bic 940 turntable

[dbrier]

I recently bought a Bic 940 turntable at a yard sale. The turntable will not turn. Any ideas?

 

[OvenMaster]

1. Welcome to AK!
2. If the TT won't turn when you try to move it by hand, the lube on the spindle has hardened so much that the platter is frozen in place. If it WILL turn by hand, but not when the TT is switched on, then the drivebelt is broken or slipping. If the belt is okay, then the motor or power switch is dead.
Tom

 

[danj]

Platter stuck? Take the spindle out and then put several drops of penetrating oil onto the top of the platter bearing and let it seep down into the bearing for 24 hours. Then GENTLY turn the platter while slowly lifting it off the bearing. Once it is off, clean the bearing and the inside of the platter bearing sleeve. Then relube the bearing using a very light grease like CG Phonolube or a light Moly or Lithium grease. Put a small dollop of grease inside the bearing sleeve. Gently replace the platter and clean up any grease that may have seeped out.

DO NOT FORCE THE PLATTER OFF THE BEARING OR PRY ON IT WITH TOOLS. THE BEARING IS EASILY DAMAGED AND VERY DIFFICULT OR IMPOSSIBLE TO REPAIR.

 

[Jim Eck]

The platter on the 940 is held in place by a c-clip on the spindle that will need to be removed before removing the platter.

Jim

 

[Fred Longworth]

Penetrating oil will frequently NOT work for removing a BIC 940/960/980 platter, where the original grease has turned into glue.

Remove the spindle and plastic retaining ring. Then, using a soldering gun, or high wattage soldering iron, place the soldering tip right on top of the hole where the spindle goes and leave it there for as long as a minute. While this is going on, have a second person pry carefully upward on opposite sides of the platter using two flat-bladed screwdrivers.

Do not try to shortcut this procedure by using a heat gun. You will kill the rubber mat.

Once the platter is off, remove gummy grease from both the bushing & shaft and the thrust bearings. Relube the thrust bearings with grease and the bushing & shaft with heavy machine oil.

Best,

Fred

 

[danj]

Penetrating oil has always worked for me but, then again, I have probably serviced only a dozen BICs in 30 years, which does not count for much. I defer to Mr. Longworth and his considerable expertise. I have always found his advise to be accurate and sound :thmbsp:.

I repeat my oft-told warning about turntable servicing:
Do not use WD-40 or any similar product on any turntable OR tape deck transport! It may cause more problems than it solves.

 

[Nat]

That rubber mat will come off though it clamps onto the perimeter of the platter pretty tightly. I would try to replace it myself -- the slots in th mat mean that any needle dropped onto while the platter is moving it is utterly destroyed. Obviously this should never happen, but most of us have made a mistake once or twice in our lives...

 

[Roypercy]

I reconditioned two of the 940s, a BIC 960 and a Zenith Allegro which was a clone of the 960 with a strobe added. (I got all 4 for free from a guy whose grandad had had a bunch of nonworking stuff around) All of them had hardened grease and all worked great after cleaning and relubing. It's probably not kosher but I was able to use WD-40 to unfreeze the works, then cleaned it off with rubbing alcohol and relubed with lithium grease. After the platter is off turn the turntable over and take off the bottom cover. Pay particular attention to cleaning the return mechanism that's visible on the bottom. The motors on these tables seem really robust, and when they work, for all the plastic parts, the sound is very nice and clean.

 

[Fred Longworth]

Common failures of the BIC 940:

1. Frozen platter (discussed above)
2. Rotor shaft in motor breaks loose from force-fit into magnet (superglue will fix)
3. Belt stretches out (exact replacements still available)
4. Arm drops like a rock (cue fluid gone or deteriorated -- repack)
5. When cycling, always sets down in 7" position (cure: two cam followers are sticky)
6. Will not pick up at end of play (grease caught in end-of-play trip pawl -- clean)

Fred

 

[onwardjames]

Got a BIC 940 for ho-ho day from the girlfriend (who already bought me a 9090db and a pair of HPM-100s before) and it has problem # 5. Really like this tt, though. Would it be worth a resto, in your opinion, Fred?

 

[arrow 68]

I reconditioned two of the 940s, a BIC 960 and a Zenith Allegro which was a clone of the 960 with a strobe added. (I got all 4 for free from a guy whose grandad had had a bunch of nonworking stuff around) All of them had hardened grease and all worked great after cleaning and relubing. It's probably not kosher but I was able to use WD-40 to unfreeze the works, then cleaned it off with rubbing alcohol and relubed with lithium grease. After the platter is off turn the turntable over and take off the bottom cover. Pay particular attention to cleaning the return mechanism that's visible on the bottom. The motors on these tables seem really robust, and when they work, for all the plastic parts, the sound is very nice and clean.

Hey, I really like your Avatar. A Jim Flora Cover I believe. Would love to find one in my thrift travels. Sorry to get off topic.

 

[BrocLuno]

BIC tables seems to be sort of mid-fi at first glance, but they sound good and play quietly once they are serviced. They seems to be fine TT's when they are working. I'd repair any one that was complete and looked to be OK cosmetically

 

[Kozemchuk]

Penetrating oil will frequently NOT work for removing a BIC 940/960/980 platter, where the original grease has turned into glue.

Remove the spindle and plastic retaining ring. Then, using a soldering gun, or high wattage soldering iron, place the soldering tip right on top of the hole where the spindle goes and leave it there for as long as a minute. While this is going on, have a second person pry carefully upward on opposite sides of the platter using two flat-bladed screwdrivers.

Do not try to shortcut this procedure by using a heat gun. You will kill the rubber mat.

Once the platter is off, remove gummy grease from both the bushing & shaft and the thrust bearings. Relube the thrust bearings with grease and the bushing & shaft with heavy machine oil.

Best,

Fred

This was my experience as well. I applied penetrating oil twice a day for three days then let the turntable sit for a few weeks (!) when I was out of town. When I returned, the platter seemed as stuck as it had always been.

But heat did the trick! I pointed a 1600 watt hair dryer (on high) directly at the center of the platter - where the spindle emerges - and after three minutes, the platter slid right off! From there it was pretty easy to get out the bearing assembly, clean off the grease, and re-lube the assembly. Now the table is spinning like a charm.

However, I was able to remove the rubber mat to perform this procedure. The entire platter became very warm, so doing this with the mat on probably would not be a good idea.

Thanks Fred!

 

[gimpy]

onwardjames, if you do a search under my name with bic 960, you should find a thread where I had that exact same problem back in August. I think it was Doug that helped me out explaining how to remove the two "fingers", relube it and now, after following his instructions, the tt works pretty good. I really like it auto feature.

Only problem with it is the back of the cart does touch the record at times when it gets on the 4th or 5th record. so, I only play 3 at a time now until I get the chance to adjust the VTA (I think). Go for it.

 

[Charlie*1]

Penetrating oil will frequently NOT work for removing a BIC 940/960/980 platter, where the original grease has turned into glue.

Remove the spindle and plastic retaining ring. Then, using a soldering gun, or high wattage soldering iron, place the soldering tip right on top of the hole where the spindle goes and leave it there for as long as a minute. While this is going on, have a second person pry carefully upward on opposite sides of the platter using two flat-bladed screwdrivers.

Do not try to shortcut this procedure by using a heat gun. You will kill the rubber mat.

Once the platter is off, remove gummy grease from both the bushing & shaft and the thrust bearings. Relube the thrust bearings with grease and the bushing & shaft with heavy machine oil.

Best,

Fred

Just bought a BIC 940 on eBay, which was supposedly working. As it turns out, the platter was completely frozen. I was able to finally get it off using heat (hair dryer). The black tubular spindle (sorry, don’t know the names of things) turns only with a lot of effort. Got down to the washer and the bearing. Removed and cleaned them. Then started on the “base” of the spindle (where it inserts into the metal plate). There was a bit of dried lubricant (glue) on the underside of it. I’ve been lubricating this point (and applying heat), but it still turns only with difficulty, and there is even a “squeaking” sound. Any thoughts? I hate to scrap it as it’s cosmetically in great shape, and the motor works.
Thanks!
Charlie

 

[Doug G.]

Don't ever force the platter to turn as it can break the staked areas loose where the spindle bearing is attached to the support plate underneath. Insert the automatic spindle and see if the upper part "points" directly to the record support at the left rear of the table. If so, it is probably OK. If it points anywhere else, the spindle bearing has broken loose and needs to be relocated and fixed in place. Superglue may work for this or epoxy.
.
If you have determined the bearing is OK but the platter turns with difficulty without the belt installed (the belt tension will cause the platter to turn a bit stiffly), there is still some dried or hardened lubricant someplace or something is deformed. Are the bearing components all there (washer, ball bearing race, washer, and O-ring)? Did you clean the inside bearing surfaces on the platter in addition to the surfaces on the platter bearing mounted on the base plate?

OK, I just reread your post. The black spindle bearing mounted on the support plate on the base plate should not turn at all. It needs to be fixed in place. The platter bearing on the platter revolves around the black bearing.

Check all these and get back.

Doug

 

[Nat]

Doug G understands what you are describing, and since he is the expert on BICs, that is probably all you need, but if you want more (if less well informed) opinions take some pictures to help the rest of us understand your questions better.
If the whole spindle is turning, it does need to be reoriented corrects and then superglued or expoxied, as Doug says. I've done this at least once myself, and it worked perfectly well. The original staking of the spindle isn't that robust (staking to sheet aluminum can't be very strong), so the glue bond probably isn't any weaker.