Help on tonearm movement please.

I

iwilm

New Member
Hi good people at audiokarma,

perhaps someone can point me in the right direction on how to address the following issue:

I recently purchased an old Technics SL Q2 turntable. All looks well but records (old and new) skip backwards, so get stuck on some parts of the songs.
I tripple checked tracking pressure and followed the recommended method of balancing the tonearm and applying the recommended weight for the stylus.
First I thought it might be the stylus, so I purchased a new one.. same problem.
Applying different settings with the anti-skate knob also makes no difference.

Now I noticed that on another turntable I own the tonearm swings more freely horizontaly. Hm, could that be the issue? Some old grease perhaps?

I opened up the back (see photo) and can see anything obvious.

Which action could I take from here?
I dont mind trying to fix it myself.

Thanks in advance kind stranger!
 

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Technics SL-Q2 Tonearm Problem, it's binding...

Side to side movement is binding, the tonearm seems to track for a few seconds and then starts skipping back in a loop. At first I thought it was too tight but I took a closer look at the pivot; it's a little bit tilted. If you look straight down, there's a bigger gap on one side and if you move...
audiokarma.org
 
The horizontal bearing might need some adjustment or it is damaged. Try to loosen the bearing by 1/16-1/8 turn to the left. You will need a special tool to open the counterscrew first, something like the Pro-Ject Align-It tool.
 
Last edited:
iwilm said:
All looks well but records (old and new) skip backwards, so get stuck on some parts of the songs.
Click to expand...

Did you also check for sufficient clearance between the lift bank and the arm tube during playback?

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini
 
Thanks ToxicTele.. That's an interesting post indeed and might be the solution. Are there any other test you would do before trying to take the whole thing apart?
I'm slighty worried about their comments on soldering..
 
lini said:
Did you also check for sufficient clearance between the lift bank and the arm tube during playback?

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini
Click to expand...
Hi lini.. greeting to Germany. :-)
Yes, the liftbank seems to work as expected. When the needle is on the record there is a good 2-3mm space between.
 
Dr. Ear said:
The horizontal bearing might need some adjustment or it is damaged. Try to loosen the bearing by 1/16-1/8 turn to the left. You will need a special tool to open the counterscrew first, something like the Pro-Ject Align-It tool.
Click to expand...
I had a small attempt to loosen the bearing screw but it did not move easily. I didnt know that the counterscrew need opening first. Thanks for the tip. The tool you mention seems to be for the cartridge alignment tough..
 
Sorry, I meant Pro-Jet Adjust it. It is for adjusting the tonearm bearings. Occasionally you can find suitable bits in a home store. Look like a minus screwdriver with a central slit. If you have a Dremel tool you might make one yourself.
 
iwilm said:
I had a small attempt to loosen the bearing screw but it did not move easily. I didnt know that the counterscrew need opening first. Thanks for the tip. The tool you mention seems to be for the cartridge alignment tough..
Click to expand...

I'd advise being very sure that's the problem before messing with the bearings. The difference between just right and too loose can be measured in single-digit degrees.
 
hm, choices choices.... do you think it's easy (or safer) to come from underneath like suggested in this link?

Technics SL-Q2 Tonearm Problem, it's binding...

Side to side movement is binding, the tonearm seems to track for a few seconds and then starts skipping back in a loop. At first I thought it was too tight but I took a closer look at the pivot; it's a little bit tilted. If you look straight down, there's a bigger gap on one side and if you move...
audiokarma.org
 
I tried all kinds of different anti-skate settings. All the way from 0 to max.
At this point I'm pretty sure that the arm is not swinging horizontaly freely enough and some tinkering is needed. It's just the question if a bearing adjustment from the top will be best or opening it up from the bottom.
 
They weren’t adjusting it - it was impacted enough for the pin to jump the balls. The bottom pin on those isn’t adjustable so it’s much harder to screw up the arm to fix that specific problem.
 
Make sure the tonearm wires aren’t binding at their pivot point. Bought one myself that someone had rewired with too large diameter wire.
 
Obviously the tone arm should be near friction free, you should be able to "feel" some friction there in your horizontal direction. Move the tone arm by hand and diagnose the source of friction backwards from the movement by hand. Does it skip in approximately the same spot every time?
 
This probably doesn't apply to you but I once had a dual direct drive tt that was repeating a groove on every record I played and I eventually realized the tone arm counterweight was hanging up on the dust cover. It took me a while to figure that out because the idea never occurred to me. It does sound like your problem may be mechanical resistance. I don't envy you!
 
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