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Topic: Calling Vinyl Junkies ... need help! (Read 2723 times) previous topic - next topic
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Calling Vinyl Junkies ... need help!

Hi guys, listen first of all , if you know of a specialised forum or even category of a forum for turntable issues please let me know.

Ok , so at the weekend I took the metal platter off my PS-J10 Sony mini-turntable

(in no way high end or worthy of hydrogen audio but anyway....)

It does not require a masters degree to do this, there is no requirement for a screwdriver or any other tools .. I did not open the case just if you were wondering. I was just checking if the belt was OK.

After putting it back together, the arm does not respond to the run out of records anymore but just sits there. If I raise the arm with the arm lifter button and push the arm back to its resting position the table keeps turning until I gently push it backwards .... then it stops.


This is really weird behaviour... I cannot figure out why it happens or how to stop it.

I would appreciate any help anyone can offer ... besides buying a new one... I know it has to be something small I've overlooked.
It was working fine before.....

Calling Vinyl Junkies ... need help!

Reply #1 –
I don't know. All I can say is that the sensor usually reacts to the position of the arm. When it gets near the center, the turntable decides that it has finished playback, and stops. It should not be related to the platter.

Calling Vinyl Junkies ... need help!

Reply #2 –
Yeah, I don't think the platter has anything to do with it. There are some moving parts beneath the platter, which I may have moved, but I can't believe I've misadjusted something to the degree that it doesn't work properly anymore!!
The're really isnt anything that could be moved that much....

Calling Vinyl Junkies ... need help!

Reply #3 –
On very old record players (which I assume this isn't) the auto mechanism is driven from the turntable itself. There is a cog around the centre of the turntable (on the bottom) which engages with a larger wheel which sits next to the centre of the turntable (visible when the turntable is removed).

There are one or two teeth missing from the cog on the edge of this larger wheel - so it can sit nearly in contact with the centre of the turntable, but do nothing, because there are no teeth at that point to engage. There is a mechanism to nudge this larger wheel forward slightly when the arm reaches the end of the record - when the wheel is nudged, one of the cog teeth on the wheel catches one of the cog teeth at the button of the turntable, and the wheel is driven round. A mechanism under the wheel is attached to the arm. It lifts the arm, and takes it back to rest, then flicks a switch to turn the motor off.


It's possible to get the arm, the mechanism, the larger wheel, and the turntable "out of synch", so that it stops working. Try taking the turntable off, spinning the larger wheel through one revolution (careful: the arm will move around), and then replacing the turntable without moving the arm.



This will help in the unlikely event that Sony are using 30-50 year old technology on their auto return turntables. In the likely even that they are using a different mechanism, this information will be of no use what so ever!

Cheers,
David.

P.S. there is a vinyl section at audio asylum, but they will laugh at you for having a Sony turntable.

Calling Vinyl Junkies ... need help!

Reply #4 –
I had a Sony PS-J11 (mini as well, probably very similar) at one time.  Unfortunately I don't remember how the platter mechanism was set up, I only took it off once or twice but encountered no problems after putting it back on.

I suspect this may be something as simple as not putting the platter back on in the correct orientation to trigger auto-lift and auto-return.  Try taking the platter off again, then pay attention to how things are aligned when replacing it and you may figure it out.  If not, something may have broken... if the PS-J10 is anything like the PS-J11 in terms of build quality (well I won't say anything further, it could get ugly ).

Calling Vinyl Junkies ... need help!

Reply #5 –
Quote
After putting it back together, the arm does not respond to the run out of records anymore but just sits there. If I raise the arm with the arm lifter button and push the arm back to its resting position the table keeps turning until I gently push it backwards .... then it stops.

I had an old cheapo Kenwood record player a few years back which exhibited similar problems. Turns out the sensor that checked whether the arm was over the record or not was more or less two wires embedded in a piece of plastic, which would connect when the arm was pointing in a certain angle.

That sensor had gone slightly off, thus the motor wouldn't start when I moved the arm over the platter anymore. After an inordinate amount of futile fidgeting I gave up, cut the wires to the sensor, moved them outside the casing and put a switch on them