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Philips GA-212 Electronic - Bringing to life

Shubaka

New Member
Hi all,

A friend of mine gave me this turntable in a bad shape and in non working condition, so I thought I could share the work process on it.

It has a ton of problems:
  • NOT POWERING UP
  • Power switch broken
  • Missing bottom screws (so basically falls apart)
  • Scratched and bent face and metal parts
  • Missing tone arm rest (or whatever its name) - was replaced by some weird plastic square thingy glued with silicone to the case.
  • Platter would scratch while spinning
  • Old dry cartridge
  • Phono Pre-amp is dead on one channel.


After hard wiring a new cable because I could not find the connector type anywhere, first thing I've noticed that the power switch was not operating, so I shorted it close, then I tried to measure voltages and everything seemed to be fine, but it would still not power up, then I've checked all of the bulbs and the one in charge of stopping was bad, so I replaced it and it still wasn't working. there were some disconnected wires inside but their coloring did not made any sense, one was black and one was red, it seemed like the screen an the bas was disconnected also...

And then I found the service manual, service manual said connect the red to the black to the chassis and to the screen... huh ? yep ! after soldering all of the wires and replacing some, it powered up !! YAY, and even the controls were working :beerchug: motor was spinning, so I tried to play a record, and only one channel was outputting a really bad quality music, yes it was time to restore it.

Well I'm not much of a restorer but I'm kind of handy.. so I will give it my best.

Stuff I did:

1. By passed the internal pre amp - my receiver has phono inputs, this one is way over my capabilities to fix, I can barely recognize the components on the board, any Ideas guys?


2. Replaced the power switch with a working one, my guess that the one that was installed was not the original either, the new switch holes were not fitting the holes in the chassis, so some filing, filling and crimping later, it was done and beautiful.




3. Replaced the power connector with a standard C14 Connector


4. Fabricated a tone arm rest using 3D Printing and a 1CM Ikea curtain rod, cut, polished and glued, I could of done a better job with sanding and polishing but its far better than the old mcguivered one.



5. Replaced with a temporary cartridge.
6. Adjusted the platter, the tabs holding the springs were bent.
7. Cleaned the scratches ad best as I could.

Whats next?

1. Paint the wooden box, the wooden sheet falls apart and the cheap chip board is exposed in places, so im still thinking of the best way to paint it and restore its look, I guess I will go with black paint, because the other option is a new part made of hardwood.

2. Already sourced M4X30 screws but covid may interfere with me getting them.

3. Polish the dust cover, yep, its probably will be the hard part.



Hope you enjoyed the post, Updates will become.
Oh and sorry for my English.
 
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Nice restoration. These tables are worth the work as they sound good.

Hadn't seen the internal phono amp but those didn't usually make it to the US.

English if fine.
 
Great job on restoring the turntable. I recently picked up a GA-212 and, surprise surprise, the power switch is non-functioning in that it will not stay in the down position. Can I ask what type of switch you ended up replacing it with? Keep up the good work.
 
Does anyone know what those circumferencial scratches are about 1" off the platter. I see them all the time, but don't know how it happens? you can see one here on the OPs table. I had two thei far worse wear pn the back near the tonearm pivot and the left rear corner.

1770089545142.png
 
Maybe the platter comes off the spindle and is limited by the supports underneath to only go out so far to make the arc mark. Check to see if the arc matches the mark the platter would make.
 
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