[roscoeiii]

And for the Newbie, VE = Vinyl Engine, a superb resource for turntable owners. Both in terms of threas but also some great databases with manuals and specs for carts, tonearms etc.

[jagtek]

Ok figured it out. the little pin in the tonearm that is suposed to ride in the groove
of the couterweight is very loose. you can just make it out in the pic.





After taking this pic the little pin fell out. Its plastic. after closer inspection
it was kinda spring/plasic loaded. So now that its broken the counterweight slides on and off.
 
I'm guessing thats why it was so cheap LOL 

Well I'm not giving up.  Ive been a Jaguar and Mercedes tech for 20 years.
I think the tonearm will have to come off and the pin repaired.

Any help here ???

[doug s.]

Ok figured it out. the little pin in the tonearm that is supposed to ride in the groove
of the counterweight is very loose. you can just make it out in the pic.





After taking this pic the little pin fell out. Its plastic. after closer inspection
it was kinda spring/plastic loaded. So now that its broken the counterweight slides on and off.
 
I'm guessing that's why it was so cheap LOL 

Well I'm not giving up.  Ive been a Jaguar and Mercedes tech for 20 years.
I think the tonearm will have to come off and the pin repaired.

Any help here ???

you're a jag/benz tech, and you're asking us for help?     surely you can fab a pin that will fit in the hole w/a friction-fit; and that will do the same for the slot in the counter-weight?   

let us know what you come up with!   

if you do end up removing the tonearm for better access, be careful of the tonearm wiring, it may be wery fragile, w/o much room for movement...

doug s.

[jagtek]

 Thanks Doug. Guess your right. I tried 20 searches on google,
and got nothing    So I guess Im on my own.
Ill let you know what i come up with. I have till tuesday,
 thats when my catridge should be here. 
Wish me luck, David

[neobop]

Hi, just wondering how you made out with the tonearm. Tiny parts like that can be a PIA to replace. I'm not sure how it's configured but maybe you could use a small set screw? Can you turn the counterweight upside down?

If you need some hardware this place has all sorts of stuff, although you might have to buy more than you want. (click on metric)
http://www.mcmaster.com/#machine-screw-fasteners/=h9v6zw

Let us know. Maybe one of us has something you could use.

Edit: I see from your pics on page 1 - it's a threaded counterweight?  Maybe a socket head set screw would work.

[jagtek]

Well, it been a busy week. At work and home. 
 But alas..success!

I used a pocket clip off a ball point pen to fix my tonearm.
I removed it, straightend it and recurved the curly part to fit inside the hollow tonearm.
then bent the ball down to fit 1/2 wat through the hole from the original broken pin.


 
So counterweight issue fixed/
Next I had to wait till thursday for cart to come in the mail.
So I stayed up late thursday night 
I installed the cart, set the tracking weight and cartidge alignment.



cleaned "Steely Dan, cant buy a thrill" and threw it on.
Pressed "PLAY"  waited in anticipation.....and...WOW ! 

It worked ! Good..NO! Really good !

It sounded wonderfull. Nice full body. Great spacious soundstage. Great highs.
It was almost like the fisrt Time I heard a tube amp in my system.
It kinda raised the level a litte.



Needless to say, I played whole album.
Then (for giggles)  I tried the unplayabe (badly warped) "Police, Ghost in tthe machine" disk,
low and behold it played well and sounded good too.
So I played that album too. I only wish I had more albums to play     going shopping sunday.

Plus the Full Auto function is awsome.
I am super happy with first foray into vinyl.


p.s. check this weird junk cart I took off the tonearm.
       It has two needle and a little lever to switch between the two.

[doug s.]

way to go, jagtek. i knew you could rig something up to work!   

does it say "45" on the other side of that lever?  some earlier cartridges had separate styli for lp's and45's...

doug s.