Phonoland

Hey all,

My R-80 has a little alignment issue and even after checking out the instructions for re-alignment in the manual I still have the same issue.

The problem seems to be that the magazine has some "wiggle room" to either side. I unscrewed and then re-tightened the two screws on the nylon wheel right above the detent wheel that the manual says to use to adjust the magazine. The thing is the magazine can still wiggle from side to side either way regardless of whether those screws are tightened or loose. Hope I was clear on that as I don't have the manual in front of me.

I guess my question is where else does this need to be tightened so that the magazine has less movement allowing the tone arm will line up correctly in between each record slot?

Thanks as always for the information.

It could be the motor has a loose motor shaft. It probably is almost 40 years old.

A certain amount of play is normal, especially as the sprag gear train wears. Those two guide fingers are there to reduce any cumulative error that might cause a record to jam or get placed in a wrong slot.

You can loosen the entire motor/sprag assembly and move it upwards slightly to mate the gears more intimately, but unless a sprag tooth is broken (not the case here) and short of replacing the whole sprag assembly, this is something you'll have to live with.

If you are concerned about the scoring of lines on the records from the guide fingers, ..don't...it called "Rowe Wear" but has no audible effect.

I have two ancient MM! hideaways in service, they get a fair amount of play (especially this time of year) -they are somewhat sloppy in operation, slapping the records on the TT and some play in the basket. I have the guide fingers set close and everything well lubed. It never jams or damages records.''Rob/NYC

Hello nline24,

Rob is correct re Sprag Assembly is is held onto the mechanism by 3 x 2BA machine screws, these can be slackened and a small amount of pressure can be put onto the assembly to tighten it up however do not put too much pressure on here or you endager the motor or gears.
Whilst you are looking at this check out the spag wheel and associated gears, also check the small nylon gear (drives the magazine/basket) at the end of the magazine drive shaft assembly (I have seen these teeth on this gear worn through).
The two adjustment/locking screws on the Pinon & Plate Assembly are for aligning the mechanism and will allow the travel across three slots. Do not strip the screws which only tighten into an alloy casting. You will need to check that the Search Unit/Mechanism timing is still ok. Check this with the mechanism on A1 the 200 mark on the search unit should be opposite the step in the search unit mounting bracket on the right hand side of the mechanism.

With regards to lubrication do not over do it and leave the truion/cam gears well alone.

Regards
Alan Hood
ami-man
UK