tesch1932 wrote:Thank you! I definitely do not want to fiddle around too much with the pot metal!
So I removed the tone arm from the case, and I don't think I am missing any screws (my first suspicion). I'm assuming the notch in the tone arm is to oil the bearings?
Is the screw you are talking about the long bolt secured with two nuts? If you see in the picture, there seems to have been some kind if washer there, which may have corroded or broke down?
There is a think cork pad on there already, so I'm also measuring to see if I could make a thicker cork pad.
On an unrelated note, do you notice how the threaded tube has separated from the soumd box portion of the tone arm? The ends are knuckled, so what would be a good solution for securing these pieces, other than sheer pressure?
You could make another thicker cork pad, it is easy, and from the photo the original one looks damaged.
The screw I mentioned is the bolt you found, as you can see, it is the tightening of that bolt that keeps the pressure on the retaining cylinder. The little hole, I believe, is for lubricating the bearings, and probably was used to install them originally by forcing the cylinder apart and dropping the bearings on their track. You could try to carefully tighten the bolt to reseat the arm.
I cannot help you with the threaded tube, I never disassembled mine. Just be aware that the whole arm is made of pot metal, so be careful when exerting pressure.
My recommendation is to leave it alone, now that you made it work. You could add a new cork pad and that's it. Fiddling with pot metal is very risky. Clean the motor, relube it, replace gaskets on the soundbox and you will end up with a nice gramophone!