mcaddie7
Active Member
Made a few other posts asking for help but the table is finally working and in tip top shape.
Started by taking the cover off and soaking all of the buttons and scrubbing them with a toothbrush. I think the previous owner was a smoker because the water turned yellow three times over!
Then we had to find a stylus for the beast. Luckily it has the original cartridge and track sensor. Right from the pawn shop it was found in it sensed tracks just fine!
A small LED shines down onto the track, and you receive -6V for a shiny spot on the vinyl and -2 for a dull spot (music).
After replacing the stylus I noticed the tone arm wasn’t moving. Replaced the tonearm belt with an O-ring (not sure what size but I believe it to be 027). Now the tonearm works!
I also noticed the capacitors were leaking ever so slightly. I know a popular sentiment here is if it’s working don’t change but alas the ICs which control the sensing logic typically burn themselves up over time and aren’t replaceable anymore. These things are becoming more and more rare as they die and don’t come back to life.
I’m no machinist but I fabricated a heat sink to cover both ICs, and applied it with thermal glue. This should help reduce any heat that these endure, hopefully making them last longer. Also replaced all electrolytic capacitors. The new ones were so much smaller size wise that I had to strap a wire to the cap to get it to reach on the board (I know, it’s ugly).
However once all put together I noticed that it was no longer sensing! After a LOT of electrical troubleshooting, measuring voltages at the T4 transistor (the -2 and -6) and receiving funky and inconsistent numbers, I decided to take it all apart. I then noticed that two of the copper through holes for the caps I replaced had came apart.
I was very gentle with this board but I’m guessing this happened when the larger cap was removed. It was COVERED with glue from the factory and I did have to apply some force remove it, thus probably bending the board more than the ol gal wanted to. I put jumper wires on the traces, and viola! It worked again.
Finally touches I performed after:
- Cleaned all pots with Deoxit
- Cleaned and oiled the wood and plinth
- Adjusted rough 45 and 33 RPM pots in motor so speed knobs are centered
- Cleaned button board with deoxit
- Added oil to motor
- Balanced tone arm
-Ohmed out tone arm and sensor (working)
After plugging it in and playing my test record, it actually sounds quite nice. Very warm sound coming from the OG stylus and cartridge. The only thing that doesn’t work is the “4” select switch. However given the way it’s setup I wouldn’t dare try to repair it as you’d likely hurt the other buttons.
Hopefully the customer enjoys it for the novelty!
Started by taking the cover off and soaking all of the buttons and scrubbing them with a toothbrush. I think the previous owner was a smoker because the water turned yellow three times over!
Then we had to find a stylus for the beast. Luckily it has the original cartridge and track sensor. Right from the pawn shop it was found in it sensed tracks just fine!
A small LED shines down onto the track, and you receive -6V for a shiny spot on the vinyl and -2 for a dull spot (music).
After replacing the stylus I noticed the tone arm wasn’t moving. Replaced the tonearm belt with an O-ring (not sure what size but I believe it to be 027). Now the tonearm works!
I also noticed the capacitors were leaking ever so slightly. I know a popular sentiment here is if it’s working don’t change but alas the ICs which control the sensing logic typically burn themselves up over time and aren’t replaceable anymore. These things are becoming more and more rare as they die and don’t come back to life.
I’m no machinist but I fabricated a heat sink to cover both ICs, and applied it with thermal glue. This should help reduce any heat that these endure, hopefully making them last longer. Also replaced all electrolytic capacitors. The new ones were so much smaller size wise that I had to strap a wire to the cap to get it to reach on the board (I know, it’s ugly).
However once all put together I noticed that it was no longer sensing! After a LOT of electrical troubleshooting, measuring voltages at the T4 transistor (the -2 and -6) and receiving funky and inconsistent numbers, I decided to take it all apart. I then noticed that two of the copper through holes for the caps I replaced had came apart.
I was very gentle with this board but I’m guessing this happened when the larger cap was removed. It was COVERED with glue from the factory and I did have to apply some force remove it, thus probably bending the board more than the ol gal wanted to. I put jumper wires on the traces, and viola! It worked again.
Finally touches I performed after:
- Cleaned all pots with Deoxit
- Cleaned and oiled the wood and plinth
- Adjusted rough 45 and 33 RPM pots in motor so speed knobs are centered
- Cleaned button board with deoxit
- Added oil to motor
- Balanced tone arm
-Ohmed out tone arm and sensor (working)
After plugging it in and playing my test record, it actually sounds quite nice. Very warm sound coming from the OG stylus and cartridge. The only thing that doesn’t work is the “4” select switch. However given the way it’s setup I wouldn’t dare try to repair it as you’d likely hurt the other buttons.
Hopefully the customer enjoys it for the novelty!
