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Zenith Console warm up period

Y

yngwie

New Member
I recently did a cleaning of my 60's Zenith record console. Cleaned the motor real good, lubed it up with sewing oil and applied alcohol to various areas needed like the idler wheel. It sounds quieter and runs pretty good. My only concern is the turntable speed after startup. It starts at 31 RPM's and after a good 15 minutes, will reach the optimal 33.3 RPM's. I had to adjust the idler wheel so it would do that but, I'm wondering if this is normal or not.
Do these consoles require a warm up for turntable speeds? I know they do in general but, never really noticed with RPM speed.

Any advice you have, thanks in advance
 
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The bearing may be binding a little after you cleaned and relubed the motor. The align the bearing as best as possible, I wiggle the shaft around in a circular motion, with the screws holding the motor together just barely tight. I then tighten the screws holding the upper and lower bearing assemblies, and finall, using the back of a decent size screwdriver, I tap the 4 sides of the motor Stator briskly. This allows the weight of the rotor inside to position the brass bearing as good as possible. You should get very smooth and long run turn of the rotor. If you turn the rotor and it stops almost immediately, it is binding, or you have used too heavy of an oil.
Lastly, if the shaft of the motor rotor was scored and not real shiny after the rebuild, there may not be a whole lot you can do to correct the issue.
Of course check the idler wheel for binding, as well as the platter bearing as well to make sure everything is free.
 
So there's NO warm up after all? hmm, ok. I will take a look at things again. I put sewing oil in it, maybe I put too much. Was also wondering if this is a sign of a motor going bad.
 
Did the same thing to my Ampex console, the idler in the Garrard was a bit slippery so I wiped it clean and it was fine.
 
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