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Mitsubishi LT-30 restoration

Wow, this thread still lives! My LT-30 still operates perfectly. Picked up another one for relatively cheap off the bay, listed as “will not power on” and shown as arm stuck at full in, and dustcover in rough shape. Contacted seller, begging him to immobilize the arm & remove platter & dust cover in shipping. Actually was packed quite well, double boxed, lots of foam, with arm creatively immobilized, platter removed but not dustcover. But arrived in good shape. Usual goo belts, found various parts inside under cover that presumably had fallen through the slot including the Original 45 adapter, a mangled Empire stylus with weighted brush and a few headshell screws. Amazingly it powered up fine and appears to operated fine! The only real issue is the stylus beight adjustment screw (chrome slotted screw on left side of TA base) is missing!! WTF! I always wonder about how that kind of stuff goes missing?! Anyhow, it appears to be a 3mm fine thread screw (4mm too big, 2mm too small). Loooong shot, anyone got a spare? Barring that, anyone know exact length?
 
Never mind, I found the right screw in my “assorted screw” stash. The head is understandably smaller (and I assume only cosmetic) and it will have to be cut to length, but should work fine. Since I still have to change the raise/lower belt and likely do the bulbs first, I’ll wait till then. I still don’t get how an important adjustment screw, that is never removed for any use, disappears!
 
I found out why that screw had likely gone missing. The height adjustment is based on a spring loaded shaft that is stopped in position by the screw head. In this case, the shaft was firmly seized in place, so screw adjustment did nothing. I had the entire TA apart to change the bulbs and (clean out the goo) belt. Took some Kroil and judicious working of the shaft with the spring removed and was finally able to work it loose. Light sanding and fresh grease, and it now is smooth in operation, and the shortened screw with the right sized SS washer allows easy height adjustment. The only really odd thig on this LT-30 is even with the cam for the start location at maximum, the stylus barely reaches the right location, and even then, I have to set the CUE stop location a bit too far in so that the TA starts with it canted towards the record (which then of course, straightens out). Then at EOR, it reaches all the way to the label before retuning normally. Like the slots are not the right length, (since EOR is dependent on Start of record) Hmm, it just occurred to me, I wonder (since I replaced all the bulbs) if they might be a scosh too dull to trigger as soon as a brighter bulb. That would explain everything. Easy to test, I had used extra long life 14V 65mA bulbs. I have some 7219 12V 60mA as well, that would be brighter.
 
perryinva said:
I found out why that screw had likely gone missing. The height adjustment is based on a spring loaded shaft that is stopped in position by the screw head. In this case, the shaft was firmly seized in place, so screw adjustment did nothing. I had the entire TA apart to change the bulbs and (clean out the goo) belt. Took some Kroil and judicious working of the shaft with the spring removed and was finally able to work it loose. Light sanding and fresh grease, and it now is smooth in operation, and the shortened screw with the right sized SS washer allows easy height adjustment. The only really odd thig on this LT-30 is even with the cam for the start location at maximum, the stylus barely reaches the right location, and even then, I have to set the CUE stop location a bit too far in so that the TA starts with it canted towards the record (which then of course, straightens out). Then at EOR, it reaches all the way to the label before retuning normally. Like the slots are not the right length, (since EOR is dependent on Start of record) Hmm, it just occurred to me, I wonder (since I replaced all the bulbs) if they might be a scosh too dull to trigger as soon as a brighter bulb. That would explain everything. Easy to test, I had used extra long life 14V 65mA bulbs. I have some 7219 12V 60mA as well, that would be brighter.
Click to expand...

I also restored one with that shaft seized and it took a lot of WD-40 and tapping with a hammer to free it. WRT the set-down, have you adjusted the tonearm rest per the manual? The rest is what sets the arm angle. Or something is not assembled correctly with the cam and slotted plate.
 
Yes, I am pretty familiar (fortunately or unfortunately) with these tables (also own LT-20, 5V). That was why I mentioned that this was unusual. If I set the TA Rest location so that it perfectly falls in to the curve, (maintaining the correct tracking angle) then the stylus will miss the LP by a just a bit, regardless of how I adjust the SOR screw. The SM is a little incorrect, as it says to adjust the set in screw CW to increase more in to the record, & CCW to adjust away. In reality, it is a rotating cam, that adjusts the black "T" rocker, so there is a only one position for maximum in. Go past that CW, and the stylus starts backing away from the record again. You can see the "T" advance & retract from above if you look down in to the travel trough from above. Something else that MAY be related, is that on my other LT-30, perpendicular tracking angle lines up exactly with the gimbal faces being flush with each other. On this LT-30, that is not the case. Perpendicular has the inner gimbal rotated slightly CCW to the outer face. Enough that if I adjust the gimbals flush it is optically obvious that it is off, but the SOR would probably be fine. I have printed out the template to double check. BTW perpendicular distance from the ARM Rest arrow to CL of the spindle hole is 205mm, not 190mm as listed in other locations.
 
Something is rotated or bent. Can you post photos of the arm and gimbals with it's playing and at rest?
 
Nah. I just have old bent eyes, apparently. I set the template on, it was obvious I wasn't even close to the arm being perpendicular! Once I set to the template, everything falls in place. It is amazing how bad an optical illusion can fool you. I swear it looks out with the template removed, but I have triple checked the measurements. Now I have to go and check the other LT-30, the LT-20....

Pics to follow.
 
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Here are pics of my older table that I set up a few years ago. It was also off, but not near as much as the one I am working on. First is no template. I use the view of the right angle between the arm and the travel trough as a reference. I remember I used one of those angle measurements apps on my phone back then. App is long gone now. 2nd pic is with template before adjustment, third, after adjustment. Parallax with the phone camera makes a good photo a little tricky!
 

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Nothing like finishing up a great turntable restoration. (Except the dust cover, have you EVER seen a worse treated unbroken cover before? That's gonna take some time for sure) Had no Left channel. Rang it out. Figured broken TA wire. Ge the TA off. Check again …. everything checks good. Put it all back together (everyone here appreciates the frustration, right?). Now no RIGHT channel. WAIT A MINUTE....start checking every actual value, and it keeps changing. Long story short, after about an hour I figure it out..as I ran in to the same thing on some Dual TTs with a bad sled...the damn spring loaded headshell connector contacts. A little Deoxit, exercise the springs, and everything works as it should. Sweet. Nice table for well under $300.
 
The dust cover on mine had some kind of acid splattered INSIDE it. It took hours of sanding and polishing. It also needed a plinth repair with some putty and stain. I sold it to my neighbor at cost and it's been in steady operation for several years now. Sounds fantastic with a 440mlb and has the best speed stability I've seen on a TT. They are amazing units.
 
I remember your restore posts. They are really solid & quiet, great tracking LTs. Whoops, noticed I forgot to post a “before” pic. 4 same sized circles of a spreading chemical reaction to something, plus an oval of something in addition to the usual “WTF” gouges and scratches though none really deep and no cracks. Just finished working the cover with wet 2000. Going to try the random orbital polisher with some compounds next. Table is perfect in operation now, tracks super quiet and sounds just great, though the base has what seems to be common in in these decks with slightly smooshed corners. I haven’t decided whether to keep it and sell another table or not, since I already have an LT-30. I find it so hard to let go of equipment I have restored. But really, 12 tables is too much.
 

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koseltri said:
The large metal drum (topmost in the first pic) should have 2 turns of cable. The plastic pulley on the right (second pic) is spring-loaded to maintain tension on the cable. You can just make out the pivot of the arm to which the pulley is attached. The cable needs to loop around the drum from the top to the bottom from left to right.
Click to expand...

Thank goodness for this post! I was wondering how to replace this metal cable (must have come loose during shipping). I had a difficult time setting this turntable up, my first attempts had the tonearm assembly keep moving at speed after the stylus drops, dragging the stylus across the vinyl! Not good. Finally, managed to fix it by going through set up again. The stylus that came with the TT is really worn, so am on the lookout for a replacement. What do most people use in their LT-30s?
 
this is a very nice linear tt that fits into a high end system better than the Phase Linear/Pioneer PLL1000A which is ok but not a match in sound for the mitsu.
 
I'm still trying to set my LT30 properly. There was a time when you hit play and the stylus contacts the vinyl, the tonearm base would move at a higher speed, dragging the tonearm with it. Then after fiddling it seemed to go away. Now today, it seems to go the other way - when the stylus hits the vinyl, the tonearm base moves back towards the direction of the rest, dragging the tonearm with it.

Some questions:
[1] Obvious one, what's happening please!
[2] The tracking error light for the return direction is on. Is there something I need to do to fix this?
[3] What does the tracking angle adjustment screw do? I turned it in both directions and couldn't see any difference.
 
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