Re-Capping Pioneer Turntable

thetawave2

I've been gradually working on restoring my mom's old Pioneer PL-A45D turntable. So far I've cleaned and re-lubricated the platter bearing, replaced the belt, and replaced the stylus. Now, I think it's time to replace the capacitors. There's quite a bit of wow/flutter, and since the belt is new I figure it's probably due to the age of the capacitors. I took a look inside and just wanted to make sure I was getting the right value before ordering replacements. Printed on the PCB is "0.1 MFD," which I imagine is a value for each capacitor separately, equivalent to 100uF. Please correct me if I'm wrong on this!
I would also like some suggestions on what to buy for replacements. Thanks in advance for the help!

agfrost

I took a peek at the Pioneer PL-A45 service manual over at vinylengine.com and it specs two 0.1uF in those positions. I assume it's the same for the Pioneer PL-A45D?

The user manual suggests cleaning the belt/pulleys with alcohol to cure wow/flutter issues, if you haven't given that a go.

agfrost

agfrost

Here's the whole manual for the PL-A45D. Appears the same as above WRT your caps.

http://elektrotanya.com/pioneer_pl-a45d_sm.pdf/download.html

thetawave2

Thanks for clearing that up for me, agfrost! These unit prefixes still confuse me sometimes haha

I'm doing some shopping. Do these look suitable, I wonder? http://www.amplifiedparts.com/products/C-P-600V Or should I just run down to my local Rat Shack?

[Deleted User]

In all likelihood those are functioning as "snubber" capacitors, preventing any transient spikes when the AC is switched on/off or a speed change is made. I don't believe they could contribute to any wow and flutter. You should check the main platter's lubrication, make sure the motor pulley is clean and that the table is fairly level.

thetawave2

Kenneth Swauger wrote: »

In all likelihood those are functioning as "snubber" capacitors, preventing any transient spikes when the AC is switched on/off or a speed change is made. I don't believe they could contribute to any wow and flutter. You should check the main platter's lubrication, make sure the motor pulley is clean and that the table is fairly level.

I cleaned and lubricated the platter bearing and leveled the thing best I could. I'll check the motor pulley itself... hadn't thought of that! But won't there be some capacitors that will affect the motor speed? Maybe I'm just not looking in the right place.

[Deleted User]

The motor is a 4 pole synchronous type that locks onto the line frequency there's really no operating circuitry. The motor could be the problem, sometimes carbon builds up on the internal parts and causes speed stability problems. It could also need lubrication, there are several youtube videos that show how to disassemble and clean/lubricate small electrical motors.

thetawave2

Thanks for the help. I didn't realize the electronics would be so simple! I'll take a look at disassembling the motor and making sure it's nice and clean.