help with cueing lever on Technics TT
- Thread starter jimdandy
- Start date
Register to hide this ad
jimdandy
Receiver or wife - hmm...
Howard -- there is a screw on top of the arm lift bar. As I unscrew it, the arm lift bar comes up. The more I unscrew, the more it comes up. But it will not go down with the lever.
I can take it and move it up and down by hand, but it will stay up if not screwed all the way down. It feels like a spring that is stuck in the "up" position.
Can the lever somehow disconnect from the arm lift bar?
Last edited:
Stanton681EEES
Addicted Member
Best thing to do with that, would be to open her up and take a look at what might be gumming up the works so to speak. Probably needs a good cleaning and new lube. Try spraying it with a VERYTINY amount of say WD40 or something similar.
ferninando
Lunatic Member
keep unscrewing the the armlift bar screw till it releases the bar, watch for the spring then you can see down in if it needs new grease, probably does. get 300,000 - 500,000 wt RC car silicon diff oil. less wt don't work. try "A Main Hobbies" on the net
Fred Longworth
audio fanatic
Do NOT use WD40 or any other similar lubricant around the cuing assembly!!!!!! WD40 has penetrating agents (very low surface tension) and, via capillary action, can work its way into tiny nooks and crannies. Later on, it's nearly impossible to get rid of the stuff . . . and just when you think it's all cleaned out more sluices out of some tiny crack.
What you want is to take the cuing mechanism apart, remove all the old hardened cue fluid, and pack the cuing assembly with new cue fluid. Cue fluid is a special high-viscosity oil, about as thick as orange marmalade. You do NOT want this to become contaminated with traces of WD40.
Fred
What you want is to take the cuing mechanism apart, remove all the old hardened cue fluid, and pack the cuing assembly with new cue fluid. Cue fluid is a special high-viscosity oil, about as thick as orange marmalade. You do NOT want this to become contaminated with traces of WD40.
Fred
hakaplan
Needs professional help
Yes, it sounds like somehow the cueing lever has become disconnected from the mechanism that raises or lowers the cue. The mechanism is stuck in the up position.
I would try oldhifiguy's suggestion of unscrewing the screw (beware of the spring popping out) and seeing if the lift goes down. Then try the lever again and see if it raises the bar.
It may indeed need new damping goop, but that doesn't explain the problem you're having.
Fred Longworth
audio fanatic
On most brands of turntables, the damping fluid gradually runs out of the tube (as with Dual and BIC) and the arm begins to drop like a rock.
With Technics, there's often a different scenario. The damping compound often becomes more viscous, and this causes the cuing mechanism to jam, stick or freeze.
I have taken apart many of these mechanisms, and there seems to be a connection between the deterioration of the damping fluid and Technic's use of brass inside their cuing assemblies. There appears to be some kind of chemical reaction going on between the brass and the cue fluid. Due to the discoloration, I would guess it to be oxidative. In any case, it causes the cue fluid to turn slightly green and to become hard and gummy.
Fred
With Technics, there's often a different scenario. The damping compound often becomes more viscous, and this causes the cuing mechanism to jam, stick or freeze.
I have taken apart many of these mechanisms, and there seems to be a connection between the deterioration of the damping fluid and Technic's use of brass inside their cuing assemblies. There appears to be some kind of chemical reaction going on between the brass and the cue fluid. Due to the discoloration, I would guess it to be oxidative. In any case, it causes the cue fluid to turn slightly green and to become hard and gummy.
Fred
jimdandy
Receiver or wife - hmm...
Thanks for all the replies (this forum never ceases to amaze me). I unscrewed the arm bar completely and removed it. There is no spring inside (or if there is, it is out of sight). There is the threaded brass "tubing" where the screw goes and around that is the part that goes up/down when forced (but it's stuck in the up position).
Looks like I'll have to open her up and take a look. My inexperienced guess says the lever is somehow disconnected from the arm bar. Probably needs fluid too.
At least I have a better idea of what to look for -- thanks everybody. :thmbsp:
Looks like I'll have to open her up and take a look. My inexperienced guess says the lever is somehow disconnected from the arm bar. Probably needs fluid too.
At least I have a better idea of what to look for -- thanks everybody. :thmbsp:
Last edited:
ferninando
Lunatic Member
the spring may be up in the arm bar tube
jimdandy
Receiver or wife - hmm...
Indeed it was, oldhifiguy -- thanks.
I opener her up tonight and took a look around. I could not get underneath the arm cue bar, though. I honestly don't know where to add the dampening fluid. :scratch2: Wherever I need to add it to, I'm not sure if I can get to it.
On the plus side, I took DeOxit to the speed pots, lubed the motor and she runs and sounds like a champ. Just wish I could solve the arm cue issue.
ferninando
Lunatic Member
with the arm lift bar out I just squeezed as much of the silicon RC diff oil as I could down into the "open" space and squeeged it around down in there in an attempt to get it full of the grease with a small screqdriver or whatever small object at hand. I got enough in there so my arm lift now works as it should whereas before it just dropped with no damping at all. Mine was completely dry of any trace of oil.
Fred Longworth
audio fanatic
In general, you need to completely disassemble the table. Then you pull the tonearm subassembly. Then you flip this over to gain access to the cuing mechanism. Finally you take parts off both topside and bottomside, and the cue assembly comes apart.
Old cue fluid must be completely removed using a combination of scraping and industrial solvents. Then the mechanism is packed with new cue fluid and carefully reassembled.
If you really want to fix the problem, there are no shortcuts.
Fred
* * * * *
Old cue fluid must be completely removed using a combination of scraping and industrial solvents. Then the mechanism is packed with new cue fluid and carefully reassembled.
If you really want to fix the problem, there are no shortcuts.
Fred
* * * * *
ferninando
Lunatic Member
sorry but complete dissassembly is not absolutly necessary, and is a MAJOR task and was undoable on my sl1350 TT changer. I got by quite nicely with just removing the liftarm from the top and squeezing the grease down inside. But do as you choose.
pjsjr
Playing Around
jimdandy, if you go to post #6 in this thread http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=224152 there is a pic of my 1301 arm assembly with the cueing mechinism disassembled. I'm waiting arrival of 500,000 wt silicon lube to finish. HTH, Preston
jimdandy
Receiver or wife - hmm...
Thanks pjsjr -- great pics. I'm at work so not much time to read up right now.
Fred -- I have no doubt you speak the truth on complete disassemble. Just not sure I'm up for that -- getting it back together is what concerns me.
Oldhifiguy -- your shortcut may be worth a shot.
I only paid $20 for the table, so no biggie. It is a nice table and plays well. If I can't solve this problem I'll just play it whenever I have steady hands.
Fred -- I have no doubt you speak the truth on complete disassemble. Just not sure I'm up for that -- getting it back together is what concerns me.
Oldhifiguy -- your shortcut may be worth a shot.
I only paid $20 for the table, so no biggie. It is a nice table and plays well. If I can't solve this problem I'll just play it whenever I have steady hands.
ferninando
Lunatic Member
Jim, go ahead and do it. If it doesn't work for you then go the tougher route, but I assure you it worked for me and mine was completely dry. you got nuthin to loose.
jimdandy
Receiver or wife - hmm...
Oldhifi, just so I'm understanding you correctly -- you're saying unscrew the arm lift bar completely and squeeze as much lube as possible into the crevices from the top of the shaft? There's not much room to squeeze it by -- we're talking just a small crevice around the outsides -- how long did it take you and what did you use to force it down?
ferninando
Lunatic Member
essentially yes. you can kinda see down in there. my grease came in a syring so "squirting" it wasn't much of a prob and squirted as much as I could then with a small screwdriver or something with a flat end for tamping, I swizeled it down in where it needed to be as best I could then tried the arm to see if it had resistance when dropping then added more if needed. took about 5-10 min all told till I was satisfied it worked ok. theres nothing you can hurt by doing it, at least on mine there wasn't. Don't forget the spring when rescrewing the armlift bar.
