S-L-O-W arm lifter on Sony PS-T3 turntable!

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rastage

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S-L-O-W arm lifter on Sony PS-T3 turntable!
« on: 17 May 2024, 04:24 pm »
A couple of weeks ago I picked up a Sony PS-T3 at the Recycling & Reuse Hub. Been testing it out, seems to work mostly OK, except the arm lifter can take up to _30 SECONDS_ to finally touch stylus to record surface! I don't know where or how to adjust this, any ideas?

mix4fix

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  • I reject your music, and substitute my own.
Re: S-L-O-W arm lifter on Sony PS-T3 turntable!
« Reply #1 on: 18 May 2024, 03:53 am »
Any difference if you go 33 rpm or 45 rpm? 12 inch or 7 inch?

JohnR

Re: S-L-O-W arm lifter on Sony PS-T3 turntable!
« Reply #2 on: 18 May 2024, 04:06 am »
No experience with that particular table but I had a Rega with a similar problem. The damping grease in the lifter dries out and needs to be replaced, you can get some from turntablebasics, they might be able to tell you which viscosity you'd need (assuming that's the issue). You can get the manual from vinylengine.

rastage

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Re: S-L-O-W arm lifter on Sony PS-T3 turntable!
« Reply #3 on: 18 May 2024, 12:00 pm »
@mix4fix: No difference, it's the same even when the turntable isn't running.

@JohnR: I wish I could get the manual from Vinylengine, but they've permanently closed new registrations.

/mp

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Re: S-L-O-W arm lifter on Sony PS-T3 turntable!
« Reply #4 on: Yesterday at 01:58 pm »
Vinylengine...[has] permanently closed new registrations.

:(

Guess I'll continue to be a lurker there.

orthobiz

Re: S-L-O-W arm lifter on Sony PS-T3 turntable!
« Reply #5 on: Yesterday at 03:47 pm »

rastage

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  • Posts: 8
Re: S-L-O-W arm lifter on Sony PS-T3 turntable!
« Reply #6 on: Today at 12:38 am »
After several hours of trial-and-error dis- and re-assembly, I got the cueing issue figured out. No thanks to the service manual, which basically said "We just want to talk about the ICs and transistors - if it's a mechanical issue, you're on your own." I don't have a ton of experience with turntable innards, but I think the PS-T3 has a pretty unusual design for its cueing mechanism. There's a narrow strip of metal that has a fork at one end, and is bent at the other. It moves up and down by two flat metal pieces that slip against each other, with a spring that brings them back into alignment after moving. The grease between them was dried out, causing them to stick. The forked end of the strip lifts and lowers the rod that the arm rest is attached to. There's a small screw painted with Thread-Loc near the bend, that adjusts the height of the lifter. (It was pretty much impossible to get a good grasp of the rod or to adjust the set screw holding the nylon thing, without taking everything apart including the tonearm, but I was able to wipe off some dried grease from the tip of the rod.)
Photos attached for illustration: