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300,000 cue goo

Hi all,
I just got a Pioneer Pl-71 as some of you know, and it is great except for the same thing in this post, with the cueing. I just pulled it apart, and it is a dual piston type of thing with syrupy whitish-clear stuff in it. Is this the silicone that is mentioned above? Is it about the consistency of thick honey? Well, the guy before me oiled it and thinned it out, and I now need a small amount of the stuff. I tried melting some vaseline to thin it out and soaked the plunger mech in it, but it is not thick enough. It works about as well as it did before I disassembled it, which is way too fast of an arm drop.
Is this silicone goop all the same, or do I need to buy Pioneer stuff?
I just emailed Tim at TT Basics and asked him about the goo. There are three viscosities of it and I don't know which one to go for. I know I want a slow drop but this is my first cue mech repair in 35 years!
 
premiumplus said:
Hi all,
I just got a Pioneer Pl-71 as some of you know, and it is great except for the same thing in this post, with the cueing. I just pulled it apart, and it is a dual piston type of thing with syrupy whitish-clear stuff in it. Is this the silicone that is mentioned above? Is it about the consistency of thick honey? Well, the guy before me oiled it and thinned it out, and I now need a small amount of the stuff. I tried melting some vaseline to thin it out and soaked the plunger mech in it, but it is not thick enough. It works about as well as it did before I disassembled it, which is way too fast of an arm drop.
Is this silicone goop all the same, or do I need to buy Pioneer stuff?
I just emailed Tim at TT Basics and asked him about the goo. There are three viscosities of it and I don't know which one to go for. I know I want a slow drop but this is my first cue mech repair in 35 years!
Click to expand...
Well, my PL-570 required 500,000 wt. The PL-71 was from the prior year, but I don't know for sure which viscosity it takes. Unfortunately the only person who knew passed away last year. 300,000 does seem to work for post turntables. Turntablebasics also carries 600,000 and you can mix viscosities to get closer to what you need. Only problem is that turntablebasics is unpredictable with respect to how fast they ship your order and it costs you $20 just so you can mix a drop of each. You can also look at hobby shops that carry radio control for the stuff--they call it diff oil, but it's the same thing, silicone damping fluid, and comes in the same viscosities. They don't always carry the viscosities that we need, though.
 
TT bascis is slow as **** shipping my 300000 stuff. 2 weeks tomorrow. I'm pissed. they don't answer my email either.
 
I just orderd 500,000 from my local hobby shop. They had 100,000 in stock, to thin.

The thick fluids are used in 1/8 scale nitro buggy transmissions.
 
Trannie fluid for cue dampers, huh!
I've got a Rider's hobby store here in Flint, maybe they can help. Are there any other sources? It would help if we knew specifically what to call the stuff. It must be a lubricant of some kind.
Is there anything else inside the cue piston assembly besides pistons? The best I could tell from the Pioneer PL-71 style is that it is a steel cylinder, with a piston and lift rod that is spring loaded to lower the piston, on the top, with a floating piston underneath, then the lift cam. The top of the cylinder has a brass cap that has a little hole for breathing in it, as does the bottom. Is there any rubber that may be damaged by degreasing chemicals? I now have vaseline in mine and I want to clean it out thoroughly prior to replacing the silicone.
 
I ordered this (1 x Kyosho Silicone Differential Oil (300,000wt) (40cc) (KYOSIL300000) = $13.99

from amainhobbies.com today.

Same weight that TT Basics carries, but I don't have the patience to order from him anymore.

Hope that this link helps others.

Jim
 
OldHiFi...did you ever get the fluid. If so, did the method of putting the fluid on the outside w/o disassembly work for you. I have the same problem with my SL-1401.
 
got the 300K goo. Injected it it down in the empty space(from above) for the cue device witht the curved lift piece removed. Filled up the space with as much goo as could be taken without it getting all over the place then wiped away any overflo. Replaced the lift piece to see if it helped and was pleased to see the arm SLOWLY decend to the record surface. So, correct or not, it fixed the problem to my satisfaction. Interestingly, I have 2 other technics TTs with exact same cue lift and when the lift piece was removed not a trace of oil of anyknid was visable down in the space yet both work with perfect with slow lowering of the tonearm. So I don't know what gives, but don't much care now that it's fixed. Go ahead and use the 300kgoo and I think it'll work for you too.
 
Fred, YOU THE MAN!!! I just finished the cuing on my 34 year old Technics SL1500. And I did follow your instructions. Well almost, tried to put the barrel in upside down. It baffled me for a while. But anyway, it now works as it did many years ago. You have made my day, week, month and whole year!! Thanks for your time and wise advice.

Now, one observation I made while doing the repairs is how it got that way in the first place. Aside from age as a cause, I have this tendency to use cleaners like Windex and Iso Alcohol and not in small amounts and almost always on the whole piece then clean it off. I would guarantee that at some point 20 years ago or so I had one those cleaning urges. There is no doubt that I diluted the 300K silicone thus ruining the cuing action. So no drowning it for cleaning ever again. Still don't have the silicone off my fingers yet despite using a Qtip to apply it on the shaft and barrel. But is is thinner on the fingers, soap will work, I hope...

Walter:tresbon:

Fred Longworth said:
Most Technics cuing mechanisms must be unpacked from below, not serviced from the lift-bar end. You need to gain access to the underside of the tonearm base. Usually this means you need to move the bottom. On a few Technics models, however, you take out a few screws and the plinth lifts free; the tonearm base must then be unscrewed from the bottom.

Then you remove the lever that presses against the cuing shaft and remove a retainer or two to get the shaft free. Once it's out of the tube it slides inside of, you clean off all the old cue-fluid gunk, both from the inside of the tube and the outside of the cuing shaft. Next, you use a slender applicator to apply new cue fluid on the inside of the tube and the outside of the shaft. Last, you put everything back together and wipe off any excess cue fluid.

Hope this is useful.

Fred
Click to expand...
 
lacquer thinner/acetone works good for getting rid of silicone from fingers. Outdoors and don't breath it or leave it on for long.
PS: my cue mech was dry as a bone inside with no trace of any oil/silicone. Could only force silicone into the space till it overflowed then worked the arm up/dn to work it into the mechinism. that did the trick.
 
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