Garrard AT 60 adjustments

Hello, I own a Garrard AT 60 record changer and I am having a problem with the automatic cycle. When I push reject the tonearm raises from it's resting place the record drops but the tone arm doesn't go to the record and instead just lowers back down to it's rest. If I move it to the end of the record it does function as it should and moves back to it's rest and shuts off. Have been trying to figure this one out for a few days and can't come up with any solutions to the problems. Hoping someone can give me some pointers with this. Would appreciate it.

Thanks

I meant to say AT 6 although I believe that they're pretty much the same. thanks

This probably won't be of any help, because it's an earlier model, but it might be similar to yours. This model has an adjustment screw, which is accessed through a hole in front of the tone arm, which adjusts the position of where the stylus is set down. Whether your model has the same hole, I don't know. Because yours just raises and lowers, it might have a stretched of broken spring somewhere? I've never worked on a changer before, so I'm not really sure. I ?think? I remember one my parents owned doing the same thing if you started it without a record on the spindle, so it could have something to do with the "record size selector & switch off arm" as well???

shane wrote:This probably won't be of any help, because it's an earlier model, but it might be similar to yours. This model has an adjustment screw, which is accessed through a hole in front of the tone arm, which adjusts the position of where the stylus is set down. Whether your model has the same hole, I don't know. Because yours just raises and lowers, it might have a stretched of broken spring somewhere? I've never worked on a changer before, so I'm not really sure. I ?think? I remember one my parents owned doing the same thing if you started it without a record on the spindle, so it could have something to do with the "record size selector & switch off arm" as well???

Hello Shane, although the picture you added is of an earlier model mine does have the screw that adjusts where the stylus lands. I have adjusted it clock wise as well as counter clock wise and it doesn't do any thing different. I also think as you do that a spring has either come loose or is missing. I have looked though and do not see any sign of a spring. If I could find a diagram or a picture of one of these taken from underneath that might help. I do appreciate you trying to help me with this. I haven't given up yet and hopefully I can figure it out. Thanks again

There are some nice illustrations of the AT-6 on this page:

http://www.grammofoon.com/frameset.htm? ... ntentFrame








You might want to double check the switch that toggles between "automatic" and "manual" to make sure it is not sticking half-way.

I couldn't find an online schematic, but apparently some Rider manuals are available from various eBay sellers.

I have an SL-55, which has the sane mechanism.

The sensor for this is on the overarm shaft. But I can't imagine this piece sticking in the shutoff position, since the shutoff lever drops into a hole in the overarm shaft to activate shutoff. Move the overarm up and down (at the spindle) to see the shutoff parts engage and disengage.

It's more likely the swing-in drive is not functioning. Look at the upside-down photo. The swing-out-swing-in drive is that slotted piece at the far upper left corner of that photo. A pin on the arm control lever rides in the slot. When the arm has swung all the way out, the pin snaps into a little cuff at one end of the slot. Then, when the cam reverses the direction of this piece, it pulls the arm inward until the index stop (positioned by the semaphore selector for the record size) keeps it from moving any farther. The semaphore selector yanks the pin out of the cuff when the arm is over the lead-in groove of the record that dropped from the spindle.

If the cuff isn't snapping onto the pin, the arm will not swing in. If the arm does not swing in for some reason (including if the rest post lock is engaged) the changer will shut off)

Other possibilities:

- The arm height is adjusted too low, and is hitting the rest post when it swings out. Then the rest post jerks the arm pin out of the cuff when the cuff tries to swing the arm in. The AT-6 rest post is especially likely to do this, since it can grab the cartridge shell.

- The transit lock is engaged. This will jam the shutoff lever.

- One of the plinth floating springs is missing. This causes the same error as the transit lock.

- A foreign object is sitting on the base behind the overarm, and sticking under the plinth enough to jam the shutoff levers.

- A wire (especially the ground wire) has become entangled in the shutoff levers.

- The delay stop (on the large bell crank that operates the change cycle) is not releasing the shutoff latch when the change cycle ends.

- The shutoff parts need to be cleaned and lubricated.

- One of the shutoff parts is bent.

Note two things:

1. There is no true manual mode. The difference between the Manual and the Auto position is whether or not the change cycle starts when you turn on the power. It should really say OFF, ON, and REJECT.

2. Do not try to check the automatic shutoff with the switch in the OFF position. The arm will set down in the 7" position if the changer is cycled by moving the turntable with the power switch off. (But you could use this to see if the swing-in drive is working).