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Technics SL-D2 tone arm damping

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My SL-D2 the speed of arm rise/lower is the same as how fast or slow you move the lift lever; there is a spring so the arm support follows the lift lever. If the arm support is not coming down, when you bring the lever down, maybe the spring is missing or something is stuck. On mine the shaft of the lift arm is greased to give a smooth feel but the tonearm support moves up and down without damping (under spring tension).
 
ic-racer said:
My SL-D2 the speed of arm rise/lower is the same as how fast or slow you move the lift lever; there is a spring so the arm support follows the lift lever. If the arm support is not coming down, when you bring the lever down, maybe the spring is missing or something is stuck. On mine the shaft of the lift arm is greased to give a smooth feel but the tonearm support moves up and down without damping (under spring tension).
Click to expand...
I have another D2 and a D3. When you lower the lever on those, the arm lift sorta floats the arm down to the record. I'm just setting this D2 up, and the arm lift does not float the arm down. There is no damping there. It drops just as far and just as fast , it seems, as the cuing lever. It is preferable, to me, for the arm to float down, with the arm lift, and not depend on me to have a steady hand on the cuing lever. The manual says it has viscous damping, but does say how to replace the damping fluid. I will check the manual again.
 
You are right, I see the reference in the manual "...the tonearm will descent slowly onto the record." I'm glad I saw this thread.

Maybe I'll investigate here where the red arrow points.

SL-D2 Damper.jpg
 
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Figure 4 in the PDF reminds me of the pitch damper in my 1/10 RC F1 car. I have different silicone grades of grease for that which I will try, assuming SL-D2 is the style that requires disassembly to apply the grease (which it indeed might; see post below).
TRF419XR%2BPitch%2Bdamper%2Bmod.jpg

DSC05520%2B%2528Custom%2529.jpg
 
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I found this related post on another forum:

Post subject: Re: Technics SL-D2
PostPosted: Mar Fri 06, 2015 5:11 am

The failure is due to hardened silicone oil in the shaft-and-hollow-cylinder dashpot used for damped cuing. You need to take the cuing mechanism apart from below, clean out the old, hardened silicone oil, and pack it with new silicone oil. You can buy new silicone oil online.

This repair is of medium complexity, and should be attempted only by someone with a fair degree of mechanical savvy. I place the entire turntable upside down on sandbags, with the platter off, so that the set is stable, and so that the weight of the table will not rest on the delicate tonearm gimbal.

There you go.

Fred
owner: Classic Audio Repair, Inc.
Click to expand...
 
I seem to recall reading that the SL-D3 replaced the SL-1900. If that is the case, it might make sense that you could replace the damping fluid in the same manner as the later serial number 1900s.
 
Well, I ordered the 500k damping fluid. It arrived. It came with an applicator which I could not get to work on the container. Anyway, I took the lift arm off the top. Not a big deal. I turned the table over and took the bottom off. No big deal. What I saw , looking at the works, was kinda a big deal. Looked kinda complicated, the way everything was put together. I felt kinda intimidated. I kinda decided this was not for me, not right now. So, I put it all back together. Maybe I'll go at it again another time.
 
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