Late summer holiday plan: service the tonearm of a 60s turntable

While some say that having vintage audio is like a holy grail - in reality it means work . This time I'm maintaining the bearings of my table's tonearm. The arm and its moving parts are the most finicky part of the table. And they show their age. Based on the serial number, the table is from 1965 (one of the first 100 Thorens TD-124 MK II). The tone arm is original.

To start, some photos of the disassembly of the arm board.

Spoiler warning:

duncan browne: the wild places

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Jan Cumps over 2 years ago

eyelets before + after
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colporteur over 2 years ago in reply to Jan Cumps

Is the top solder work OEM? If yes, I hope it was a Monday assembled after a party weekend because it is poor.
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Jan Cumps over 2 years ago in reply to colporteur

colporteur said:
Is the top solder work OEM?

Might have been done by some mid-70s unskilled DJ.
It had a mono cartridge mounted, so I guess it was used by a local pirate radio station or the likes...
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Jan Cumps over 2 years ago in reply to colporteur

colporteur , the bottom image is my rework.
I could have made the eyelets cleaner with some abrasive method.
But I'm not trying to turn it into an as-new table. I service, don't restore.

When there is dirt or ***, I clean it. I never use force, sandpaper, corrosive products. Water, soap and sweat.

When components can't be restored, I replace them. On this table, it was the rubber belt, rubber suspension of the platform, and the rubber in the arm.
The idler wheel and motor suspension were either made of a different processed rubber, or synthetic. They kept their form and flex.

I also replaced all greases and oils. Completely took the motor apart and serviced its bearings.

What I have is a player that performs well. With as much of the original parts as possible. And hopefully no damage done to it by my handling.
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Jan Cumps over 2 years ago in reply to Jan Cumps

the *** wasn't a bad word
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colporteur over 2 years ago in reply to Jan Cumps

How difficult is it to get rubber replacement parts? A few of them washers looked pretty dry. The audio repair shops are no more. Where would you get those parts?
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scottiebabe over 2 years ago in reply to Jan Cumps
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Jan Cumps over 2 years ago in reply to colporteur

See comments on rubber downstream in this blog post, if you sort on Oldest. You may have to click on the More link a few times, there are a number that don't show at load time of the page.
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Jan Cumps over 2 years ago in reply to colporteur

See comments on rubber downstream in this blog post, if you sort on Oldest. You may have to click on the More link a few times, there are a number that don't show at load time of the page.
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