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Technics SL-1600mk2 Help needed

jdorsey

jdorsey

Active Member
I recently bought a 1600 mk2 for $35. It had a few issue, all of which I have fixed except one. Cueing and start/stop aren't working (I'm assuming they are related, possibly arm drive motor?). The cueing lever will not move the arm lift. But if I pull on the arm lift the cueing lever will move. I had it disassembled to check the arm drive belt, which is in good condition and the gears are moving properly.

Anyone have any suggestions? Other than that it is in nice shape and keeps perfect speed. I would love to get the automatic working, or at least cueing. Thanks
 
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Cueing is belt driven and must be working for the automation to function. Usually, all this model needs is a new belt to get cueing and automation working again. Let us know how you get along with it. This is a great automatic, one of the finest ever made.
 
KentTeffeteller said:
Cueing is belt driven and must be working for the automation to function. Usually, all this model needs is a new belt to get cueing and automation working again. Let us know how you get along with it. This is a great automatic, one of the finest ever made.
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I agree with everything Kent said. The problem is almost certainly the cuing belt and the SL-1600 MK2 is indeed one of the best tables ever. It's very good in stock form and, since it shares the arm, motor and platter (sort of) with the SL-1200 MK2, is very tweakable. That you got one for only $35.00 borders on the criminal.;)

The cuing belt can be replaced with a neoprene O-ring of the appropriate size and if your fine motor skills are good you can replace it without much disassembly. Just remove the platter and the round cover underneath it. The motor that drives the cuing mechanism will be at about 2:00. The drive pulley will be readily visible and the larger driven pulley hiding just under the aluminum top plate.

John
 
If the cueing motor doesn't spin when you press the button, it's probably a bad transistor on the arm control board. A few of us fixed this issue on 1700MK2s a while back. I may still have some transistors, or at least the part numbers so they can be ordered.
 
I have the same turntable. If it is the belt, let me know. I have a two spares so I can tell you where to get them and the part number, and if you can't find one I might be convinced to part with one.

tonearmbelt.jpg
 
Congrats. I agree great automatic turntable and at a great price too. In a pinch I've used a small rubber band instead of the cueing belt (on the similar SL1700Mk2). Also my local hardware store didn't carry the correct size O-ring so found it available at LPGear.

Dave/ChairSpud
 
jsisk said:
I have the same turntable. If it is the belt, let me know. I have a two spares so I can tell you where to get them and the part number, and if you can't find one I might be convinced to part with one.
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Very nice offer! :music:

Could you measure the belt and post it for future reference?

I have the same turn table, no problem withe the belt so far.

It would probably need to be replace some time in the near future though.:scratch2:
 
jdorsey said:
Nope the 1400mk2 was gone by the time I called. I was the second caller:music:
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Wow the guy was an even worse seller than I thought then. My wife had called and agreed to buy both. The guy said ok and they set up a time. She made it to the north end of York before he texted (not called) to say they were both sold. I caught a lot of hell for that one since she was doing me a favor.

I hope you're able to get the auto cueing working the 1600mk2 is supposed to be really nice table.
 
The belt is from Projector Recording Belt Corp, now owned by Russell Industries. Just checked their site and it still shows in their catalog. Part number: OA 4.2

It is 2mm thick with a diameter of 35mm.
 
jsisk said:
The belt is from Projector Recording Belt Corp, now owned by Russell Industries. Just checked their site and it still shows in their catalog. Part number: OA 4.2

It is 2mm thick with a diameter of 35mm.
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Thanks for taking the time to do the measurements. :thmbsp: :music:
 
anapex said:
Wow the guy was an even worse seller than I thought then. My wife had called and agreed to buy both. The guy said ok and they set up a time. She made it to the north end of York before he texted (not called) to say they were both sold. I caught a lot of hell for that one since she was doing me a favor.

I hope you're able to get the auto cueing working the 1600mk2 is supposed to be really nice table.
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He wasn't even home when I got there. His teenage son reluctantly handled the transaction.
 
Thanks to everybody for all of the great info. This place is awesome. Easily the best forum of any kind that I have ever been on. I am going to disassemble it again tonight and see what I can do.
 
Update:

I have disassembled the table. I have removed the belt which looks brand new.

DSCN0590-1.jpg


After reattaching the belt I moved the gear on the arm drive motor to verify that the belt was not loose or slipping. Looks good.

DSCN0592.jpg


I then removed the belt and marked the pulley on the motor with a marker and hooked everything back up. Powered it up and hit the cue button. Powered down and went back in to see if my mark moved. It didn't. So the arm motor is not moving.

At this point I think I may be in over my head. Anyone know of a place to get this fixed in the Central PA area?

I also noticed that there is a suspension issue where the platter rubs on something if not perfectly balanced. Looks like there are two of these supports missing. Any idea if they can be found anywhere on the net?

DSCN0594.jpg
 
This table does NOTHING unless there is a record on the platter, or so I have read. You can also check that there is some resistance in the motor itself to see if maybe it is still good, just not receiving a go signal.

Might be able to fabricate those parts if no one has a parts unit to pull them from.
 
Blue Shadow said:
This table does NOTHING unless there is a record on the platter, or so I have read.
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Correct. You can fool it, though, by positioning the mat incorrectly so that the LED lenses are covered up instead of lined up with the holes in the mat.

Might be able to fabricate those parts if no one has a parts unit to pull them from.
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If you mean those little support struts, yes, you could make your own. The Service manual at VinylEngine would be a big help. For instance, on pg. 41 it shows that there are 4 of these long "spacers" (ref. #77) such as the one in the photo and 3 much shorter ones (ref. #79) for the tonearm. As you'll also see, there are little square bosses on the black composite base plate where these are to go.

John
 
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