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BIC 960 - Turntable will not spin

brachilles

brachilles

New Member
hey folks,

Having a little trouble with my BIC 960. when turned on, the table will simply not spin. it will not spin manually either with gentle pressure; it seems to have locked up. i am able to take the platter off, and the motor itself spins just fine.
it had trouble getting up to the proper speed for a little while, but not it won't spin at all. what do you guys think my problem is? any help is greatly appreciated!
 
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Welcome to AK!

It sounds like your problem is sticky, dried lubricant. Clean off the platter bearing and bearing well with isopropyl and then relube it.

You can probably find the service manual at www.vinylengine.com.
 
usually if you can get the platter off, it will spin, so I'm a bit confused here...
 
yes, I know, just not consistent with what I've seen on my BICs.

Just a thought: A belt drive TT platter won't spin if the belt is attached. Remove the belt and see if it spins. If it does, the belt is tight enough to keep the platter from spinning, but too loose to drive the platter under load. Solution: Clean the belt and platter surface that the belt rides on with alcohol, and apply talcum powder to the belt. If that fails, buy a new belt.

Also do make sure all the old lube is removed and replaced with new (I use 0W Mobile 1 Synthetic Motor Oil)
 
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Yes, we need to get this straight. If you install the platter without a belt on it, can you spin the platter freely by pushing it with your hand? If so, it is, of course, not typically stuck by old lube and the problem is something else.

With the motor running, is it fairly easy to stop by grabbing the pulley. It should offer some resistance but CAN be stopped by hand. Not too easily though.

If the platter spins freely and the motor is working, the only thing left is the belt, as Kirk indicated. It would be extremely rare for a belt to not work at all if it is staying on the motor pulley and the platter drive hub.

Doug
 
No chance its the auto mechanism jammed up is it? That would explain the motor working, but the platter not being able to be spun.
 
here's an update.

i can take the platter off. motor spins fine.
the platter WILL spin freely, just tested it.

also, when i tried to put the belt back on, the platter seemed to be "skipping" alittle, like trying to spin but it just wouldn't pick up.

NEW PROBLEM! the switch is on OFF and the motor is still spinning......
 
I don't know these at all, but pictures make it look like an automatic. With other autos I've owned, if the mechanism is stuck somehow, it will keep the power on until it finishes the cycle. If yours has a stuck linkage or is partway in the middle of an auto cycle, it probably won't shut itself off.
 
IIRC the pulley attaches to the motor with a tiny hex screw; make sure that's tight. Then clean/powder the belt and try again.

If you start seeing other odd behavior on a BIC, chances are good that the lube has dried and turned to glue, seizing the cams/gears underneath so they don't work properly or consistently. The solution for that is a complete disassembly, clean and relube.

If you do that, take lots of pics so you can remember where all the bits go.
 
It sounds like you have old lube/stickiness problems. The ON/OFF switch is a large micro-switch mounted on the base plate and operated by the red program cam. If the cam lube is sticky, the cam can't move into position to let the switch move to OFF. Either that or the mechanism is stuck and won't operate the cam correctly.

But, concerning your original query, if the platter spins freely and the motor is working, it only leaves the belt unable to transfer the motor's rotation to the platter.
Does it seem unusually loose?

Doug
 
another update!

i can turn it off! the red cam is getting moved and stuck in the off position even though it is in.
i am also to freely spin the platter without the belt.

ok so now everything moves, motor still spins. now when i try to put the belt back on, it engages the motor pulley but will not spin when powered.

could my belt be shot?
 
Does motor seem weak? I believe they use a motor phase capacitor, which makes the torque too low if the cap is open.
 
nothing seems weak. the motor seems to be spinning just fine, i think the belt is slipping on the platter. is there any way to clean the belt?
 
alright, 4 month update!

as noted before, the platter spins freely without the belt. i re-lubed the spindle and the platter and reinstalled the belt. the platter now spins very intermittently and will sometimes get up to speed, but won't stay there very long. most of the time it just stutters very slowly. it does move now which is a great improvement.

secondly, i'm now noticing that the tonearm won't drop at all, can't tell why that happened all of a sudden.

any help is greatly appreciated!
 
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