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Micromatic teardown & rebuild

Keep an eye on the second Hand. When it hits 12 flip the switch off and start counting watching the platter and your watch. When it(Platter) stops, note the position of the second hand on your watch. Count off the seconds. 60 = 1 minute, 75 = 1 minute and 15 seconds, 90 = 1 minute and 30 seconds, 105 = 1 minute 45 seconds.


Larry
 
Thanks Larry!

I'm brand new to the forum, and additionally brand new to vinyl, honestly. My fiance and I recently acquired two Maggie Micromatic consoles from her grandmother (almost identical) and one which looked to be an exact match to your breakdown (placing it mid 60's, I believe?). The other one looks to be slightly different parts-wise, so I'm a little wary about the difficulty in restoring that one since it is slightly different.

Here's the twins (ignore my awesome bass amp in the background):



Neither turntable was working, and I happened upon your thread - and I just want to tell you that you were a life saver with your breakdown. Thank you so much for taking the time out to impart all of your knowledge, you never know who'll find it useful (as I did). I took the chance and got one up and running like a champ (well for the most part)....

So......

That said (and I'll peek my head around the forum to see if I can find answers as well), but I'm kind of at a loss for how to calibrate the turntable now. I've ordered a replacement needle (as I was experiencing constant record skip) and chalked it up to most likely the needle being the issue (age and condition), and it should be waiting in my mailbox right now. Since then I have found info about adjusting stylus pressure, cartridge alignment, anti-skating and all sorts of other things that I am just trying to wrap my brain around as a complete newbie to vinyl and record players in general.

I was wondering if there is any additional info you could share on proper calibration of this specific model, or possibly point me out in the right direction of some reading on this forum regarding this type of model.

Thanks again, and thanks for any help in advance.
 
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The only real differences between the two turntables is largly cosmetic. The instructions with mild variations work for all 600 series, and most 800 series. Some have two idler wheels underneath (the right one for cycling) and others have one (cycling done via a gear off the spindle). Pull the turntable's and there will be a paper sticker with the model #'s on them. One is probably a 600to 608 and the other a 620W.

There is no real calibration other than VTF (tracking force) and Stylus let down and pickup at the end. Cartridge alignment is NOT ADJUSTABLE. And there is no anti skate on these. Set them as low as you can, about 3gr.

Post a picture of both turntables please.

Larry
 
Also - (sorry for all the questions, but you seem to be the guy that knows around here) :D

I put the new needle in the 1st player this evening. Everything was fantastic, I was off and running and listening to some of the cheap bottom shelf classic rock albums I purchased the other day in anticipation, when I noticed a skip as the needle approaches close to the center of the album.

When at this position:


The stylus (or tone arm - not sure the proper lingo) doesn't want to play any further. It just kind of locks out and starts to skip because it cannot progress forward. If you lift it and give it a push inward, it resets the control arm (I'm assuming it thinks that it has reached the end of the LP and sets back into its default position. Is there a possible linkage that I missed greasing in the breakdown, or is this something that can be adjusted externally?

Additionally, I was wondering what this is (with the second player)


The first one includes an adapter for 45s - is this an adapter as well?

Thanks again for all the knowledge and assistance!
 
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The adapter in your hand is indeed a 45 adapter. Look on the side, it'll either have an arrow with FRONT on it or "this side to Front". Point the arrow at the left front corner, and slide it down on the spindle. You may have to rotate it slightly.

As for the other problem, cycle the turntable (NO RECORD), a couple of times. This will(or should) reset all the gears/etc underneath. The possibility exists that you put a part in either backwards or upside down.

The two turntables are the same basically. you should be able to interchange parts all day. Even the 45 adapters.
Go a little easier on the grease. Think brylcreem. ("A little dab'll do ya")


Larry
 
larryderouin said:
As for the other problem, cycle the turntable (NO RECORD), a couple of times. This will(or should) reset all the gears/etc underneath. The possibility exists that you put a part in either backwards or upside down.
Click to expand...

Do you mean I should run it at a few various speeds (sans record)? If I did mess up a piece, can it be narrowed down to a specific area (or piece)?

larryderouin said:
Go a little easier on the grease. Think brylcreem. ("A little dab'll do ya")
Click to expand...

This probably explains why my console smells like an auto repair shop now, hey? :no:

I was afraid of not greasing it enough - maybe I overcompensated TOO MUCH.
 
Set it up as if there was a reocrd on it. Turn it on to Reject and let it cycle automatically. Without a reocrd on it, it will cycle thru and note no record and automatically shut down. It should run correctly now. If not, tear it down according to the thread and put it back together. I lay out my parts in a line and then reverse the process when putting it back together.

Wipe down everything and leave a very light THIN coating of lube on the parts that need it.

Larry
 
It appears letting it cycle through was to no avail and I will be pulling it apart once again. Upon inspection it appears there is a piece that is currently blocking the tone arm from moving any further into its rotation, so perhaps I can just target that area and see if I have any luck.

Update on player two - I took on the challenge yesterday. I took my time and recorded every step and was very thorough (so I thought - but there still was one or two pieces that jumped out at me upon disassembly) taking much care to make sure I understood how a piece looked and moved before removal. I found that the cam wheel was completely seized up and incredibly tough to remove and clean - and was the most likely cause for the player not doing squat. I also noticed that the plastic gear that sits in between the cam wheel and the plate gears is missing a tooth or two (not the intended indents) and might be causing the intermittent play.

So the deal is - I got 'er spinning again, with some clicking - and then it will stop spinning (where it seems the teeth are missing contact). Not to mention, my tone arm has some ridiculous tension on the spring where it's cocked into this upright position and won't sit down. I didn't even touch the tone arm assembly (so I thought) so I was at a loss why that was happening. Long story short, I need to inspect it again (I was low on patience after nearly 5 hours with it yesterday). But I'm wondering if I will even be able to get it working again if the teeth in that gear are no good. I've been looking for replacement parts, but all I can seem to find are Idler pulley replacements.

It was a bummer for sure.
 
Update: Player one fixed!

Took it apart again at Larry's advice and found that I didn't actually put it back together wrong, it just needed a slight adjustment:



This lever was too firm in response and the tone arm could not push it further than halfway through an album side, causing the tone arm to just skip when it reached that distance. I slightly bent the back half of the piece away from the body at its pivot point, regreased, and voila! Listening to full albums now!
 
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Wow - I couldn't thank you enough, Larry! This is a fantastic How-To and definitely helped me, a novice, through the process. However, during my rebuild, two things went wrong and kinda messed everything up.

The plastic intermediate drive gear (mine is black and yours is white) ended up getting locked up and a few teeth broke off, which now makes it get stick or skip and stops the automatic tone arm function.

Second, the Auto On-Off spring got lodged in the linkage and ended up breaking in half. I made a make shift one from a guitar string, which is working so far (barely), but I would definitely like to replace it with the right part. Do you or anyone have any idea on where to find a drive gear and/or auto on-off spring? I have scoured online and came up with nothing.

If anyone happens to have either or both, I would love to take it off of your hands and can pay ASAP. Attached you will also find pictures to help show what I am trying to explain.

Thanks again to everyone, this was such a HUGE help.

Cheers!
IMG_3292.JPG

Spring+for+Larry.jpg
 
cargrahamrod said:
Wow - I couldn't thank you enough, Larry! This is a fantastic How-To and definitely helped me, a novice, through the process. However, during my rebuild, two things went wrong and kinda messed everything up.

The plastic intermediate drive gear (mine is black and yours is white) ended up getting locked up and a few teeth broke off, which now makes it get stick or skip and stops the automatic tone arm function.

Second, the Auto On-Off spring got lodged in the linkage and ended up breaking in half. I made a make shift one from a guitar string, which is working so far (barely), but I would definitely like to replace it with the right part. Do you or anyone have any idea on where to find a drive gear and/or auto on-off spring? I have scoured online and came up with nothing.

If anyone happens to have either or both, I would love to take it off of your hands and can pay ASAP. Attached you will also find pictures to help show what I am trying to explain.

Thanks again to everyone, this was such a HUGE help.

QUOTE]

You can find parts donor turn tables on Ebay. As they aren't being made anymore, you should have at least one for parts. And go a lot easier on the lithium grease. Wipe about 95% of it off the changer assy and you'll still have plenty on it. A thin film goess a long way, and a lot easily gums up the works, and attracts dirt and crud. the grease layer should be translucent.

Larry
Click to expand...
 
tracking force

Its adjustable, can you tell me how to adjust it to 3 gr. I was thinking about adapting a magnetic cartridge to these, any recommendations for the best fitting one.
 
Been a long time sincei worked on one, but raise up the arm and look for a spring underneath. If it's on the arm with a clip in a series of furrows, adjust the clip toward the stylus to lighten the arm. You need to weigh it after each adjustment.

As for what magnetic cart. I'd use a Pickering/Stanton ATE or v400.3 or a 500v.3 in a pinch. You'd be a the top of the VTF range on the 500v.3 tho. The mounting clip removes via the single screw on top of the tonearm. And a 1/2" mount cart will work on it.
 
The spring goes over the pivot point? In that case tighten up on the screw to pull on the spring. Weigh it initially and every 1 turn. Stop when you get down to 3gr. It may be at the end of travel.

Larry
 
Missing teeth on Plastic Gear

I encountered this problem with a "newer" Maggie console from 79-80, and found that even around 1991, replacements were not available. When checking for record size, the tonearm would go so far and then start clicking as the meshing gear hit the missing teeth of the plastic gear. I remedied the broken teeth by melting a plastic spoon over the gear and filing new teeth, which worked wonderfully. These days I guess you could buy a parts TT on FleaBay, but this fix is much cheaper and worked for me. Much easier than filing new teeth out of solder on a metal gear!
 
Thanks for this info. Today I went thru the whole tear-down process and when I turned it on I HAVE THE IDENTICAL PROBLEM = tone arms stops at the halfway point when playing an album. So apart it comes. Hope this works...!



P-oddz said:
Update: Player one fixed!

Took it apart again at Larry's advice and found that I didn't actually put it back together wrong, it just needed a slight adjustment:



This lever was too firm in response and the tone arm could not push it further than halfway through an album side, causing the tone arm to just skip when it reached that distance. I slightly bent the back half of the piece away from the body at its pivot point, regreased, and voila! Listening to full albums now!
Click to expand...
 
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