Loose Races falling out on Orthophonic Reproducer

[Victrolaman]

Will loose races in a Orthophonic repropducer cause buzzing and make the ball bearings loose and not in the races even?
im rebuilding one now and i have tried many times and cant get them to stay in there evenly and without a bit of buzzing sound on loud parts of the record. The ball bearings i mean..
So i took and glued the races in and they are now tight and not moving, i will reinstall the bearings and see if that helps. i never had one where the races were loose and just slide right out beofre.
Just curious as to others thoughts..

[Orthophonic]

They certainly will! You can exchange them for other races which may fit tighter or glue them as you mentioned, making sure that they are centered and not too far inwards. The dimensional changes of the potmetal generally causes them to become loose, and if you get them back where they belong, they should do well. Be sure the pivots are clean and free of rust as well as the balls themselves; a tiny amount of grease will serve to hold them in place as you put them in. If you will get some little rubber domes that come from underneath laptop keys, they work really well for keeping the little whizzers in place after you replace the dust cover over them. BTW, if the rubber dome has a little projection in the center which is used to actuate a switch in the laptop's keyboard, simply snip it off before using it. The domes are great for these bearing assemblies as their skirt goes right over the pivot pin and its rim keeps the bearings from getting out of line. They are much better than using a length of rubber tubing to do the same as they exert far less side pressure on the bearings and very little is needed anyway. In fact, with only the magnetism of the pivot bar of the needlebar to hold the bearings in place, you'd be surprised at how much force is needed to get them to get out of line sideways unless they receive a hit or a blow. That is possibly why the original sound boxes did not have anything such as rubber to hold the bearings in place.
John P.