SME 3009 Series 2 cueing dashpot cleaning?

[tnsilver]

How many times would you say you opened and closed the cap (head)?

Just once. You bleed air (call it 'pumping') and clean the excess silicon buble a few times, but you only disassemble the top and put it back together again one time.

@totem - I really don't expect a cue lift mechanism to be anything out of the ordinary. Those mechanisms share the same principal - though implementations vary a lot.

 

[totem]

Implementations aside SME tonearms Canada and the UK's Audio Origami basically say the same thing
but hay who am I to question your experience.

 

[the_nines]

Just once. You bleed air (call it 'pumping') and clean the excess silicon buble a few times, but you only disassemble the top and put it back together again one time.

@totem - I really don't expect a cue lift mechanism to be anything out of the ordinary. Those mechanisms share the same principal - though implementations vary a lot.

Thanks, Tom.

 

[tnsilver]

Implementations aside SME tonearms Canada and the UK's Audio Origami basically say the same thing
but hay who am I to question your experience.

You're an enthusiast and you can question anyone you want. These people are a business and they have an agenda that's a compromise between their customers who trust them to do a better job than they can, and SME who supplies them with the know how and parts.

The Series I was made 60 years ago and I doubt any of the parties have lots of experience with it. I can find little incentive for the businesses to even try and tackle it. A "leave it alone" reply is exactly what I'd expect - with no replacement parts available. I can appreciate and understand their advice - but personally I don't trust it, as much as I don't trust SME when they insist their dashpots are only serviceable at a factory. Even if it was true - workarounds are always available.

As an enthusiast vs. an official affiliate (supplier, importer, service) you can always explore - but they aren't allowed to. So, with all the respect, I don't buy 'official' advice especially when a half mechanically inclined enthusiast knows the principal of a cue lift operation doesn't exactly require a degree in physics to fix.

 

[Blue Shadow]

When I did this type of dashpot, I had time to let the unit sit. I filled it as best I could and then put the top on and operated the cuing a few times which when a bubble or air showed up, I popped it and put a bit more 300k on the piston so lowering the piston would not suck in that bubble again but pull in more fluid. Then I would leave the cuing down for a while (this is hours>>>days) and do that cuing again and eliminate another bubble. I don't recall the third screw but it seems knowing what that can do to help load fluid in the unit might make this a faster process. Hell the arm is 40+years old what's a few days in the shop for a fluid change?

 

[the_nines]

I have to pick up some 300,000 cst which I have discovered lately is really hard to find. All kinds of back-orders.

I only have 100,000 cst.

 

[Blue Shadow]

Have you called the RC car hobby shops in your area? What about the Bay?

 

[tnsilver]

I only have 100,000 cst.

No good. Too thin. ePay is pretty dried up of high cst fluids. I found Kyosho #300000 Silicone Oil, 40cc on Amazon (just 2 left).

 

[the_nines]

The hobby shops have 100,000 cst on hand, and they order other viscosities as needed. The suppliers they order from are "dry" for the time being.

Yes, I had found on Amazon a few days ago, so I ordered. Should be arriving soon.

 

[the_nines]

So, I did it.

Soaked it in IPA for a day.


Dried it out, used a can of compressed air and blew bursts of air in along the cylinder wall and piston, let it sit for another couple of days just to make sure it was bone dry.


Cleaned with IPA the cap. The o-ring seemed to be ok so I left it in there.




Tom, @tnsilver .... did as you had mentioned.







Works like a charm. Thanks!

Good as new.

 

[tnsilver]

^ Congrats!!! Nicely done. You've got lot's of patience. Drying up for a couple of days? Wow! I need to try that sometimes instead of borrowing a hair dryer each time...

 

[the_nines]

LOL.

Never done this before, honest. ....but, I may start a new business and take on all the work that SME is rejecting, saying it's not repairable. Mule-muffins!

One thing I did do that strayed from your instructions a bit was to place the bleed screw in and tighten on the second round of silicon pumping up/down of the lever.

The first supply of fresh silicon, I left the bleed screw off as you had mentioned. Pumped up/down several times, air bubbles came out.
Removed the cap and with the piston in the down position, I re-filled it a second shot of silicon. I actually over-filled it. I placed the cap back on, some silicon oozed out of the sides and bleed hole. Wiped off the excess from the sides and bleed hole, inserted all three screws in and tightened.

Pumped the lever up/down several times again. Piston dropping nice and slow.

I figured if I closed the bleed hole on the second shot, the pressure from the pumping action would force the silicon down the sides of the piston.

I've been pumping on a regular basis, just to make sure all is ok. So far, so good. Drops nice and slow.

All that's left now to do is to make a rubber nipple to insert into the shaft. I still have the original one, but it's starting to look like something the cat dragged in. I'm looking for my wife's hole puncher for belts and a nice piece of rubber. I may end up going to my local bicycle repair shop and asking for a piece of scrap inner tube, punch a tiny piece out and insert in here:



Again, thanks for your help. Much appreciated.

Cheers.

 

[tnsilver]

Funny... I had the exact same problem and I've also used a hole puncher and a bicycle inner tube. BUT...

Unfortunately, it didn't go well b/c the shaft is hollow and the rim wasn't surface enough to glue the tiny thin piece of rubber and make it stay there.

After trying the hole puncher on a bunch of materials (including a pencil eraser and some computer speakers rubber feet) I ended up using the puncher
on a beefier piece of leftover sound damping sheet.

I was left with a 'roll' or a column of polymer that I could insert down the shaft and then I've used an x-acto knife to trim it to height.

That worked! (and no glue was used).

 

[the_nines]

I was thinking of stuffing the punched out piece of rubber into the hollow shaft.

Matter of fact, I was just thinking instead of a bike inner tube, I'll pay a visit to my local garage where I change tires every season. I'm sure I can find a chunky piece of tire meant for the scrap and work from that.

If not successful, I have a piece of sound damping sheet left over from a previous project. I'll give that a go.

 

[Aerobat]

I successfully refilled the silicon using @Blue Shadow 's method of just adding a little at a time and pumping the air out. Now I have another problem - I use a lot of antiskate, and when the arm is cued up the antiskate drags it back to the rest. I cleaned the lift button and banana with alcohol but it's just too slippery. Anyone else have this issue? Maybe I'll try some electrical tape on the banana.

 

[Blue Shadow]

Something more than electrical tape I would think. Maybe a piece of rubber sheet. That would have a higher coefficient of friction with the button and that might be enough to hold the arm in place.

Try the electrical tape, you have it, the arm is there and a short chunk applied can be done quickly and removed easily. Then you will know.

 

[Aerobat]

False alarm I guess, I re-cleaned the surfaces with alcohol and it holds now. Yikes that's a lot of cat hair, time to break out the mini-vac.

 

[Blue Shadow]

That's more like it. Proper cleaning. Technician in a can.

Is that table a cat perch when you are not in the room? Time for a cover?

 

[Aerobat]

That's more like it. Proper cleaning. Technician in a can.

Is that table a cat perch when you are not in the room? Time for a cover?

Thankfully the cats ignore the table, but the cat hair is omnipresent. I swear I can clean a record, put it in a clean sleeve, and it comes out a month later with hair on it.
Since the arms extend out beyond the rack a cover isn't an option.

 

[ViperZ]

Sorry, quick question on the cueing mech assembly for 3009 - does the cueing mech suppose to slide up and down the black metal cylinder (the one used to adjust height)? I want to move this cueing mech by a couple of mm lower than where it sits right now (at the very top). I undid the hex screw behind it, it didn't move at all - applied some oil around it - I can rotate the cueing assembly, but I cannot seem to lower it? Is it safe to widen the gap where the hex screw is just a bit with a screwdriver to lower it? Thank you