Fixed a Dual 1009 that wouldn't shut off.

I had to mention here that frustration has finally lead me to do something I never thought I would or could do. I took my Dual 1009 off the base and started looking to see what went on down below.. It has over time had several issues and the one that finally made me quit using it some months ago was that what had been an occasional difficult shut down to one that never shut down. The arm would come over and sit down, the changer would make a sort of clicking noise as if off and in seconds pick the arm up and do it all over again. For a while it was erratic and finally became unending. I didn't want to pack it an send it off again as its expensive, the issues of damage and then worst the fact that often a repair is short lived. All of which got me to start looking yesterday.

What I finally found was that a rather tiny copper strip that rides around just below the level of the top metal plate and on top of the cam that rotates the mechanism had a small amount of a dark grease on the flat edge towards one end. I had no clue but it was the only thing I could see that even remotely looked like it might have had to do with anything electrical as a switch, being copper. I took a small screwdriver and after rotating the plate so I could reach it easier I scraped the little dark patch off that copper part. To my amazement when I tried it again it shut down like a champ.. Everything now stops.. I wonder what that would have cost to ship and have someone find? I must admit that the mechanism is basically over my head for sure. I did attempt to clean a set of parts where the auto/manual switch that starts it move a bunch of small parts in various ways. I nearly didn't get that to work either as I had a bind on the top piece which had to move freely to allow it to latch into the play position. Maybe now I can have the nerve to at least see if 60 years of old grease might be something I am willing to tackle on my Elac H50 which sticks in grooves often which makes it mostly not useable for much. Plus it has a hum when you touch the arm or other parts and I have no clue on that one for sure.

Larry

Sad you don't have faith in having it professionally restored.
That says a lot towards good techs such as me.
Your "quick fix" is typical of bad techs and backyard mechanics.

"and then worst the fact that often a (cheap) repair is short lived"

You said it.

Guys,
I have a "theory" here. It is my contention that ALL equipment, either electrical, or electro/mechanical operates on "smoke". The smoke is installed at the factory into every component in the equipment. The better the job the factory does, the longer the equipment will operate flawlessly--however, time is the enemy here, as no factory can do a perfect job of containing the smoke. Over time, it leaks out--it may be in such small amounts that you never see it, but all of a sudden you notice that "somethings not quite right".
It's at this point that the average person begins to "rationalize"--well it's still working 95 % right, I can live with that, so I'll wait to get it fixed. More smoke escapes--% goes lower, and lower and --maybe "ker-boom"--major die-zaster now. In MOST cases, a little PM, by someone who KNOWS the equipment, can keep the smoke inside, and save a ton of money. Ron Rich

MattTech wrote:Sad you don't have faith in having it professionally restored.
That says a lot towards good techs such as me.
Your "quick fix" is typical of bad techs and backyard mechanics.

"and then worst the fact that often a (cheap) repair is short lived"

You said it.

Yes I hate to say, but my track record with anything having to do with both radios and phonographs has been about zero for about 60 years now! I won't attempt to give them all, but way back when some so called phonograph or radio repair shops could still be found in St. Louis where I lived I had a number of what today are high end collectable combination sets repaired. Most lasted about long enough to get a weeks worth out of enjoyment and they became weak, smoked up the house, or worse. Repair men either didn't give a darn or didn't know what they were doing and in most cases they were major brand repair shops. I suppose I was just jinxed perhaps.

One rather memorable set was a flip over Capehart from the early 40's. I took it to a shop that claimed to be able to fix it and after six months they told me to come an get it it was not repairable. At the time I worked for a fellow during high school that had a son who said he would help me get it home from the shop. After we picked it up he mentioned he enjoyed tinkering with old radios and if I wanted I could drop it off at his house and he would see if he could figure anything out. We put it in his garage and in a half hour he had it running and playing. I don't know what that said for the repair people but not much.

Numerous other sets latter I gave up trying to have anything repaired and went strictly to mechanical machines for most of my life till the past 5 or so years when I once again decided due to all these groups now on the net that perhaps I could at last have something that worked correctly and would last. I did have the item serviced by someone on the group who was fair and did a good job but seemed not to want to have to keep looking at things that would go wrong. So when it started to refuse to shut off I just put it away for now. That was till I got my new tape deck and after looking once again at record players decided that the one I had was about as good as I was going to get without spending a lot more money. Thus the attempt to check it out, which as I stated at least did work out. I think the grease may have accidently got on the switch someway but not sure how since at first it did shut down but became erratic after a bit.

I think the last thing I had repaired or I should say tired to have repaired was a great old Zenith Transoceanic radio which when I got it from a fellow that used it in Africa during the war played wonderful As it started to have some problems every time it was worked on the sound got less and the stations harder and farther between. The last straw was a shop again that had it for many months and then proceeded to tell me they lost the original manual in the back that had always been with it and they couldn't fix it either.

Story of my life at least till now. Granted as you stated I have not yet tired one of the many people on the net offering professional repair service for older items, but I think that lingering doubt as to what one will end up with has somewhat dampened my temptation to try it.

Larry

The problem was not one of the power shutting off, but one of the change cycle repeating over and over. As soon as the change cycle started again, it turned the power back on. Cleaning that grease off made it work correctly again.