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Official AR Turntable Owners Thread

jamesc760 said:
Okay, Titebond and some clamps. Thanks for the tip! I don't have money tree anywhere near me, so I have a small budget.
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I’m a bit late to your party but you can do this. One tip I picked up in the very distant past was to use masking tape on corners. Really, just glue, fit the corner and stretch some masking tape around it. Also, be sure the plinth is square and glued on a flat surface so there isn’t any twist.
Can’t wait to see it.
 
I've been offered a plinth from a couple of generous people here. So, instead of spending money on titebond and clamps, I think I will spend it on a good plinth.
 
There's a little bit of side-to-side slop when the pivot shaft is moved, even after tightening the two conical screws. The screws are really tight, don't want to force them in anymore. I've always thought tonearm pivot should not have any play when manually moved.
 
Tonearm wires don't have connectivity from the headshell area to the wire's end, except the ground wire and red wire, all other wires register infinite resistance on my digital multimeter.
 
So far, the list of major things to do:

1. Plinth - wait for a replacement plinth
2. Tonearm - rewire; may need new bearings (?)
3. RCA cable - need replacement
4. AC cable - need replacement
 
jamesc760 said:
View attachment 2907201 How do you take out the white plastic tube from the tonearm? I need to re-wire the head.
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You try to put something g in the plastic collar the same diameter and use pliers to grab onto it with out crushing the collar.
Sometimes they come out easy other times there is also glue in there and the end result is a destroyed collar. If that happened I have some SME style ones if you need one.

Athanasios
 
You may potentially need new springs too. I'm not overly familiar with the XA. But, I don't recall the XA having a transport screw to take pressure off the springs/immobilizing the sway when transporting or storage like the XB. Though, it might be okay. I think the general consensus is the age of the springs under stress of the weight can cause sagging.

Also, get some wing nuts to help you adjust the springs, they are a life saver.
 
The XA didn't need a transport screw. All you had to do was remove the outer platter and the subchassis wasn't going to move. Not sure why AR decided to add the screw to the XB, unless they got a lot of failures caused by people carting their tables around without removing the outer platters.

The suspension springs don't get enough action for fatigue to ever set in. What usually does them in is corrosion (rust) if the environment is high humidity. If yours don't show signs of rust, hit them with a bit of silicone spray.

Most cases of "sagging" are actually people putting things like record weights or too-heavy mats on the platter, which causes it to bottom out. The suspension is designed for the weight of an average LP and a mat that weighs next to nothing.

My 1963 model TT has its original springs with a lightweight foam mat and no weights or clamps. There is no sag.
 
I have power and RCA cables, tone arm tube, AR or SME? I have both. Plinth I have. Pretty sure Marc used the Xacto blade handle, Fits inside the plastic collar. Also used scrap pieces of leather to get a good grip and just worked at it. Eventually it did separate.
If rewiring tone arm I have wire for that.
If you crush the plastic collar I have extras, let's rephrase that, Marc left me extras! I know we all miss him!
 
If you go with Linn springs we add a tad over 3 lbs of lead to compensate for the tension. This is part of what Marc passed on to Stuart and I. I have a few sets of Linn springs and the perch hardware. I pour the lead into flat rectangular biscuits, also use a mounting plate.
Much to consider when you decide to put all this together but you will have fun!
 
@Hose53 , thank you for your kind offer, I've already bought/ordered power and rca cables to replace the worn out cables. I've mangled the plastic collar, need one.and some tonearm wires. I think my springs are fine.
 
20230611_190701.jpg What's the best way to clean the pulley? It's got old belt residue and tarnishes. It's really light in weight, almost feels like plastic, is it made of aluminum?
 
I usually do that in reverse. Drop the pulley into a jar of denatured, let it sit overnight and then do the soapy scrub.
 
While waiting for Jose to send me a plinth, which was worked on by Marc The Patron Saint of AR turntables, and other stuff to repair my AR XA, I've worked on the following items:

1. Took the pin out of the brass drum--this is to disable the tonearm vertical damping, used a vise grip to turn it, didn't work, used a wire cutter and I was able to take it out, now no more vertical damping that causes problems; I found that if you want the vertical damping to work, you must use a heavy tracking (more than 2 gram) as well as lower the headshell below the record level BEFORE placing it on the record to play; however, there are 2 problems to keeping it stock--there should be a correct foam disk on the tip of the pivot post and you must use correct weight silicone oil (around the brass drum?), even then you will have problems using the tonearm to track well. Best thing is to disable it by taking the pin out.

2. Polished the inner platter shaft bearing

3. Talc the new belt

4. Replaced and rewired the RCA connectors--I'm debating whether to put new RCA jacks, it will require drilling holes in the back of the plinth, which I'm not too fond of.

5. Replaced the 600 Volt capacitors--the motor cap is 0.1 mfd and the switch cap is 0.022 mfd. Capacitors don't last forever, they dry out or go out of spec. They are cheap and easy to do.

6. Repaced the power cable--I used a 2-prong AC cable, one of the prongs is wider and this is the neutral wire, the narrow one is the hot wire.

7. Took out the delring plates from the main spindle well and the tonearm post well. The one from the main spindle is much thinner than the one from the tonearm well. Question #1: Does this sound right?

There's still lots more I need to do but I need to wait for plinth and tonearm stuff. I managed to mangle the plastic collar while trying to pull it out. Jose kindly offered to send me a replacement. I bought a Technics SL-220 tonearm, just in case I manage to totally screw up the XA one, then I will go with the technics wand though I'd much rather keep this thing bone stock as possible. And I kinda like the original headshell's chunky looks.

QUESTION #2: if I go ahead with replacing the tonearm pivot bearing replacement, which swissjewel bearing size to use? I know Marc used the V3.18 and used a drill to enlarge the holes; but @Nashou66 used V2.00A(?) since it closely matched the exising hole size. If I go with the V2, do you still need to drill holes? And how do you take out the exising delrin rod?
 
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jamesc760 said:
QUESTION #2: if I go ahead with replacing the tonearm pivot bearing replacement, which swissjewel bearing size to use? I know Marc used the V3.18 and used a drill to enlarge the holes; but @Nashou66 used V2.00A(?) since it closely matched the exising hole size. If I go with the V2, do you still need to drill holes? And how do you take out the exising delrin rod?
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I used the same size drill bit as the V2.00A to drill out the delrin . Then I applied a small drop of a Gel type CA glue into the hole to adhere the V-Jewel

Athanasios
 
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