Exploring LP’s

Viking64

I see a '63-'67 Corvette convertible, a blue and white Chevy, and a '67 or '68 Mustang Fastback in the background.

Tony M

^^^^^^^^

You're a true CAR GUY for sure!

Viking64

Tony M wrote: »

^^^^^^^^

You're a true CAR GUY for sure!

I do enjoy vintage cars, that's for sure.

I have a similar story to yours. My mother's cousin had a 1968 Corvette Stingray. It was a graduation gift for the son of the owner of the local (South Burlington, Vermont/Shearer Chevrolet) Chevy dealer. It had a special big block and was an awesome and rare car. After about a year, the car was for sale and Steve bought it.

I am the youngest of 4 boys. We are all 3 years apart. We all loved that car, although I was barely 5 when he got it. Steve was at our house and he offered to go to the store to get a half gallon of ice cream for everybody.

My older brothers were all fighting over who got to ride in the 'Vette with him. Since they were all being dinks, I was given the opportunity. That was the beginning of it for me.

Around that time, there was an article in the newspaper about a black Corvette that led police on a high-speed chase for several miles on the interstate. When my brothers asked Steve about it, he just smiled, and winked and plead the 5th. HAHAHA

Alan_r

Some parts arrived this morning! I didn’t measure anything yet but from just eyeballing them, it seems there are in fact some small differences. I guess it’ll be easy to figure out which one I’ll actually use once I take the SL apart.

As of right now all I’m waiting for are the KAB cables.

I received some new vinyl yesterday as well. Has anyone had any experience with these pressings?

RHIN VINYL- Premium HQ-180 RTI?







Parts from Shapeways-

Tony M

I don't know a thing about Vinyl but those parts look like little vertebrae.

I can tell a lot of things happen around that part. I'm already thinking...it may be a real challenge for me but... Maybe with you leading, I'll get the part and repair my own too.

Good luck Alan.

verb

Interesting post. Keep us updated! Like you I would rather tinker around myself but cannot find the time. Yet. Too many projects around the house.

I recently acquired a Micro Seiki TT. Belt was shot, tonearm was a little sluggish. Took it to my local repair shop. 75 bucks. He even polished the dust cover! This thing is like new!

But, I would rather have done it myself. Can't wait to retire!

Alan_r

verb wrote: »

Interesting post. Keep us updated! Like you I would rather tinker around myself but cannot find the time. Yet. Too many projects around the house.

I recently acquired a Micro Seiki TT. Belt was shot, tonearm was a little sluggish. Took it to my local repair shop. 75 bucks. He even polished the dust cover! This thing is like new!

But, I would rather have done it myself. Can't wait to retire!

I’m with ya on the time to do things. I’m currently living two very separate and completely different lives. They are constantly at odds with each other and every time I see an awesome deal for some piece of equipment I have to remind myself of the other life. I don’t particularly like being in this situation as ultimately I’ll have to choose....

KAB order arrived today!!!!!!!!!!!

Super stoked!

I’m heading out to Oklahoma/East Texas for a few weeks to complete a bucket list task but will tear the SL1400 down as soon as I return....provided I don’t get blown away or sucked up.

Pictures of this rebuild/upgrade are coming soon. I feel like this has been a long journey; considering I’ve been collecting records but haven’t even plugged in my record player yet.....smh.

Clipdat

Double life? Are you a secret agent?

Tony M

Hot Air Balloon ride ?

Alan_r

Clipdat wrote: »

Double life? Are you a secret agent?

Tony M wrote: »

Hot Air Balloon ride ?

Haha....I wasn’t going to add anything until I got home but I just couldn’t resist.

Life one- A wannabe audiophile who likes to collect things.

Life two- A 40 y/o military retiree who was a gypsy in a previous life and isn’t happy unless I’m roaming around somewhere in the world.

Life two is winning but unfortunately I can’t fit a pair of LSIM’s in my suitcase.

Two quotes sum me up about 98%

“To laugh often and much
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children
To earn the appreciator honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends
To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others
To leave the world a bit better, weather by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived
This is to have succeeded”

AND

“I entered the wilderness to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

Props to anyone who recognizes the authors.

Tony M

Ben Franklin

and Earnest Hemingway?

Tony M

Instead of Ben Franklin for the first quotes, was it...
Mark Twain?

Tony M

I cheated and used the web just now....I won't post who said what.

I didn't read works of either. maybe I should!

tonyp063

Emerson & Thoreau
Didn't cheat. I've read both. They're 3 ft. from my hand as I type this.

Alan_r

tonyp063 wrote: »

Emerson & Thoreau
Didn't cheat. I've read both. They're 3 ft. from my hand as I type this.

Yep. I messed up the first one a bit I think but I wrote them off memory. Close enough apparently.

Alan_r

It has begun.

Broken part, even on the “new” arm assembly, was pretty obvious.

New part is substantially thicker where it counts.

And with T Rex Children of the Revolution playing in the background............onward.

Tony M

I was about to PM you this week end. This is GREAT and also, after seeing the level of disassembly needed, I'd have to be on my A game and have a seriously clear and clean workstation and take pictures and mark and tag every screw and things.


I Love your detailed pictures though. Love them. I'll study them some more! But I see where that one man said, this is not a job for most people. I fully understand why now!

Thank you for giving me the hope of doing it myself now.

Alan_r

Had to take a pause due to a hang up. Apparently I have the steel bushing version. No problem. Have both parts. The two bushings are retained by a steel snap ring. From what I’ve read, the new part must be carefully pressed on to those bushings. No way will it fit in place. So the snap ring has to come off and perhaps the bushings are installed, then the assembly is reinstalled onto the shaft, snap ring replaced and so on.

Well I spent two hours trying to work that snap ring off. Non of my actual snap ring pliers fit. This will require the two flat tip screwdriver and pry method. After almost stabbing myself in the thigh I decided it’s better to not work with sharp objects and drink.

Reminds me of a time long ago when drinking Grey Goose Martinis and (legal) Oxycodone while using a circular saw. Thankfully I had the foresight to wear gloves. The glove got shredded and saved my hand.

Sometimes I look back in shear amazement at the things I’ve survived.

Anyway, had to walk away for the night. No rush I suppose. This has been a long road, another couple nights won’t hurt.

SUPER STOKED TO LISTEN TO MY RECORDS SOON!!!!!!!

As promised I’m documenting everything and will attempt to do a summary of steps at the end. Hopefully this ultimately helps people who reference this thread.

Side note-
The optical lens went out again in my Marantz CD5001OSE. This is the third one in five or so years. That thing spins daily so maybe that’s not so bad. New lens ordered but decided to buy a Marantz SA8005 to replace it with. The 5001 will go somewhere else.

I’ve never even heard a SACD so pretty stoked about that too. I paid too much for it but it’s now the most expensive piece of kit I own. Lots of new ground here.

Alan_r

Tony M wrote: »

I was about to PM you this week end. This is GREAT and also, after seeing the level of disassembly needed, I'd have to be on my A game and have a seriously clear and clean workstation and take pictures and mark and tag every screw and things.


I Love your detailed pictures though. Love them. I'll study them some more! But I see where that one man said, this is not a job for most people. I fully understand why now!

Thank you for giving me the hope of doing it myself now.

It’s really not that bad. You’ll see what I mean when I organize things and do a step by step write up. It’s all mechanical so it’s easy to visualize how it works when it’s in front of you. For now I’m just throwing up pics and comments as I go. Can’t have too much information. Put it this way, for now, it’s simple enough that I’m doing it on my coffee table in front of the tv. Didn’t see the need for my shop yet.

jdjohn

Best to do intricate work while sober Take your time and do it right.

Tony M

I can visualize mechanical things very well so your opinion of it being a somewhat coffee table operation, is very encouraging. Now this bushing... that might be the toughest thing, I hope.
Good luck Alan.

Can you imagine some people putting this mechanism down on paper and then having the parts MADE? Amazing engineering to say the least!

Alan_r

jdjohn wrote: »

Best to do intricate work while sober Take your time and do it right.

I’m always sober. It’s my shaking hands and noisy mind resulting from decades of US Goverment “service” that cause me problems. Self medication has less side effects than the pills they give me.....but the line in very fine.

Anyway, I was able to remove the clip and bushing. The bushing will not fit into the new Shapeways part, press fit or not. My micrometer says the bushing is too big. We’re talking hundredths but too big nonetheless.

Unfortunately I sold my lathe so I’ll have to do this by hand.

The tight tolerance is one of the reasons the original part breaks. Combine an extremely tight (and needlessly IMO) tolerance with a thin point in the casting and viola, you have a part that consistently breaks.

More to follow

Tony M

You've found the reason for the failures for sure.
Too much strain / pressure on the plastic as it aged and got brittle.

Is a Machine shop job needed? Or is hand reaming, filing or sanding by hand possible?

Alan_r

Tony M wrote: »

You've found the reason for the failures for sure.
Too much strain / pressure on the plastic as it aged and got brittle.

Is a Machine shop job needed? Or is hand reaming, filing or sanding by hand possible?

Having read a bunch of posts regarding this repair, I didn’t hear of anyone needing to modify anything. However, in my case, no way was it going to fit.

Throughout the day I used a small file and slowly worked on the steel bushing.

End result was a tight, press in with a vise fit. But that’s done.

So here it is. Enough for one day.

Tony M

Great! Now the plastic piece sure looks like a complicated piece. It looks like it does a myriad of things.

So now you get to reassemble?

And what about that hydraulic tone-arm lift working or is yours still working?

Alan_r

Tony M wrote: »

Great! Now the plastic piece sure looks like a complicated piece. It looks like it does a myriad of things.

So now you get to reassemble?

And what about that hydraulic tone-arm lift working or is yours still working?

Technically ready to reassemble. However, now I’ve got to tackle the tone arm wire replacement while I’m in there. Bought that fancy Linn wire for that purpose. Stuff looks like hair. Should be fun to work with considering my ever so steady hands lol.

The rest of this arm assembly seems to work properly. Both the original table and the replacement assembly I bought appear to be very low use items. Guess I’ll know more once I’m in the reassemble stage.

What’s funny is that I’ve never even plugged this table in so I don’t know anything about it at all. Remember that it was broken during shipping.

So once all this is done, I’ll have a champagne popping moment when I finally plug it in for the first time.

Edit: Another side note. Since my CD player broke and being that this turntable is torn down I’ve had nothing to listen to except digital music via iTunes and Amazon Music. Now keep in mind the following opinion is based on the DAC installed in an HTC 10 phone running 24/192 files and an Amazon Kindle HDX playing Amazon Music on the high quality setting.

AND IT SUCKS. Sorry that’s my technical analysis of the evening. The music lacks presence and seems thin. I keep thinking something’s wrong with my speakers and subs. I know my modified Marantz CD5001OSE isn’t and wasn’t the end all be all. It’s a $500 CD player. However it was one of those components back in the day that got those “this is way better than it should be” kind of reviews. I desperately miss it and can’t wait to hear the SA8005. Anyway, likely that those DAC’s are letting me down but my opinion of digital isn’t very high right now.

Tony M

I think I'll order the steel bushing for mine from Shapeways. I just ordered it.

I still think this is one detailed TT surgery. But with what you've described, I think you being the great confidence building Teacher that you are, I have a chance!

Tony M

I just looked up that Marantz Model#.....Whoa...That seems to be a VERY NICE SACD/CD player you're getting.

If you haven't plugged this MK1400Mk2 in yet, How do you know if the motor is good and the electronics are good and the front lights light up bright and if the TT plays at a constant speed?

I know you can't check those things now for sure. I hope it works and I think these are built so well, it will!

If not, This vinyl dive you've undertaken is a dive into a pool without water. But I feel IF that's the ultimate letdown, it would only be a challenge for you to make it right!

But you mentioned earlier, you want to get back to sailing soon. I don't know how much more time on land you have. But I'm already wishing you good luck and a prayer or three.

Alan_r

Tony M wrote: »

I just looked up that Marantz Model#.....Whoa...That seems to be a VERY NICE SACD/CD player you're getting.

If you haven't plugged this MK1400Mk2 in yet, How do you know if the motor is good and the electronics are good and the front lights light up bright and if the TT plays at a constant speed?

I don’t. Just the word of the guy I bought it from. As you’ve likely seen from the pictures, this table is C.L.E.A.N. Looking at the motor and everything else attached, it shows no wear at all. If anything, the function will be “sticky” because the factory installed grease has solidified. Part off the process of this tear down is to relube everything as well.

If something else turns up once it’s back together, I’ll fix it.

Once I finish here I’ll do a step by step using photo editing to show which screws to remove and how to replace the broken cam. Remember I’ve got two, I’m currently repairing the new arm assembly I bought, learning as I go. I’ll do the tutorial using the original arm assembly that’s still attached to the table.

Yeah the SA8005 seems to be a very high quality piece of kit. I was torn between the 8005 and an SA15V2. The 8005 gets very high grades for its Redbook performance, which given I have a couple thousand CD’s, is important. I have no SACD’s but I’ll likely pick up a few here and there based off of Stereophiles recommendations. I really like the sound of Marantz disc players for some reason. I’ve demo’d NAD Bee players, Sony ES and an Oppo 95. I did like the Oppo but still preferred the Marantz. I really need to upgrade my speakers next. My RTIA3’s are located in a very large room and they’re being asked to do more than they were designed for. Before figuring out that my digital source material was the problem, I disconnected both PSW505 subs and listened to just the RTIA3’s for a few hours the other day. Keep in mind these are powered by that upgraded NAD 2700 which is a powerhouse. They sounded horrible and flat. The subs are definitely keeping them afloat. Anyway I’ve come across LSIM707’s and 705’s on US AudioMart and some online store that sells used speakers for as low as $1000 a pair. I think that’s next on my list. Maybe even next weekend. Everyone who matters seems to prefer the 705’s claiming Polk got the crossovers just right in them.

Time- I have about six months before I’ll have to consider climate controlled storage for the audio gear I’m going to keep.

Alan_r

Didn’t get into the tonearm wire as I’m still collecting info within the various forums to get an idea of what to expect before starting.

I did start to reassemble the plate that holds the lift arm cam. Pics attached.