[Mister Pig]

Hello,

well my tt showed up today, and the seller did a nice job of double packing it. Shipping was from East Coast to West Coast via FED EX Ground. Both inner and outer box looks fine.

heres the rub. Seller set the inner platter over the spindle assembly. However, no packing was placed between the plinth and the inner platter. So the bearing rests against the thrust plate for the whole trip. Whenever I have packaged a table I put packing in there to protect against this.

The Question is....."What is the chance there is bearing damage? And aside from replacing it, what can be done about it? Table is a Townshend Rock III so a bearing is not going to be easily found. This is an inverted bearing assembly, so would the shaft and bearing have to be changed?

I am not ready to play vinyl at the moment. No tone arm, cart, or phono stage. So are there any other ways of verifying damage?

Your thoughts/opinions are greatly appreciated.

Regards
Mister Pig

[kingdeezie]

I am sort of a vinyl newbie myself, so I am just spit ballin here to maybe try and help.

The obvious solution is to see if the platter spins as it should. Does it show any signs of lop-sidedness, flubbering, or blubbering?

Does the TT exibit any noise when the platter is spinning; grinding, tearing, rubbing, etc, etc, etc?

Another thing I once read, and I don't know if this is true, but you can tell how smooth a table is working, and how well it is designed, if, when you spin the platter, it should be able to go really really slow without stopping; in other words excess amounts of friction should NOT stop the platter from spinning. If the bearing was ruined, I would assume  it would fail this test.

That's all I got, sorry 

[analognut]

OUCH! Man, that was a big boo-boo on the part of the shipper! I don't know what the thrust plate is made of on your table or how heavy the platter is, but my guess is it wouldn't matter. I do know if you tried that with a Sota TT it would crack the sapphire in a heartbeat. 

And I don't know how you can test it if you don't have arm/cart mounted. If you can mount an arm/cart you can check for wow by using a 3150Hz tone from a test record. That tone is great for revealing tiny amounts of wow. IMHO if you don't hear any wow the bearing is good.   

[Wayner]

Fire it up and see if it spins freely. Do you hear any noise. Do you see any damage to the shaft? If not, it may be OK. As suggested, give it a spin by hand and see if you feel any problems.

Wayner

[orthobiz]

Packing is always an issue. If you ask the seller specifics about how they're gonna pack it, sometimes they get touchy. I had a printer sent once with the toner left in. What a blackened mess that was!

I feel your pain. Unfortunately, no advice...Just sympathy.

Paul

[TheChairGuy]

Yea, kingdeezie seems to have given you a template to work from

In all likelihood there is NO damage, but try and see.  TT's have quite a checklist to get right in shipping (from protecting the arm to holding down platter tightly without crashing around in box to your issue of main bearing damage).

Heck, add to that fluid damping seepage, too

Spoken as one who goofed once in shipping...and has gotten it right several times since.

Regards, John

[Mister Pig]

The seller did follow factory instructions. I just finished reading the manual. This is an inverted bearing so its a bit different. The record clamp holds the inner platter in place over the shaft. So it cannot ride anywhere, and a piece of tape held it from turning.

I have never seen a turntable packed this way, so my immediate reaction was one of concern. If I were to pack the thing, I would still have something to shim the inner platter with.

This is a beautiful table, and so nicely constructed. Person who I bought it from claims there is only about 120 hours of use on it, and it really does look new. I have high hopes for it, although it has a tough act to follow in regards to my old Teres/ET II combo.

Regards
Mister Pig

[lazydays]

depends on whatkind of a bearing setup Townsend used. If they used a sleeve type bearing you'll not have an damage to speak of there. But if they use the typical ball bearing for a thrust beaing you might want to give it a serious inspection. Normally they'll use a Rulon or Turcite pad with a hard steel ball bearing riding on it. If that's the case your OK as the pad is much softer than the bearing itself, and will not develope false brinel. If the pad is hardened steel or even carbide; you need to think about buying a new stell ball bearing. If the pad is steel you may have a problem, but doubt you'd see it with carbide unless they used a ceramic ball. You can buy another ball bearing at just about any bearing outlet center (note: not the hardware store). A grade 25 or even a grade 50 is plenty good enough for any table on the planet. Don't bother to spend the extra money for a grade 10. If you can get a ceramic ball bearing; do that as they are better.
gary

[Browntrout]

I would take it apart and have a good look at it. I doubt very much there is a problem, if worried contact the chap who made it and ask for his opinion.

[Mister Pig]

Well I was able to get a stethoscope and listen to the turntable. This kind of scope is used for listening to engines, so it had a long rod I could place right on the bearing. I positioned the table so I could get under it and give it a proper listen to.

Good news is the bearing is quiet. I can hear a tiny bit of noise as the table spins up. It might be the belt slipping a tiny bit? Or at least vibrating. After two or three rotations the table is dead quiet.

I actually put the scope onto the motor to give it a listen to also, and it is very quiet in its own right.

So everything has turned out just OK. Now I need to find an appropriate arm,cart, and phono stage. But at least I have found a excellent turntable...at least in my mind. Wish I had my old Teres/ET II combo to compare it against.

Regards
Mister Pig

[roscoeiii]

Enjoy the silence that lets the music shine through.