Peter-E Posted April 20, 2020 Share Posted April 20, 2020 I have an issue I hope there's an easy fix for. When I lower the tone arm is pretty much sticks for most of the lower then drops suddenly. How do I fix this? The TT is an AT-LP120XUSB Thanks Peter PS I hope everyone is staying COVID free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussievintage Posted April 20, 2020 Share Posted April 20, 2020 Hmmm. On an older table I would be guessing the damping fluid has dried out. Maybe it is still that, or maybe there is something mechanically hanging up. I would give it a clean (especially the sliding shaft if you can get at it, and make sure it hasn't rotated a bit and is fouling on something (don't know the 120 well enough to know if it can do that). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EV Cali Posted April 20, 2020 Share Posted April 20, 2020 If the same as yours you can try this. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grumpy Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 I agree, a clean of the tonearm lift shaft etc, then replace the 'well' with some silicone greese that is usualy very very thick. I used 300.000 thick gear oil from a hobby shop and it worked a treat on my old Yamaha PF800 TT. If you can't find any suitable oil I have some here as you ony need to use a very small amount. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussievintage Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 54 minutes ago, Grumpy said: I used 300.000 thick gear oil from a hobby shop Great tip on where to buy it. I will try my local shop. I read somewhere that 300k to 600k cst is the typical viscosity needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grumpy Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 1 hour ago, aussievintage said: Great tip on where to buy it. I will try my local shop. I read somewhere that 300k to 600k cst is the typical viscosity needed. It was actualy a RC model car shop and it is used in the diff of those hot little racers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter-E Posted April 21, 2020 Author Share Posted April 21, 2020 Thanks guys. What a speedy response. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregWormald Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 1 hour ago, Grumpy said: It was actualy a RC model car shop and it is used in the diff of those hot little racers. Yup. That's the stuff I used. Buy a 30ml bottle, use 1 drop. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter-E Posted April 23, 2020 Author Share Posted April 23, 2020 Can machine oil be used? Or a silicone oil from Bunnings. After all isn't dampening fluid just thin oil? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EV Cali Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 2 minutes ago, Peter-E said: Can machine oil be used? Or a silicone oil from Bunnings. After all isn't dampening fluid just thin oil? No it's Quite thick oil more like grease Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregWormald Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 22 minutes ago, EV Cali said: No it's Quite thick oil more like grease Yes again. The 'thickness' of normal motor is around SAE 30. The silicone gear oil that works is SAE 300,000+. In the bottle it 'flows' more like cold golden syrup (except of course it's not sticky). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grumpy Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 1 hour ago, Peter-E said: Can machine oil be used? Or a silicone oil from Bunnings. After all isn't dampening fluid just thin oil? NO! as mentioned above by EV and Greg I did say l have some if you need it - you will be amazed at how little you need, 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussievintage Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 2 hours ago, GregWormald said: The silicone gear oil that works is SAE 300,000+ Just for accuracy I believe it 300,000 centistokes (cSt). I don't think SAE even goes that high 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter-E Posted April 24, 2020 Author Share Posted April 24, 2020 On 23/04/2020 at 12:54 PM, Grumpy said: NO! as mentioned above by EV and Greg I did say l have some if you need it - you will be amazed at how little you need, Big huge thanks to Grumpy for providing some fluid. Job done. Tone arm drops nice and slow. Looks like the design allows the fluid to just drop out over time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grumpy Posted April 24, 2020 Share Posted April 24, 2020 37 minutes ago, Peter-E said: Big huge thanks to Grumpy for providing some fluid. Job done. Tone arm drops nice and slow. Looks like the design allows the fluid to just drop out over time? Message sent with lots of questions - re the design Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grumpy Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 Any progress @Peter-E ? Without actually seeing your TT I'm confused about the design allowing the fluid to drain from the queing device Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter-E Posted April 28, 2020 Author Share Posted April 28, 2020 15 hours ago, Grumpy said: Any progress @Peter-E ? Without actually seeing your TT I'm confused about the design allowing the fluid to drain from the queing device Hi Gary, It's all good now. the fluid worked fine. The mechanism is basic as it gets. It's a brass rod that slide into a brass tube. I put fluid around the rod and that provides the friction to dampen the movement. Is the bottom of the brass tube open or closed? If open over time the fluid will drain out over time. Just cheap design. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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