Pioneer PL-518 auto return issue

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onemonk909

Active Member
I was messing around with my seldom-used alternate cartridge, an Audio Technica ATN152LP which I took off an old JVC table. This morning the auto return was jacked up, as seen in the quick video below.


To clarify what you are seeing -- the tonearm returns to the resting platform after play, but won't completely lower. It goes almost all the way down, then clicks and comes back up. And it will keep doing this unless you stop it. That itself was hard to figure out -- I twiddled the lifting cue, which had no effect. I even gently held the tonearm and tried to place it back on the rest, but it pushed itself back up. Eventually I discovered that the only way to fix it was to push the tonearm back out over the still-spinning LP, then push it back to the resting arm. Then it would lower via the cue and the table would finally stop revolving. However the tonearm wouldn't lower all the way down; there was still a bit of space between it and the resting arm. So I'd have to use the cue to lift it up again and then lower it, and THEN it would rest properly.

Per my digital scale, I have the tracking set at the appropriate 1.30 grams. I have my anti-skate at 0, but the problem persisted even if I changed it to 1 or such.

This wasn't happening with my other cartridge/headshell. I'll have to put that one back on and see if it too is affected by whatever the heck is going on. Any ideas?
 
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Thanks for thre response! I put back on my other cart, an XLM MKII. Unfortunately, the issue persists. Actually, if I manually put the tonearm to the end of the last track, let it play to the end, the auto return/lowering works fine. But if I play the LP all the way through from the beginning, this happens -- the tonearm won't lower to rest and the TT won't shut off. I found this time the only way to stop it is to push the tonearm back toward the platter and then lower it, ensuring it doesn't hit anything. Only then does the mechanism register that the arm has gone down low enough, and shuts off.

I've got the service manual, thanks. My assumption is this is all related to the tonearm mechanism. It seems sticky to me -- sometimes when I move it out over the platter, it springs to the left, as if being pulled out on its own. If any of you have experienced something similar please let me know, otherwise I'll have to do trial and error in this service manual.

Thanks!
 
Here's a funny thing, every time I play a side from Pink Floyd's Endless River, the auto-return doesn't work. Which is no big deal, except it refuses to work after that point on any further LPs. Once I lift it manually it engages and all is good until I play the offending LP again.

Why doesn't it engage again? As the mechanism works on the principle of a change in speed of the arm, there's a lot of weirdness going on there!
 
That's crazy! Mine is intermittent, too. The other day I played 3 sides of a 2LP and each of them failed on auto return. But side 4 worked! It's more a nuissance than anything. Auto return engages and the tonearm goes back, but just as it is halfway to the cradle the cue light flicks back on and the tonearm goes back up. It's like the turntable just doesn't wanna stop rocking!! So I have to gently move the tonearm to the left a little, wait for the table to revolve the full circuit, and then it clicks off and the tonearm lowers -- I just move it back over above the cradle. Still can't figure out what it is I need to do to fix it.
 
Try adjusting the return point. See figure 9 in the service manual, available at Vinylengine. Make very small changes and check results before making further adjustments.
 
My yard sale purchased PL-518 had an auto-return issue, too. And then one day after I had been using it two or three years it healed itself. The rest of the time I had it it continued to auto-return just fine.
 
This is funny -- like the situation illinoisteve experienced, my PL-518 fixed itself. Shortly after I posted the first post my tt stopped goofing on auto return. It's been working fine ever since. I didn't have to do a thing to fix it -- turtnable, heal thyself!

But now, as of today, it's developed a new issue. Now auto return doesn't even engage. The PL-518 has remade itself as a manual turntable...it gets to the end of the record and locks on the runout groove. I can't find any posts on this issue...most people on here have experienced something akin to my original issue -- auto return working, but not working correctly. Now mine just isn't working at all. It's not a big deal, I mean I have a budy with a TT that cost a lot more than mine, and his is all manual. But still. Any ideas?
 
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