Dual 1009 spindle issues.

I have a Dual 1009 which works well otherwise than that spindle which is causing grief in dropping many 12" 78s. I redid the pads a number of times because it either wanted at first to drop the whole bunch at once, not fun to watch, or it was tilting the records like crazy knocking the arm off the record because it always tilts towards the arm side naturally! I think I have the pads working fine and now I see what is going on but not how to fix it or if it has a cause. The little arms that hold the stack and retreat quickly to let the bottom record drop when the pads lift the stack off it is not always returning all the way as fast as it should and sometimes it won't go back at all leaving the stack stuck hanging at an angle above the arm with nothing dropping. I have cleaned the hole around the spindle on the #1 side which did get it to drop but it still tends to tilt a lot of the time, other times it won't. On 10" records and LP's they seem to lift straight up and not tilt much if at all. But on 12" sets it is pretty unreliable.. anyone know anything about this other than maybe the spindle is just worn or something, no way to see what goes inside and as I said it sometimes has all three go back in just fine but others that one is the either the last to go in causing a tilt or it hangs up and stops the stack from dropping..

Or maybe this is as good as it worked on these sets?

Larry

I have another question for this turntable. I hear that shure makes a mat for the 10" dual turntable.. Does someone make a mat with enough cushion to stop the loud drop of the first shellac 12" record. I think that the size of the turntable is playing a part there because the 10" ones don't make near the noise I think because they have more of an air cushion under the whole record as it falls?

Did a little more watching and looking at the records, It appears that if the record is not 100% perfect around that spindle hole the arms will indeed hang up. Even one that is only a little roughed up will seem to stop it from working right. I took my finger nail and sort of scratched the paper towards the center of a couple that wouldn't drop right and they then did.. Very touchy..

I use cork for turntable mats. As for the spindle problem, I am not experienced with this type of spindle though I've heard of them.

For the mat, I didn't like the WHAP my records made when dropping either, so I just got some felt.

Putting new pads on those spindles is almost impossible to get right. Also some foreign material, such as some of the crumbled remains of the original pads, may have gotten into the internals of the spindle. These changers are best used withe short spindle, as a manual player.

I would not use an umbrella spindle to drop 78s, especially 12" ones. There are two reasons why:

1. The umbrella spindle pushes hard against the inside of the spindle hole to hold the record up. If the shellac is weak, this can break it. The only umbrella spindle I would have trusted for this was on the Garrard Lab 80, but it does not have the 78 speed.

2. The 12" 78 is thicker than other records. This means the umbrella wedges will catch the record to be dropped as well as the one above. This causes the tilting problem.

I found some changers that do a better job of dropping 12" 78s than others do:

- The Collaro Conquest with the old spindle design before 1962 (also the Coronation, Continental, Constellation, and Sentinel). All of these have a thickness sensing spindle that raises the record separating guide higher if the record does not drop.

- The early V-M changers with the raising record pusher in the spindle also lift the record guide if the record fails to drop. The later ones with the blade pusher do not.

- The Webster-Chicago 56 series - the nodding shelf ledge for 12" records is lower, letting a thicker record pass the record guide.

- The Philco M-22. M-24, M-26, and M-37 use the nodding spindle. The nodding of the spindle tilts the record guide, and if the record fails to drop, a safety spring prevents damage to either the record or the changer.

- The Garrard RC and A series rim push type changers.