advice please re: wobbly tone arm repair

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poodling around
Victor V
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Re: advice please re: wobbly tone arm repair

Post by poodling around »

soundgen wrote:
poodling around wrote:
Curt A wrote:Why would removing it help though please I wonder ?

Removing it would give you insight into its construction and answer the question about ball bearings. Victor tonearms are similar but have ball bearings between that flange and the tonearm to keep it spaced properly and swivel easily as the reproducer tracks the record. If there are no ball bearings, then maybe over time that part has worn the metal underneath and caused it to wobble. The only way to determine that is to remove it and look.

Your fix will be dependent on what you discover... It may need some type of small bushing or spacer or something to correct the wobble. Grease might also help... but you can't tell until you look. If you do decide to remove the steel flange, just do it carefully, since the nickel plated piece might be brass, or worse yet, potmetal... :? If someone assembled it, it can be disassembled... just take your time.

Thank you curt.

I wonder if it was assembled with some kind of 1,000 pounds per square inch press though - which would make it difficult to reverse the process and remove.

I did wonder about leaving it as it is and stuffing into the gaps as much PTFE tape as I could manage though ?
these don't have ball bearings leave it as it is but rotate the base on the motor board so the part you say doesn't wobble is at the front and screw back into a new position
Thank you.

I did not make it clear though what wobbles and what doesn't. I meant that the 'metal base' with the screws does not wobble at all but the 'swivelling metal arm' inserted into the metal base wobbles all around no matter what position it is in.

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poodling around
Victor V
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Re: advice please re: wobbly tone arm repair

Post by poodling around »

Curt A wrote:Obviously, Soundgen is more familiar with your machine than I am and his advice to rotate the mounting plate to a new position sounds good... it certainly won't hurt anything to try that.

Thanks Curt. Sadly that won't work as per my answer 'above' .....

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poodling around
Victor V
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Re: advice please re: wobbly tone arm repair

Post by poodling around »

Marco Gilardetti wrote:I don't think that tape would help, unfortunately. That join has to move absolutely freely and as smoothly as possible.

Okay thank you. Is the arm join meant to wobble up and down vertically a little or is it meant to be vertically rigid I wonder ?

Phono48
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Re: advice please re: wobbly tone arm repair

Post by Phono48 »

There should be no "wobble" on either of these joints. Unfortunately, it's a cheaply made arm, it has worn out over the years, and I don't think you will ever be able to improve it.

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poodling around
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Re: advice please re: wobbly tone arm repair

Post by poodling around »

Phono48 wrote:There should be no "wobble" on either of these joints. Unfortunately, it's a cheaply made arm, it has worn out over the years, and I don't think you will ever be able to improve it.

Thank you very much Phono48.

I will have a think then.

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Curt A
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Re: advice please re: wobbly tone arm repair

Post by Curt A »

If you remove the tonearm from the base, what does the end that is inserted look like? Does it appear to be worn down? Can you pinpoint the problem area that causes the wobble?

Can you post a pic of the end of the tonearm and the inside of the base from above? That might help determine whether any type of repair would help... it's probably made of pot metal, so it may not be repairable, but who knows?
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Lucius1958
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Re: advice please re: wobbly tone arm repair

Post by Lucius1958 »

I notice that the join between the tone arm and base seems to be a little rough: could that be contributing to the wobble?

As others have said, the only sure way to find out is to remove the arm from the base. If you can do so, a thin wrapping of Teflon plumber's tape might help...

Bill

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poodling around
Victor V
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Re: advice please re: wobbly tone arm repair

Post by poodling around »

Curt A wrote:If you remove the tonearm from the base, what does the end that is inserted look like? Does it appear to be worn down? Can you pinpoint the problem area that causes the wobble?

Can you post a pic of the end of the tonearm and the inside of the base from above? That might help determine whether any type of repair would help... it's probably made of pot metal, so it may not be repairable, but who knows?

Hi Curt,

Are the two photo's below helpful ?

The tone arm seems to be made up of three pieces. (Marked 1, 2 and 3).

A part of the tone arm (1) seems to curl under tone arm base (2) up to where the arrow shows and this seems to be held in place 'on the reverse' by the round tone arm piece (3).

It seems that tone arm piece (3) is not inserted far enough to hold and keep tone-arm piece (1) rigid or something is missing or broken inside maybe ?

I tried knocking (3) lightly with a hammer but it did not go in any further.

I can't see anything worn really. The base of (1) is just a little bit 'flaky'.
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poodling around
Victor V
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Re: advice please re: wobbly tone arm repair

Post by poodling around »

Lucius1958 wrote:I notice that the join between the tone arm and base seems to be a little rough: could that be contributing to the wobble?

As others have said, the only sure way to find out is to remove the arm from the base. If you can do so, a thin wrapping of Teflon plumber's tape might help...

Bill

Hi Bill,

I don't think that the rough bits are contributing to the wobble.

Please see the two photo's above - how would you try to remove tone arm part (3) from tone arm part (2) please I wonder ?

Phono48
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Re: advice please re: wobbly tone arm repair

Post by Phono48 »

The large ring (3) is a press fit into the base, and will come out with some persuasion. You'll then find that there is another ring soldered to the base of the arm. That ring is held captive between the top of the base and the large ring. No bearings. The ring that is soldered to the base of the arm will have worn away, resulting in the sloppiness you are seeing. There is no easy fix, and as you also have a problem with the crook joint in the arm, I think your only recourse is to get hold of a complete replacement arm. It's a very common design, so it shouldn't be a long job. Just make sure the replacement arm has the same measurements as the original.

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