An Automatic Turntable Rescue

    I found this Direct Drive Fully Automatic Onkyo turntable (CP-1027F) at Good Will last week. This was manufactured from 1981 to 1983. I know I sound like a broken record (player), dad joke, but vintage electronics really don't get put out on the GW's store shelves anymore. They typically go straight to GW's online auction site which I dare not speak its name.

    I thought it was weird that the hinges for the scuffed and cracked dust cover were missing. The turntable mat and the 45 RPM adapter were also AWOL, but none of these were deal breakers. 

    I plugged the player in the store's test outlet, and the light next to the Power button lit up. That was a good sign.

    

    When I pressed the Play/Reject button, the player hummed for about five second and then shut down. Pressing the Cueing button did nothing. These are not good signs.

    The platter began to spin when I manually moved the tonearm toward the spindle. The speed also changed when I pressed the 45/33 button. Also, the cartridge and stylus were intact, so I could do test runs without spending risky cash on those. Okay, now we were onto something. 

        I could have a maybe-working manual turntable for $17 ... Why not? Sold!

    The turntable's base needed cleaning, but it wasn't that bad.  

    I removed the bottom cover after giving the base a wipe down. This is the mechanism that controls the tonearm's movement (or lack thereof).

        My guess was that old grease was keeping the auto-functions from working. A thread on Vinyl Engine supported this idea. 

    The red gear in the middle is my problem. That, and the sliver e-clip that holds it in check. Both were frozen in place, and that explains why the Play button was making nothing happen. The motor would try to turn its worm gear, and Red was having none of it. 

    I don't have a tool for removing tiny e-clips, so I bent this cheap fork to help me out. I thought I'd use it to pull the clip off its post, but I ended up pushing it off instead. 

    Whew. The clip went flying, but I found it.

    The red gear was really stuck on the post. I couldn't pull it off with my fingers, and I was afraid that pliers would damage the gear's teeth. I dropped oil down the gear's center hole and let that sit for 30 minutes. Then I used the fork "tool" to pry the gear up and off. I was lucky. The gear wasn't stripped and was easily cleaned with isopropyl alcohol. 

    I lightly greased the post and the other gears' teeth once the red gear was safely out of the way. Then the red gear and the clip went back in place. I'm not gonna lie. Getting the e-clip back in place without breaking or losing it wasn't fun. These clips go on hard.

    I wonder how long it's been since that tonearm moved on its own? It felt pretty good to see this thing in action. Yay!

    What didn't feel good was the audio test. Now I could only get sound out of one channel. Boo.

    I took things apart and looked around. I somehow had torn the red tonearm wire off of its solder point. It's been a minute since I've soldered anything, so I watched a few YouTube videos for a refresher course, and then reattached the wire (flux is your friend) to the spot marked "R+".  And we were back in business. Hello, stereo.

    

     This is where the automatic turntable should place the tonearm when I press the "Play"button.  

    When the music is over and the stylus has reached the run-out groove, this is where the tonearm should rise and return to the cradle. 

    My problem was that the tonearm might do that right, but often it was dropping the needle halfway into the first song, and then later it would endlessly ride the run-out groove until I hit "Reject". The service manual explains ways to adjust the lead-in and the auto-return positions, but they require cutting wires or soldering in jumper wires. I found a YouTube video with a simpler solution of bending metal and turning screws, but I decided to think about it more before doing either of those things. 

    If the tonearm movement was always misaligned, then I could see making adjustments. But it was right some of the time. I watched some YouTube videos of owners showing off their same models of this turntable, and I noticed something. My tonearm slightly wiggled horizontally when it was set in motion. Their tone arms were rock solid when they moved. 

    I began to suspect there was something wrong with the pivot assembly that guides the tonearm, but I didn't know how it was put together. I found a seller on eBay that was parting out a turntable like mine, and they had taken apart the piece I wanted to see inside of. So helpful! 

    Turns out there's not much going on in there, and the only reason I could see why the tonearm wiggles is that the screws that hold the tonearm in place were loose.

    There's a small lock screw in the middle of the larger screw.

    I have had this screwdriver set for decades. It's amazing how many times it gets used every year. I loosened the lock screws and then turned the larger screws in to tightened them. That got rid of the wiggle. I haven't had a problem with the auto-functions since, so I think that fixed that problem.

    I kept the price tag on in case I wanted to return the Onkyo. Now GW only extends refunds for store credit, but that's better than their old "no returns" policy.

    Ummm, yeah. I guess I'm keeping it.

        Cosmetically, the biggest offender was the dust cover. Cracks can't be hidden, but deep scratches can be lessened, and light scratches can sometimes be removed. The cover still isn't great, but it does look presentable. 

    Here's my plastic cleaning crew in order of use.

    The dust cover hinges on the Pioneer PL-4 that I keep at school fit the Onkyo perfectly. I ordered a pair from eBay, and that should solve my last problem.

    

    Parting shots and thoughts:

    The turntable mat and the 45 adapter are leftovers from a previous turntable project. I'm currently using a clear acrylic mat on the Technics I recused last year. This is still a $17 turntable as it sits today. The new hinges will push the cost to $56.76. That's still pretty good for working piece of audio history.

    If I do keep it, then I'll spring for a new stylus. There's a replacement on LP Gear for $56.25 (not counting tax and shipping). I might leave that purchase for the next owner.  Cartridges and styli are a matter of personal choice. 

    For now, I'll put it in my lineup and make sure it really is working well.  

    I'd like to thank the Onkyo for helping me get out of my February funk. Honestly, that short month is not my favorite.

    

    I think I'll use this slipmat. It works with that thick, silver platter.

"Mixing It Up" with Vintage Electronics pt. 1

    I like playing CDs with my old Pioneer CD player, but taking out the 6-disc magazine to play a single CD is a somewhat of a clunky process, but whatever. This image from the Pioneer manual can explain it better than I can.

   I spotted a solution while shopping online for another cartridge. Pioneer made a magazine the size of a 6-disc that would mimic the action of a single, sliding disc tray. Pretty cool.

    My new problem was that most online stores were sold out (see above), or the magazines for sale on eBay were too expensive. 

    While shopping I noticed that many 6-disc magazines looked alike despite being labeled with different company logos. I found a single disc magazine for a Denon CD player on eBay that looked like it would work, and it was quite a bit cheaper than a Pioneer one. 

    I asked AI if they could be compatible. 

    Sorry AI, but I didn't believe you. I bought the Denon one anyway.

    

    

    Here's the Denon in it's new Pioneer home. Fits like a glove.

    

    I like how enthusiastically the magazine ejects, "Pow! Here's your disc, friend!" It's the show after the show. 

    I suppose I could cover the Denon logo with paint or tape, but that would ruin the fun. Things don't have to be all matchy-matchy all the time.

A Turntable Rescue: Part 2, Finding a Twin.

I did a double-take when I spotted this turntable at the West Des Moines Goodwill on Saturday. It's a Technics SL-B2 turntable which is exactly the make and model of turntable that I've been working on. What are the odds of that happening? I hardly ever see turntables at Goodwill, and now I've seen two of the same pieces of equipment in almost the same condition? Am I stuck in a time loop?

This turntable was just as dirty as mine was, but overall it was in a bit rougher shape. There was no headshell, and the broken tonearm looked like it had been used as a handle. I would have bought it anyway if the dust cover was intact, but it wasn't. Someone had inserted one of the cover's tabs under the hinge instead of into the hinge. The tab snapped off when they tried to close the lid. That's a bummer.

As for my dust cover, I bought some plastic glue that is supposed to dry clear and be "an ultra-strong adhesive." To test it, I used a small paintbrush to apply the liquid glue to the bottom inch of the crack. I tried to get the glue to wick into the crack from both sides. It dried to a "cloudy" finish. That's not a big deal. I'm going for stability, not for looks. It does feel sturdier when I open and close it.

I was disappointed that I forgot to take "before" pictures of this turntable project, so I took some pictures using the TT at Goodwill as a dirty stand-in. The grime on this turntable isn't exactly the same as what was on mine, but it's really close, and you'll get the idea of what kind of results you can get with a deep cleaning.

Okay, back to my player.

The inside of the base was really clean, thankfully. There's also a lot open space. That's nice because it makes getting to parts much easier.

A common reason that a turntable's speed fluctuates is because the pitch-control assembly is dirty. Two screws attach it to the base.

The pitch-control is the black mech on the left. There is small slit in the bottom that allows me to spray some DetoxIT inside. Then I work the wheel back and forth to clean the contacts. The speed switch on the right was sprayed with DetoxIT and worked back and forth as well. 

I added a drop of lube to the motor. The metal tip that came with the oil makes it easier to be precise.

I bought a digital stylus force scale just for kicks. I was curious how accurate the markings for the tone arm's counterweight are. I have it set at 1.5 grams. Looks like it's actually under that.

That's better.

The eBay seller who sold me a replacement spindle gear threw in a 3D printed overhang gauge for free.

That was nice, but I had no idea what a overhang gauge does. Turns out, the gauge tells you how far out the turntable manufacturer wants the cartridge to be in the headshell. You can't really see it in the photo, but it looks like mine is just a hair short. That's okay. I don't feel like adjusting the cartridge again. 

And that wraps it up. It's time to put this turntable in my lineup, and see how well it plays. A few tests runs have been successful, so I'm feeling good about it.

This was a fun project. I probably saved a turntable from the landfill or a parts bin. I also learned about cartridge alignment and overhang. I applied both of those lessons to my main turntable, and I have to admit that these adjustments made a big improvement in that turntable's performance. 

Big shoutout to YouTube and eBay. Thanks for all the help.