Yamaha YP-D8 cue dampening help

[stencil]

i just googled the image up on your resto project thats a beautiful stereo (somebody threw that away?). I have a technics sa-800 that I really like but Ive been thinking of picking up a vintage yamaha receiver.

Yup. Was sitting right on the curb in Brooklyn.

Spent the morning cleaning it up. The sliders are dirty - need to get some DeoxIt, and the left channel is intermittent.

When it's going, it sounds beautiful. I need to read up on capacitors. Eep.

 

[rickwalkerjr]

i used to repair TV's and stereos back in the mid to late 80's before getting hired as an ET for the post office...at the TV shop I had the neatest little tool for getting tuner cleaner into the controls and slides of equipment without having to do major dissambly: it was a very fine long metal tube that had a 45 degree bend at the spray end, the other end went into flexible tubing that went into the nozzle of the spray. this thing made it so easy & fast to get to the controls it was perfect and as you know that kinda work is commision based so speed was a good thing. id like to make up another one of those I could def use it today.

you might try keeping an eye out on ebay for the factory service manual for that piece they are always better than aftermarket manuals.

i also liked to save old toothbrushes to clean the grooves of knobs after I removed them, those old stereos hold up very well and look fantastic once they are cleaned up.

my sa-800 looks brand new and I keep it covered up when not in use.

 

[Matt Lamont]

Much better off after getting some 300,000 cst damping fluid from turntablebasics.

My next battle is trying to restore a Yamaha CR-1000 that I found on the street.

I hate to resurrect an old thread, but I’m having the exact same problem with the exact same TT. Has anyone ever taken pictures of where to add the silicone, and did it work? Thanks guys!

 

[Matt Lamont]

Much better off after getting some 300,000 cst damping fluid from turntablebasics.

My next battle is trying to restore a Yamaha CR-1000 that I found on the street.

Stencil, i know this is from 9 years ago but I’m having the exact same problem. were you ever able to get the cueing shaft out? I’m not sure how to get the dampening fluid in there. I’ve put some on the top and worked the shaft up and down and I’ve also taken the bottom off, pulled off the circlip and taken out the little pivot rod on that white hinge to pull that off to the side. Then I’ve tried to glob a little gel into the bottom of the shaft and work it up an down. I feel like I’m only getting it in the very top and very bottom. I’m not noticing a huge difference. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[graineri]

I just finished redamping my YP-D8 and it isn't hard at all. First you will need a set of jewelers precision drivers and specifically a T6 star driver to loosen the screw on the arm lifter base which acts as the retaining screw for the damping shaft assembly. Once you have the proper tools attach your stylus guard and move your tonearm inward toward the spindle. Loosen the screw on the arm lifter base and rotate the arm lifter toward you or the front of the turntable. DO NOT REMOVE THIS SCREW COMPLETELY, JUST LOOSEN ENOUGH TO GET THE SHAFT FREE! You can now lift the damping shaft assembly straight up without ever having to gain access through the bottom! Now that you have the assembly out, remove the brass set screw with a small standard screwdriver and the second T6 star screw which holds the arm lifter platform. That is the moon shaped little metal platform the tonearm rides on with a small shaft attached. Now remove the damping shaft from the housing. Once that is all apart look inside the damping housing and you will see a small spring. Fish this out with a tooth pick or similar item. Clean all parts thoroughly. I used finger nail polish remover because you will see 40 year old brown gunk all over the damping shaft. It will come off easily with the nail polish remover. Now head down to any hobby shop that carries RC equipment and buy a bottle of 500,000 CST Silicone differential oil like the one in the picture. The hobby guys use it for damping fluid in the different shock absorbing components on their model cars. This stuff is thick and sticky as hell. Do not be tempted to buy anything with a lower viscosity for the YP-D8 because it will not work. I know because I have tried. Now with everything clean and dry, drop that little spring you cleaned back inside the housing. Reinsert the shaft of the arm lifter inside the housing and make sure it slides inside the little spring. Now dip a toothpick into the bottle and begin smearing this all over the inner shaft and inside the housing. You will notice that the inner shaft has 3 or 4 recessed areas for the silicone to go. Make sure all of it is coated will with the silicone fluid. Once everything is coated well with this stuff, insert the damping shaft back inside the housing and reinstall both the brass retaining screw and the T6 star set screw. Work this assembly by pushing down with your finger on the metal tip sticking out of the bottom. The shaft will now move up and down very slowly. You will probably have a lot of excess silicone pushing out at this point. That is good. Just work it back and forth and clean away the excess thoroughly. Now reinstall in your turntable dropping it back in the top. Make sure the set screw is accessible from the front of the turntable by turning it to the correct position so you can place your driver on it again and tighten the retaining screw you only loosened on the arm lifter base at the beginning. Now, you will need to slightly loosen the small T6 star retaining screw to set the height and proper position under the tonearm. I suggest that you take pictures of everything exactly where it is located with your cell phone before you begin doing this and during disassembly so you will get it all back together correctly. Setting the arm lifter and tonearm height is a bit of a PIA but just be patient and you will get it. Mine is set so the distance between the stylus and the vinyl is about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch drop to the record surface. Once completed your cueing will work smoothly and drop smoothly to the record surface. The auto lift at the end will also work without making the tonearm bounce but will lift quicker than it drops. This is normal! If you still aren't satisfied and think it is dropping too fast or rising too quickly it means you didn't coat the shaft well enough and will need to repeat the process. I know because it took me three times performing this procedure to get it right. First time with 300,000 cst. lubricant that wasn't viscous enough. The second time I went too light with the 500K and third time was the charm when I really coated the hell out of all the parts and cleaned away the excess. The opening in the housing which contains the set screws will allow any excess silicone to escape and achieve the proper level. Just make sure everything is clean and you have worked the damping shaft back and forth to clean any excess silicone before you reinstall in your turntable. Good luck and take care of that YP-D8. They are one hell of a turntable and along with my YP-D71 I would never part with either of them.

 

[Gustav80swe]

Thank you for your description of how to fix cueing. I disembled it today. Now I need some 500000 cst siliconoil.

 

[graineri]

Excellent photos Gustav! I have been meaning to post some myself but haven't had the time to do it. I am glad you were able to get everything apart without too much difficulty. The 500000 CST silicone differential fluid can be ordered for about $10 on Amazon or sourced locally if you have a hobby shop that deals with RC cars. I hope once you get everything reassembled using the correct fluid that your damping is as smooth as mine turned out. Please let me know once you finish how yours turns out!

 

[Gustav80swe]

I succeed! Got to find a way to upload a video...

 

[bimasta]

Weird question — I have the tonearm from a YP-D8, but NOT the turntable*. The cueing was operated from the plinth — I don't have the plinth, or the linkage.

How can I convert the cueing device to "normal" operation? The hole is too small for any third-party device. I can add a lever to move it up/down — but how, where?

I consider it a great tonearm, truly worthy of even better turntables — hence my question.

* It was run over by a truck — but only one side. Totally smashed, but the arm wasn't touched.

 

[Gustav80swe]

Weird question — I have the tonearm from a YP-D8, but NOT the turntable*. The cueing was operated from the plinth — I don't have the plinth, or the linkage.

How can I convert the cueing device to "normal" operation? The hole is too small for any third-party device. I can add a lever to move it up/down — but how, where?

I consider it a great tonearm, truly worthy of even better turntables — hence my question.

* It was run over by a truck — but only one side. Totally smashed, but the arm wasn't touched.

I dont know if its gonna help you but her are a helpful pic for me. Poor quality tho.

 

[Gustav80swe]

Thanks to the wonderful description by graineri I pulled the trigger and try to fix my cueing problem. Sorry about the heavy breading...

Before:

After:

 

[graineri]

Beautiful result Gustav! I really appreciate the video with the before/after result of your repair job. This confirms my own experience and both of our arms now lift at a reasonable rate with no more of that annoying bounce! Great Job!

 

[graineri]

bimasta, sorry about the turntable getting crushed but glad you salvaged the tonearm. I don't know it this would work for you and it is kind of pricey at $249, but Turntable Labs offers this little mechanism that is advertised to perform as an auto lift at the end of the record. I do believe you will still have to manually cue it at the beginning of play.

 

[bimasta]

bimasta, sorry about the turntable getting crushed but glad you salvaged the tonearm. I don't know it this would work for you and it is kind of pricey at $249, but Turntable Labs offers this little mechanism that is advertised to perform as an auto lift at the end of the record. I do believe you will still have to manually cue it at the beginning of play.

Thanks Graineri — I have the old Audio Technica version of that lift, and could use it. But it's the manual cueing at start-up, and even more when skipping tracks, that concerns me. I can do it perfectly 1000 times — but 1001, whoops, there goes my Ruby cantilever + stylus...

 

[graineri]

That is a pretty difficult problem unless you fabricate something on your own. Most people don't have access to a machine shop for that unfortunately.

 

[stratokaster]

Thanks Graineri — I have the old Audio Technica version of that lift, and could use it. But it's the manual cueing at start-up, and even more when skipping tracks, that concerns me. I can do it perfectly 1000 times — but 1001, whoops, there goes my Ruby cantilever + stylus...

You probably need something like this: http://www.karmadon.net/shop/tonearm-lifting-device-for-installation-on-a-plinth/

 

[Cee vee]

I just finished redamping my YP-D8 and it isn't hard at all. First you will need a set of jewelers precision drivers and specifically a T6 star driver to loosen the screw on the arm lifter base which acts as the retaining screw for the damping shaft assembly. Once you have the proper tools attach your stylus guard and move your tonearm inward toward the spindle. Loosen the screw on the arm lifter base and rotate the arm lifter toward you or the front of the turntable. DO NOT REMOVE THIS SCREW COMPLETELY, JUST LOOSEN ENOUGH TO GET THE SHAFT FREE! You can now lift the damping shaft assembly straight up without ever having to gain access through the bottom! Now that you have the assembly out, remove the brass set screw with a small standard screwdriver and the second T6 star screw which holds the arm lifter platform. That is the moon shaped little metal platform the tonearm rides on with a small shaft attached. Now remove the damping shaft from the housing. Once that is all apart look inside the damping housing and you will see a small spring. Fish this out with a tooth pick or similar item. Clean all parts thoroughly. I used finger nail polish remover because you will see 40 year old brown gunk all over the damping shaft. It will come off easily with the nail polish remover. Now head down to any hobby shop that carries RC equipment and buy a bottle of 500,000 CST Silicone differential oil like the one in the picture. The hobby guys use it for damping fluid in the different shock absorbing components on their model cars. This stuff is thick and sticky as hell. Do not be tempted to buy anything with a lower viscosity for the YP-D8 because it will not work. I know because I have tried. Now with everything clean and dry, drop that little spring you cleaned back inside the housing. Reinsert the shaft of the arm lifter inside the housing and make sure it slides inside the little spring. Now dip a toothpick into the bottle and begin smearing this all over the inner shaft and inside the housing. You will notice that the inner shaft has 3 or 4 recessed areas for the silicone to go. Make sure all of it is coated will with the silicone fluid. Once everything is coated well with this stuff, insert the damping shaft back inside the housing and reinstall both the brass retaining screw and the T6 star set screw. Work this assembly by pushing down with your finger on the metal tip sticking out of the bottom. The shaft will now move up and down very slowly. You will probably have a lot of excess silicone pushing out at this point. That is good. Just work it back and forth and clean away the excess thoroughly. Now reinstall in your turntable dropping it back in the top. Make sure the set screw is accessible from the front of the turntable by turning it to the correct position so you can place your driver on it again and tighten the retaining screw you only loosened on the arm lifter base at the beginning. Now, you will need to slightly loosen the small T6 star retaining screw to set the height and proper position under the tonearm. I suggest that you take pictures of everything exactly where it is located with your cell phone before you begin doing this and during disassembly so you will get it all back together correctly. Setting the arm lifter and tonearm height is a bit of a PIA but just be patient and you will get it. Mine is set so the distance between the stylus and the vinyl is about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch drop to the record surface. Once completed your cueing will work smoothly and drop smoothly to the record surface. The auto lift at the end will also work without making the tonearm bounce but will lift quicker than it drops. This is normal! If you still aren't satisfied and think it is dropping too fast or rising too quickly it means you didn't coat the shaft well enough and will need to repeat the process. I know because it took me three times performing this procedure to get it right. First time with 300,000 cst. lubricant that wasn't viscous enough. The second time I went too light with the 500K and third time was the charm when I really coated the hell out of all the parts and cleaned away the excess. The opening in the housing which contains the set screws will allow any excess silicone to escape and achieve the proper level. Just make sure everything is clean and you have worked the damping shaft back and forth to clean any excess silicone before you reinstall in your turntable. Good luck and take care of that YP-D8. They are one hell of a turntable and along with my YP-D71 I would never part with either of them.

View attachment 1555150

You saved me!! I did all of the work and it is a remarkable solution. I think I’ll need to use more 500K, since it is better, but not perfect. I’m letting it “sit” for a few hours then will probably add more “goop”. Thank you, thank you!!

 

[koolkat62]

I just finished redamping my YP-D8 and it isn't hard at all. First you will need a set of jewelers precision drivers and specifically a T6 star driver to loosen the screw on the arm lifter base which acts as the retaining screw for the damping shaft assembly. Once you have the proper tools attach your stylus guard and move your tonearm inward toward the spindle. Loosen the screw on the arm lifter base and rotate the arm lifter toward you or the front of the turntable. DO NOT REMOVE THIS SCREW COMPLETELY, JUST LOOSEN ENOUGH TO GET THE SHAFT FREE! You can now lift the damping shaft assembly straight up without ever having to gain access through the bottom! Now that you have the assembly out, remove the brass set screw with a small standard screwdriver and the second T6 star screw which holds the arm lifter platform. That is the moon shaped little metal platform the tonearm rides on with a small shaft attached. Now remove the damping shaft from the housing. Once that is all apart look inside the damping housing and you will see a small spring. Fish this out with a tooth pick or similar item. Clean all parts thoroughly. I used finger nail polish remover because you will see 40 year old brown gunk all over the damping shaft. It will come off easily with the nail polish remover. Now head down to any hobby shop that carries RC equipment and buy a bottle of 500,000 CST Silicone differential oil like the one in the picture. The hobby guys use it for damping fluid in the different shock absorbing components on their model cars. This stuff is thick and sticky as hell. Do not be tempted to buy anything with a lower viscosity for the YP-D8 because it will not work. I know because I have tried. Now with everything clean and dry, drop that little spring you cleaned back inside the housing. Reinsert the shaft of the arm lifter inside the housing and make sure it slides inside the little spring. Now dip a toothpick into the bottle and begin smearing this all over the inner shaft and inside the housing. You will notice that the inner shaft has 3 or 4 recessed areas for the silicone to go. Make sure all of it is coated will with the silicone fluid. Once everything is coated well with this stuff, insert the damping shaft back inside the housing and reinstall both the brass retaining screw and the T6 star set screw. Work this assembly by pushing down with your finger on the metal tip sticking out of the bottom. The shaft will now move up and down very slowly. You will probably have a lot of excess silicone pushing out at this point. That is good. Just work it back and forth and clean away the excess thoroughly. Now reinstall in your turntable dropping it back in the top. Make sure the set screw is accessible from the front of the turntable by turning it to the correct position so you can place your driver on it again and tighten the retaining screw you only loosened on the arm lifter base at the beginning. Now, you will need to slightly loosen the small T6 star retaining screw to set the height and proper position under the tonearm. I suggest that you take pictures of everything exactly where it is located with your cell phone before you begin doing this and during disassembly so you will get it all back together correctly. Setting the arm lifter and tonearm height is a bit of a PIA but just be patient and you will get it. Mine is set so the distance between the stylus and the vinyl is about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch drop to the record surface. Once completed your cueing will work smoothly and drop smoothly to the record surface. The auto lift at the end will also work without making the tonearm bounce but will lift quicker than it drops. This is normal! If you still aren't satisfied and think it is dropping too fast or rising too quickly it means you didn't coat the shaft well enough and will need to repeat the process. I know because it took me three times performing this procedure to get it right. First time with 300,000 cst. lubricant that wasn't viscous enough. The second time I went too light with the 500K and third time was the charm when I really coated the hell out of all the parts and cleaned away the excess. The opening in the housing which contains the set screws will allow any excess silicone to escape and achieve the proper level. Just make sure everything is clean and you have worked the damping shaft back and forth to clean any excess silicone before you reinstall in your turntable. Good luck and take care of that YP-D8. They are one hell of a turntable and along with my YP-D71 I would never part with either of them.

View attachment 1555150

I just finished redamping my YP-D8 and it isn't hard at all. First you will need a set of jewelers precision drivers and specifically a T6 star driver to loosen the screw on the arm lifter base which acts as the retaining screw for the damping shaft assembly. Once you have the proper tools attach your stylus guard and move your tonearm inward toward the spindle. Loosen the screw on the arm lifter base and rotate the arm lifter toward you or the front of the turntable. DO NOT REMOVE THIS SCREW COMPLETELY, JUST LOOSEN ENOUGH TO GET THE SHAFT FREE! You can now lift the damping shaft assembly straight up without ever having to gain access through the bottom! Now that you have the assembly out, remove the brass set screw with a small standard screwdriver and the second T6 star screw which holds the arm lifter platform. That is the moon shaped little metal platform the tonearm rides on with a small shaft attached. Now remove the damping shaft from the housing. Once that is all apart look inside the damping housing and you will see a small spring. Fish this out with a tooth pick or similar item. Clean all parts thoroughly. I used finger nail polish remover because you will see 40 year old brown gunk all over the damping shaft. It will come off easily with the nail polish remover. Now head down to any hobby shop that carries RC equipment and buy a bottle of 500,000 CST Silicone differential oil like the one in the picture. The hobby guys use it for damping fluid in the different shock absorbing components on their model cars. This stuff is thick and sticky as hell. Do not be tempted to buy anything with a lower viscosity for the YP-D8 because it will not work. I know because I have tried. Now with everything clean and dry, drop that little spring you cleaned back inside the housing. Reinsert the shaft of the arm lifter inside the housing and make sure it slides inside the little spring. Now dip a toothpick into the bottle and begin smearing this all over the inner shaft and inside the housing. You will notice that the inner shaft has 3 or 4 recessed areas for the silicone to go. Make sure all of it is coated will with the silicone fluid. Once everything is coated well with this stuff, insert the damping shaft back inside the housing and reinstall both the brass retaining screw and the T6 star set screw. Work this assembly by pushing down with your finger on the metal tip sticking out of the bottom. The shaft will now move up and down very slowly. You will probably have a lot of excess silicone pushing out at this point. That is good. Just work it back and forth and clean away the excess thoroughly. Now reinstall in your turntable dropping it back in the top. Make sure the set screw is accessible from the front of the turntable by turning it to the correct position so you can place your driver on it again and tighten the retaining screw you only loosened on the arm lifter base at the beginning. Now, you will need to slightly loosen the small T6 star retaining screw to set the height and proper position under the tonearm. I suggest that you take pictures of everything exactly where it is located with your cell phone before you begin doing this and during disassembly so you will get it all back together correctly. Setting the arm lifter and tonearm height is a bit of a PIA but just be patient and you will get it. Mine is set so the distance between the stylus and the vinyl is about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch drop to the record surface. Once completed your cueing will work smoothly and drop smoothly to the record surface. The auto lift at the end will also work without making the tonearm bounce but will lift quicker than it drops. This is normal! If you still aren't satisfied and think it is dropping too fast or rising too quickly it means you didn't coat the shaft well enough and will need to repeat the process. I know because it took me three times performing this procedure to get it right. First time with 300,000 cst. lubricant that wasn't viscous enough. The second time I went too light with the 500K and third time was the charm when I really coated the hell out of all the parts and cleaned away the excess. The opening in the housing which contains the set screws will allow any excess silicone to escape and achieve the proper level. Just make sure everything is clean and you have worked the damping shaft back and forth to clean any excess silicone before you reinstall in your turntable. Good luck and take care of that YP-D8. They are one hell of a turntable and along with my YP-D71 I would never part with either of them.

View attachment 1555150

Just finished doing this damping job to my D8. Just recently got this one in really good condition and the arm was dropping pretty fast. Saw this post of yours and did it according to your instructions and it turned out beautifully! Arm slowly drops down now. Thanks Graineri!

 

[Viriatusrex]

Hi! My first post here! I also have an YP D8 with same problem. However I think i didn t understand exactly where to place the silicone (is it on the inner shaft, where the little rod gets inserted, or in the outer shaft that has the two holes that allow access to the screws, or both? Could someone please explain with photos if possible? I would be very grateful!

 

[koolkat62]

On mine, I really coated the inner shaft (one with the grooves) really well and put some into the inner shaft (the housing rod) too..but not too much in that..just a little around the inside. Then I slid the lifter arm back in making sure the top of the lifter arm shaft came through the spring. I re-installed the lifter arm platform and screw but didn't tighten it all the way just yet. Now, work the inner shaft part up and down several times to remove the excess fluid and follow the rest of the instructions. Mine turned out very good and the arm drops very gently now.