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Garrard Zero 100 stalling

Super.
Wolfie62 said:
Drive on the GT55 is good! Love the light mass Zero arm too. Very precise and moves very easily! Got some refurb work to do. But pretty easy stuff. Gonna have to get some C6 cartridge carriers 3D printed. Hard to find any. Or, modify and make my own cartridge mount.
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Good news. As I have said, have no had an problems with Zero arms. Had one with a cracked square housing on the back of its arm. Super glued it. No stress on this part and it was fine. My 92 was a cheaper version of the 100. Kept it as it has a 78 speed. Never saw one. No pitch on the 92s but the speed is dead on. Are the cartridge carrier the same on GT and a Zero 100? Keep us posted on your progress.

Eric
 
Alas, no. The GT55 uses a C6 carrier.

This makes me mad. The seller is nonchalant about it:
CA7DAE55-90D2-4BD2-A774-F13F7BC04BA7.jpeg


Circled shows the carrier. It was nowhere to be found in the box or packing on receipt. I’m either going to return it, or ask for a $40 partial refund.
 
Bruno Primas said:
The Zero's have a pitch control.

If your idler is in decent shape, motor cleaned and lubricated, as well as the platter bearings, the speed should be pretty consistent. I prefer the Garrard motors to the Dual ones. I also find that once the Garrards are running correctly, the need far less attention and maintenance than the Duals.

For German tables, don't forget about the Elac Miracords! Probably my favorite auto/changer.
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I prefer Dual to post LAB 80 models and the 401 (the last built without Plessey accountant interference) making those two models the last true Garrards. The Zero 100 was the last decent Garrard when sorted.
 
I've been messing with a Zero 100 in slack time. Back on it and I've cleaned the mechanism and relubed (AGAIN) and am cycling this at 33 and 45 with the arm lifted and 5 LPs on it for extra mo. I've noticed something happening at the stall point and when the arm moves horizontally in either direction.

When the tonearm starts to move horizontally to the LP there's a snap, which repeats just before it starts to lower, which is the stall point. Now it's just slowing down as it moves past that point, then going back to speed again. The "snap" happens at three points in the cycle, horizontal to the LP, when it starts to lower, and again when the arm heads back to the rest. Not sure if the sound is coming from the mechanism under the platter or all the way under the deck.

Anyone know what part would be making the noise? Maybe something with a spring? It seems like it's the sticking point and I need to inspect to see why it's sticking.

Now that I have 1 LP on it, I don't hear the snap anymore. There's still a little platter slow down as the arm drops, but it isn't threatening to stall. It will work fine until I try tomorrow when it's cold.
 
As expected the stall was back when I tried this today.

Went through the cycle (plugged in) a couple of times with it out of the plinth and couldn't see anything slowing it down. Spun it by hand and still didn't see anything. Of course after I spun it a few time it worked pretty much as it should with just a slight slow down on the drop.

Seems like if it were hardened lube somewhere it wouldn't go back and forth like this.

Also noticed after I spin it a few times the platter takes a couple of rotations to stop at the end of the cycle, but when cold it just spins long enough to finish the cycle and flip the Manual lever into the "off" position, or ,sometimes, not quite far enough to disengage the Manual lever.

I saw a video awhile ago where a guy was replacing a cam in the spindle area. Will have to search for that and see if the parts are available.
 
I have found that regular use will minimize the slowdown, even after cleaning.

If your platter isn't spinning for a good while after the cycle finishes, I would check the ball bearings under the platter and that the idler wheel is fully retracting from the platter.
 
loudnoises said:
If you're so using the og idler, mine definitely gained some oompf when I replaced mine.
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Looks like it could be original.

Looks like they want almost as much for a replacement as I paid for the deck. Have a part table, that I robbed the wheel from. It feels pliable and I treated it with rubber conditioner. Will drop that in next.
 
Bruno Primas said:
I have found that regular use will minimize the slowdown, even after cleaning.

If your platter isn't spinning for a good while after the cycle finishes, I would check the ball bearings under the platter and that the idler wheel is fully retracting from the platter.
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Looks like the idler wheel is moving off the platter fine.

Went to the SM to see if there was an exploded view showing the bearings, and Zero (ha!). The geared part of the platter slides over a hollow shaft, and the piece the platter sits on looks suspect. It's different than the parts table and has a vertical lip I suspect is supposed to go around the outside of the geared piece on the bottom of the platter. Piece seems sort of loose/shakey.
 
It sits down by gravity and the weight of the platter.

There are bearings in a race and the washer on top encapsulates it. If you look from the bottom, you can see the seam between the two. Spray some contact cleaner in there and lube with a light machine oil. When you spin the platter quickly by hand and no power on, it should spin "forever".
 
Is the plastic washer that retains the bearing balls original or an upgrade? Its been so long since i had mine apart that I don't remember. I don't recall that metal cup thing either. The Garrards I've worked on in the ~15 years since I had my Zero open have a slighly different stack of parts. If that bearing retainer is original, thats nice. I'm used to the holy phenolic washer with loose bearings setup.
 
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