Turntable Repair

[chickenhead]

So I bought a vintage Zenith Stereophonic Solid State Radio and Turntable console, such a deal at $45 with the case and radio innards in beautiful condition. However someone had replaced the original turntable with some cheapy piece of crap (BBT brand, or something like that) that apparently had a seized up motor and shorted everything out when connected.

So I found a period Zenith "Cobra-matic" turntable that someone had removed from another console and bought that, arrived last night and I dropped it in.

So I'm not at all familiar with older turntables (or any other kind)...and this guy does one thing peculiar. When I cue up a record up on top of the spindle, and tell it to go, it drops the record, and the arm comes up off the rest...and seems to consider for a moment moving over to the record, but then changes it's mind and sits back down again.

Now I'm assuming that there must be some kind of mechanical sensor that is telling it that a record is not present, so it is refusing to move over for fear of damage? The arm swivels freely if I move it by hand, so that's all I can think of.

Am I on the right track? Any of you retired pin ball wizards ever fix a turntable before, or seen a similar problem?

[Tom]

Long shot.....on an old TT, there was a little switch near the back of the arm, on the base. I had to push it to get the arm to swing over. It was a lock for protection while moving the machine. It was not readily evident that it was there. I've even seen them as a long lever buyilt into the post the arm swings from - gradually coming out along the back, so you squeezed the post inward to release it.

[toetoe]

chick,

I am green with envy, vinylhead that I am. I am almost sure that yours is a small problem. Someone will chime in if Tom's longshot does not come in. Enjoy, sir. :ThmbUp:

[DJofSD]

I hope what you acquired was a nice big piece of solidly constructed furniture. I recall my parents owning such a console stereo as a kid only to discover many, many years later, my elderly father having sold it to one of my younger brothers friends. I would have love to have it to replace the guts with an upgraded set of components.

Having played around with the Zenith turntable, I don't recall exactly how the tone arm mechanism worked when used automatically. I seem to recall there was a mechanical interaction with the spindle. The spindle had a angled notch that had a finger extending out from it that held the record suspended above the turn table platter. When the record was cued or the previous record finished with the tone arm returning outward, the finger retracted allowing the record to fall downward. The tone arm would then swing to the starting track, descend and the record would begin to play. All of it strictly mechanical. There could be some kind of interlock with the stablizing arm that is placed over the record as they rest on the spindle suspended above the turntable -- I think if that arm was not swung over the stack of cued records then the entire sequence of events would not happen.

Try this web site to see if there's any clues for getting it to work: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=151959

[chickenhead]

you describe it exactly DJ. I'm going to have to pull it out and figure out which mechanical interaction is not working. The tone arm lifts up and moves a small fraction in the wrong direction (away from the record), then comes back, and then sits down again. I haven't figured out what drives it towards the record, and why that isn't working.

The cabinet is a slightly different looking model, but in the same family as this one:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/azadam/sets/1788085/

[LottaKash]

Hey Chickenhead, I belong to another forum and they have a great bunch of guys there with a vast and diverse amount of electronic and Hi-fi knowledge...You might want to present your dilemma there and I am reasonbly certain you will find the answers that you seek.....

http://av123forum.com

Also fwiw, if you are looking for some "state of the art" Stereo and Home Theater equipment, and more specifically Speakers, then look no further for some dynamite products that will give you tremendous bang for your buck... You will be hard pressed to find comparable or better speakers at 2-5 times the price...I have some and I love mine......Something for all budgets

best,

[chickenhead]

Thanks LK I will check them out

chick,

I am green with envy, vinylhead that I am. I am almost sure that yours is a small problem. Someone will chime in if Tom's longshot does not come in. Enjoy, sir. :ThmbUp:

I didn't mention I also got all the records in the cabinet thrown in for free. :jump:

I didn't look at them at the time, so I didn't even realize I was amassing what is possibly the most extensive Frank Yankovich, "King of the Slovenian Polka" collection West of the Mississippi. :lol:

I was a little dissapointed tho to find out he wasn't Weird Al's dad...

[toetoe]

chick,

I remember now that you can defeat the "reject" function just by restraining the arm as it heads back to rest. Then just lower the arm yourself.

Oh, and just one more question, ma'am. Who stole the kischka ?

[LottaKash]

Oh, and just one more question, ma'am. Who stole the kischka ?


That reminds me of a Polka Song & Record that was hot for a time, in the Scranton, PA area, it was called "I like Kielbasa better than Fish"......:jump: ....Very Cool at the local venues, way back then....:jump:

best,

[toetoe]

That little numbah was banned by the LTL (Lesbian Terror Lobby) in my neck of the woods. Hoo, "girl." :rolleyes:

[LottaKash]

That little numbah was banned by the LTL (Lesbian Terror Lobby) in my neck of the woods. Hoo, "girl." :rolleyes:

tOO fUNNY.........:jump: