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I Have Finished Sweetening Up My PL-518

pustelniakr

pustelniakr

Silver Miner at Large
Subscriber
The PL-518 is done :banana: She is in real sweet condition. The "only" flaw I can find is one light scratch and a couple of light ticks in the dust cover. The rest is completely unmarked.

Here's a list of the treatment she got:

  1. I polished out the dust cover, but did not go to the depth of steel wool treatment. That might get the remaining marks out of it, but I have already spent 14 hours on her and I would need to spend another 5 hours to do the cover all over again.

  2. She has been completely cleaned and lubed.

  3. She gets her tonearm drive from the platter motor, so no tonearm belt was needed.

  4. All switches and controls have received the Deoxit treatment. All the switches have been measured when closed, to less than 30 milli-ohms. The speed pot measures nice an smooth across the full travel.

  5. Tonearm lifter damping is just right (not too fast, not too slow).

  6. The feet have been put back together using RTV, and are complete (all parts, including inner springs). The RTV job is not pretty, but is working quite well. It is very hard to spread RTV and have it look pretty. This is not visible when the feet are installed. I now have one of the only PL-518s with its feet on and functional.

  7. The Ortonfon cartridge (FF15XE Mk-II) has been adjusted for proper overhang and azimuth alignment, and sounds real nice @ 1.5 gm.
I'm listening to Herbie Hancock, Man-Child on the PL-518, as I type this :hdphones: Already listened to Loggins and Messina, Sittin' In. Oh, and yes Bolly, the triple-stack of HPM-100s is pumping :).

Pics:


Check it out and let me know what you think.

Rich P
 
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Very nice job! We have a Pioneer PL-516 we can't seem to get in good working order by ourselves. The motor is not being sufficiently isolated from the plate and as a result we hear a hum whenever the cart is on the vinyl. Do you have any suggestions? There are rubber grommets inside clearly intended to isolate the motor from the actual box itself that are dried and hardened, probably contributing to the problem.
 
The PL-518 is one sweet turn-table. I've been running one with a Shure V15 type III cartridge for a couple of years and I love it and I'm sure you'll like yours as well.
 
MD1032 said:
Very nice job! We have a Pioneer PL-516 we can't seem to get in good working order by ourselves. The motor is not being sufficiently isolated from the plate and as a result we hear a hum whenever the cart is on the vinyl. Do you have any suggestions? There are rubber grommets inside clearly intended to isolate the motor from the actual box itself that are dried and hardened, probably contributing to the problem.
Click to expand...

If your cart is a Grado, it is likely the cart. They are not shielded well, but do sound good on a well shielded table. What you describe does sound like a cart shielding problem. Try another cart (hopefully you can borrow from a friend).

On the other hand, if the rubber motor mounts are not doing their jobs, then the hum could be vibration pickup. I'm afraid I don't know where to send you for motor mounts...

Rich P
 
shrinkboy said:
hey, pus-- neat! wish you'd post a pic of the whole system!
Click to expand...

At the moment, there is no "whole system," just over 50 units waiting for their turn at sweetening. I need to take the time to make room for a system, plus, I need a 2nd Spec rack, or 2 of another type, 'cause my system won't fit in a single rack (probably need 3 :)).

I'll post when I get the system picked out, sweetened and set up. ( triple-stack of HPM-100s and all)

Rich P
 
waylyn5945 said:
The PL-518 is one sweet turn-table. I've been running one with a Shure V15 type III cartridge for a couple of years and I love it and I'm sure you'll like yours as well.
Click to expand...

I am enjoying it very much. I will only do so for a short while, since I have a potential buyer for it. For myself, I have a PL-630 with a Benz Micro MC Silver cart. Now THAT is a sweet machine. I actually have 4 PL-630s :)

Rich P
 
Moved the pics here for better availability, and so I could take them down from image cave...

Enjoy,
Rich P
 

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A few more pics...

Enjoy,
Rich P
 

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Just a couple more pics...

Enjoy,
Rich P
 

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my 518 has good feet but i had to buy a junked out 518x off ebay to get em. don't care, I really wanted the feet.

nice job for sure
 
Rich, you da maven!!! My dad picked up a 630 about 18yrs ago and I've been reading through some of your threads, hoping to talk my dad into making a father/son project out of the wonky unit he has. (speed issues. i know, DeOxit and excercise the controls) :)

Now, this may sound like a newby Q, but what does RTV stand for? (so I know what to tell the school-aged clerk when he looks at me blankly and says "IDK, I only work here")

I also noticed your comment about Grado carts and shielding. Is the 630 shielded? If it isn't, would some copper mesh on the underside of the motor cover plate achieve shielding? I was hoping to use a Grado Gold and the interchangable 78C stylus so we don't have to re-align the cart between LP and 78 (your Benz doesn't look like it has a removable stylus)
 
aoeuidhtns said:
Rich, you da maven!!! My dad picked up a 630 about 18yrs ago and I've been reading through some of your threads, hoping to talk my dad into making a father/son project out of the wonky unit he has. (speed issues. i know, DeOxit and excercise the controls) :)

Now, this may sound like a newby Q, but what does RTV stand for? (so I know what to tell the school-aged clerk when he looks at me blankly and says "IDK, I only work here")

I also noticed your comment about Grado carts and shielding. Is the 630 shielded? If it isn't, would some copper mesh on the underside of the motor cover plate achieve shielding? I was hoping to use a Grado Gold and the interchangable 78C stylus so we don't have to re-align the cart between LP and 78 (your Benz doesn't look like it has a removable stylus)
Click to expand...
PL-630 has no problems with Grado carts.

RTV = Room Temperature Vulcanizing rubber. Available in tubes at your neighborhood hardware store.

Enjoy,
Rich P
 
Thanks Rich. Oh, and I just realised (now that I've slept and had my coffee) 630 don't do 78. Oh well. Maybe on the Elac 770
 
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