-on-a-thread drapes over an arm which clips onto the tone arm pillar. You can easily make one of these yourself. Take some fairly robust wire (I used the shiny galvanized kind to make it look nicer) and bend it into shape with pliers. Start by bending the end of the wire around something round that has the approximate diameter of the arm pillar to make a clip of sorts. The arms should be 30mm horizonally from the armpillar, then 40mm vertical, then 30mm horizontal again, angled 90 degrees compared to the bottom part. If this makes little sense in writing, see the pics. The notches to drape the weight-on-a-string over are spaced at 9, 21 and 27mm measured from the bend. You can make these with a needle nosed plier. As you can see from the pics I could have made this arm look better if I took some more care when bending, but this is a good starting point.
3. The small VTF counterweight ball that should be sitting on the arm on the right side of the tone arm. This is harder to make, and I haven't made one I'm happy with yet. Good news is that you don't absolutely need it. You can set the VTF with a stylus gauge and the large counterweight on the back of the arm. Still, I belive the smaller counterweight is important for the balance of the arm so I haven't give up yet. Anyway, the smaller VTF counterweight ball is reported to weigh 17,4g. If you can find a small black ball of approximately that weight it should be possible to drill out a hole for the arm to fit through, and then tap in a screw to fasten it. I drilled a 3,5mm hole through a bead and it seemed to be a good fit for the arm to pass through. However it didn't look as good as it should, so I haven't stopped searching for something more appropriate. Some people use an SME part as a replacement, but they are expensive and their shinyness detract from the whole black ball kugelarm experience IMHO. If anyone knows how to get their hands on a little black VTF weight ball it would make me very happy!
The other stuff I've done with this table is mostly regular maintenace. Cleaning it, adjusting the springs and talcing the spring rubber grommets, oiled the platter bearing and motor, cleaned the headshell contacts, adjusted the arm bearings and dropped a hard metal thrustplate into the platter bearing. I also changed the drive belt. Although up to specs, the new belt was too tight and it wouldn't move smoothly on the motor pulley when changing rpm from 45 to 33. The solution was simply to stretch it a bit.
When you choose a catridge for this turntable remember that you need one that can be screwed into the headshell from below. Some cartridges can only be mounted from the top and you can't use these without drilling holes in the headshell. I mouted a Denon DL-160 on this one, and I think it sounds nice.
Hope this info helps others with parts missing from their Thorens. Good luck!
Dag