Magnavox Micromatic problem

Apparently there was a scuffle at the record player between my brother and his daughter. The stereo belongs to my mom and I have been selected to fix it. When you load up a record to be dropped, it drops just fine, the arm goes to the start of the record, then just drags (scratches) across the record to the end in about 2 seconds, returns to the rest position, and turns off. If I manually try to play a record, the arm does not move across the record, it just plays one continuous loop, like it is scratched, no matter where the arm is placed. The arm appeared to be "mis-adjusted" when I looked at it, meaning it rested to the right of its normal place and dropped to the needle for rest. It was not finding the start of records either. I gently rotated the arm back to what appears to be its correct place by rotating the arm towards the center of the turntable until it stopped, then gently put some additional pressure on it to change its position of rest. The needle still plays. I have more time than money. Anyway, my folks have had this stereo for about 40 to 45 years. I am just beginning my research into this repair and this appeared to be the best place for help. The record player looks like this one. Any ideas?



John

Sounds like the needle is shot. Check with www.west-techservices.com. They may be able to help with that. I would take that changer and get some Naptha. Take an old brush and slop that Naptha on the bottom of the changer and clean it up real good. It will not hurt the paint or rubber. Get rid of all that old grease and lubricant underneath. Then let dry. You should pull the table off and clean up the idler and parts under there too. After that, use some Miracle oil at first to lube it lightly and let it cycle a few times. That should help a lot. Ususally, these changers just need cleaned. 99% of the time, that's the problem unless there are missing parts. The other 1% of the time, it's the idler, cartridge/needle, or motor. Good luck.

So, you would say that my problems sound like a bum needle? The tone arm seems to have a mind of its own to me. Like I stated, on automatic the needle and arm just seem to scratch over the entire record, like the table was slanted to the left, so the needle could not track evenly but be forced to head toward the center of the record. Also, if I try to play a record manually, it is like the tone arm is welded in place, just playing one groove over and over again. What is the best way to get at the business end of the turntable? Should I go through the back or the top? I need to get a good game plan together since this work will be going on at my folk's home. I guess I was looking for a few more replies before I got down to business with this repair. Thanks.

John

I would say the needle is probably the least of your problems, but one of them. You will have to get underneath to remove the hold down clips and disconnect the wiring. After that, you can pull the changer out from the top. When you clean it, be careful not to loose any springs. Take your time.

That happens when the needle is totally missing or broken off. The friction of the remaining part of the stylus assembly on the rotating record surface pulls the arm to the center. it is called skating. Any record player with a tonearm with an offset-angled head does this.

Try flipping the stylus selector over and playing a 78. It might be that the needle was broken off only one side of the assembly. Of course, the other side is good for only a 78.

You may also have a loose setscrew on the right hand drive wheel (under the turntable platter). This may be causing the changer to stop turning the cam while the changer is still in cycle.

I have a Astrosonic console with a Micromatic turntable. I recently purchased it for $20 and love it, it still works pretty well except the automatic mode has a mind of its own. It will drop a platter, the needle will set down and either play just the blank part before the song or sometimes 30sec of the first track and then it will start over, lift the tone arm, feel for another record, drop another record if its there and do it all over again. I can put ten records on it and sometimes it will play several and sometimes it will go through all ten only playing the blank part. I joke that it likes to pick which record to play.

It sounds like cleaning the changer as described above might fix my problem but, forgive my ignorance, Im not sure which part you mean when you say "changer"?

Changer = Turntable. Same thing.

It sounds like the trip mechanism at the base of the spindle (under the platter) is not retracting completely and it is catching prematurely when the arm is moving toward the center of the record. That's why a record won't play all the way to the end.

As far as the other problem with the arm being stuck in one place, There is something that is not releasing after the change cycle. When it shuts off after the last record has been played, there is (I can't explain it) something that keeps the arm from moving, but when you pick up the arm and move it over to play manually, you can feel the click/release and the arm moves laterally freely. I don't know the names of those parts underneath. --BB


Bobby Basham
Tucson, Arizona

On that changer, the only cause of the change cycle not finishing is a loose setscrew on the cycling drive wheel, or the wheel driving from the wrong motor step (it should be on the 45 step).

FlagstaffVinyl wrote:I have a Astrosonic console with a Micromatic turntable. I recently purchased it for $20 and love it, it still works pretty well except the automatic mode has a mind of its own. It will drop a platter, the needle will set down and either play just the blank part before the song or sometimes 30sec of the first track and then it will start over, lift the tone arm, feel for another record, drop another record if its there and do it all over again. I can put ten records on it and sometimes it will play several and sometimes it will go through all ten only playing the blank part. I joke that it likes to pick which record to play.

It sounds like cleaning the changer as described above might fix my problem but, forgive my ignorance, Im not sure which part you mean when you say "changer"?

The changer is the entire record player - cleaning is general servicing of the entire unit to remove dirt and bad lube and relube it.

I would say that either the changer is not level, there is grease on the trip striker arm, or the trip arm is bent.

Make sure the transit locks are not in the shipping position. That will cause the W series to repeat the change cycle.