Sumiko MMT and FT-3 damping

[martinb0820]

I've had Sumiko MMT and FT-3 tone arms, in great condition, for many years.

I've never filled the damping fluid reservoirs, and would like to try it, but I've read descriptions on-line about internal plastic parts in the tone arms melting, ostensibly due to leakage of the damping fluid.

Does anyone know whether there is an internal leakage path for the damping fluid, or if the reported issues are actually a matter of sloppy application of that fluid that gets it into the bearings/internals?

Second question: I have a Hana EL, that on the MMT has a resonant frequency peak around 10 Hz, with resonance that extends at lower amplitude above and below that frequency. I'm wondering whether damping might be beneficial. Does anyone have experience using the EL with damping?

Thanks! Martin

 

[jgscisum]

I have an FT3 with fluid and it has never leaked internally. Arm has been taken apart and NO fluid anywhere.

 

[Ilikevinyl]

No plastic parts on my Jelco TS-550S MKII, for the fluid reserve. Filled mine with three small drops of 30,000 silicone fluid, plus two drops of the Jelco DO-01 fluid. The DO-01 fluid is too thin to do any real dampening by itself. This combination works perfectly!

Unscrew cap so it's just screwed on. Screw cap down just a bit. Move arm manually with the headshell finger grip, vertically and then horizontally. Your going to do these two things in that order until you feel the arm dampened. STOP. Leave screw cap alone! Arm is now set at the best dampened position. My Nagaoka MP-200 sounds much better! Bass is deeper. Sound stage is a bit wider. Instruments have more pin-point accuracy.

 

[ghamilton]

I have an FT3 with fluid and it has never leaked internally. Arm has been taken apart and NO fluid anywhere.

I also have the FT-3 with no leakage. No problems.

 

[hendertuckie]

I use two Jelco 750 arm. Jelco is the OEM for the F3. One is over 10 years old and the other is a bit newer. Neither has ever leaked oil.