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The AR-XA / Technics tonearm tube swap thing.

StuartB said:
You will get different opinions on grounding the Technics tube on an AR arm. Marc Morin would pull the ground tab out of the tube and use the original AR design to ground the arm. For damping, he would insert a piece of shrink tube into the hollow arm, short enough to not interfere with the connections on the collar, and the insert four small pieces of ear plug foam Spaced out into the tube to eliminate resonances and harmonics.
With as much time as I was able to spend with Marc this is what I would recommend.
Click to expand...

OK, I have a few questions, as I really don't want to screw this up...
So if I go with the Marc Morin method, would the tonearm wires be running through the heat shrink tube or would they be running between the heat shrink and the inside of the tonearm wand? I'm wondering whether I should set up the wiring first or set the damping.
Also, any recommendations for heat shrink tube size?
And would I actually be applying heat to form-fit to the inside of the wand?

Thanks so much for your help!
 
I don’t recall the size of the heat shrink tube, maybe 1/4”? 9089651C-CF99-4BFC-91D3-F00510610685.jpeg but it was large enough to just slide easily into the Technics tube. You would put the heat shrink tube in first then run the headshell wires through it. We would put the small wire ends into the end of a small heat shrink tube and then pull them through the arm. You don’t apply heat to the arm to shrink the tube. Then keep the wires at the top of the tube when adding the foam pieces. This limits the binding of the wires in the pivot lock.
 
Little add on to what Stuart said. Insert shrink tube partially into arm tube, insert wires into shrink tube. Push rest of shrink tube with wires until both come thru the other end. Pull the shrink tube out, it is not left in the arm tube.
Attach the collar with the little screws at the cartridge end.
Then take ear plug which sells as a small tube or cylinder, cut about a quarter inch then cut that in half to make a half moon shape.
Fold that half moon like you would a tortilla add the wire as filling then use a straw to help push it down the tube.
When inserting into the arm tube the open part of the ear plug should be at the top so as it opens it will push the wires towards the top.
You'll use 3 pieces of ear plug
 
I have done this mod since the early 2000’s, first posted it on VE and told by many it wouldn’t work, guess those skeptics were wrong. I have gone through many types to damping mods but once I payed a visit to Kevin at KAB and we went through a few different types of tube mods. Kevin installed his damping tube and dropped it on the table, it was so well damped it did not bounce, was dead quiet with only a slight ping when it hit, I was sold. He has found the exact fit so it fits snug in the tube which is important.
And this lets you use the grounding from the Technics arm which is better than the AR ground method, getting the ground wire closer to the headshell.
 
So after this happened...
View media item 22229
I think I officially give up.

I tried soldering the Cardas cables to the collar on the Technics wand, and one of the connections melts off. What do I do? Get a replacement collar?

This is so frustrating.

Thanks to everyone for their help. With my limited soldering experience, I think I'm out of my depth...
 
You must have really heated that thing up! What we do is tin the bare wire end, and then use a small surgical vascular clamp to hold the wire on the pin, then get a little solder on the iron tip and just touch the connection to solder the two pieces together. Then use shrink wrap to protect the connection. I am not sure if that collar is toast not. But when you insert the headshell it will push the pins back a bit. You want to make sure that nothing impedes the movement of those pins. Trust me, this is how you learn.

Also, we insert the headshell in the collar, and then hold the headshell in a small vise so that we have two hands to solder with.
 
StuartB said:
You must have really heated that thing up! What we do is tin the bare wire end, and then use a small surgical vascular clamp to hold the wire on the pin, then get a little solder on the iron tip and just touch the connection to solder the two pieces together. Then use shrink wrap to protect the connection. I am not sure if that collar is toast not. But when you insert the headshell it will push the pins back a bit. You want to make sure that nothing impedes the movement of those pins. Trust me, this is how you learn.

Also, we insert the headshell in the collar, and then hold the headshell in a small vise so that we have two hands to solder with.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's a learning experience for sure.

So, I'm too bull-headed to give up. The pin situation wasn't so bad, but I decided on a different approach to joining up the tonearm wires to the pins on the collar... I found these lying around.
View media item 22230It seemed a little easier to solder the tonearm wires to these tonearm leads and then I joined those to the pins like this...
View media item 22231So we'll see how this works...
 
OK, the success of my wiring is obviously left to be proven, but I think we're Mission Accomplished on the damping...
View media item 22232You can see the ear plug foam inside the heat shrink tube in this shot.

Wish me luck on the rest!
 
ekimlive said:
Yeah, it's a learning experience for sure.

So, I'm too bull-headed to give up. The pin situation wasn't so bad, but I decided on a different approach to joining up the tonearm wires to the pins on the collar... I found these lying around.
View media item 22230It seemed a little easier to solder the tonearm wires to these tonearm leads and then I joined those to the pins like this...
View media item 22231So we'll see how this works...
Click to expand...
You'll need to individually shrink wrap those wire splices or you're flirtin' with disaster!
 
Redd House said:
You'll need to individually shrink wrap those wire splices or you're flirtin' with disaster!
Click to expand...

Definitely.
What Marc would do is shrink tube them individually then use a slightly larger diameter tube to combine the 2 left and the 2 right together. Tubes will have to be long enough to cover all exposed ends.
Looks like you are past that point since wires are through the tubes and you have inserted the earplug material
 
Hose53 said:
Definitely.
What Marc would do is shrink tube them individually then use a slightly larger diameter tube to combine the 2 left and the 2 right together. Tubes will have to be long enough to cover all exposed ends.
Looks like you are past that point since wires are through the tubes and you have inserted the earplug material
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'll have to pause for the day. I need more shrink tube for those wires and I think I ought to make sure those tonearm wire/collar pins connections are solid anyway. Fortunately, I have plenty more of the wand shrink tube and earplugs!

Until next time!
 
Im concerned that you pushed the pins through to the other side so far that your head shell won't make contact
with the pins that have not moved.

We need a pic of the inside of the collet. where the headshell would connect.


index.php



You should always us a heat sink soldering tool when soldering something that has
a fragile filament, like micro light bulbs or for a metal pice that is pressed into plastic etc.

This is what you need when working on the heat sensitive materials either of theses will do.

70159795.jpg
alligator-clip-heat-sinks-10-pack.jpg
ht-156-0.jpg


Athanasios
 
ekimlive said:
Yeah, I'll have to pause for the day. I need more shrink tube for those wires and I think I ought to make sure those tonearm wire/collar pins connections are solid anyway. Fortunately, I have plenty more of the wand shrink tube and earplugs!

Until next time!
Click to expand...
I could be mistaken but I think Hose said the large shrink tube doesn't stay in the arm tube. I'm guessing they use it only to feed the wires down the tube then it's removed afterwards. That's what I got from post #23 anyway.
 
Nashou66 said:
Im concerned that you pushed the pins through to the other side so far that your head shell won't make contact
with the pins that have not moved.

We need a pic of the inside of the collet. where the headshell would connect.


index.php



You should always us a heat sink soldering tool when soldering something that has
a fragile filament, like micro light bulbs or for a metal pice that is pressed into plastic etc.

This is what you need when working on the heat sensitive materials either of theses will do.

70159795.jpg
alligator-clip-heat-sinks-10-pack.jpg
ht-156-0.jpg


Athanasios
Click to expand...

Thanks, Nashou66, I'll put that on my shopping list as well...

Here's a photo of the inside of the collet—the pins seem to be (mostly) even, one is pushed down a little bit more.
View media item 22233
 
Redd House said:
I could be mistaken but I think Hose said the large shrink tube doesn't stay in the arm tube. I'm guessing they use it only to feed the wires down the tube then it's removed afterwards. That's what I got from post #23 anyway.
Click to expand...
I thought Hose was referring to an even smaller shrink tube they use to run the wires through the wand that they remove when the wires make it through. But I may have misunderstood...
 
I’m afraid that collar is toast, once the pin does not spring it will not touch the headshell pin and you will not make contact, not sound. Plug in a headshell and check continuity.
 
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