Restoration of my Technics SL-Q33

[Saket]

Some good news & one bad news:

The bad one first; After 5 days of keeping me in dark, in false hope, numerous phone calls & after burning some considerable motor fuel, they tell me that they are unable to make the dustcover! Last evening, I called them and they said its ready. I went to the shop. They presented the so-called dustcover that they had fabricated. Such bad finish quality, with glass adhesives lurking here & there, edges not given proper polish treatment and worst of all, it was of smaller size. All this despite specifically being told that the dimension tolerance should not be more than a mm or two. There was such a difference in size that my old dust-cover went on to engulf this one completely when kept on top of it! Just to remind that they came up with this despite the original one left over with them for accurate sample size! Did not take the delivery, bashed them left & right, took back my advance money and came back dejected. Will have to try some other shop, which will take again some time and hence delay the project.

Anyway, the good news is that the plinth is back from the paint job. The color has been matched with perfection. No difference from the original factory color. The finish is very good. Only at some places, they could have done a better job. Probably they did not sand down the paint completely. But anyway, I won't complain much, the finish is very good and I am happy about the original color being restored.

I fixed the anti-skate & damping mechanism to the tone arm base as starters. Some pictures of the newly painted plinth and the work started on the tone arm base.

The plinth wears new paint:

While all electronics & mechanicals wait to get into the new skin:

The plastic strip attached as a starter:

The anti-skate mechanism being attached & calibrated.

 

[reubensm]

the paint job looks very ccol, great going!!

 

[AmitKumar]

It is looking like new after the paint job.

Best wishes!

 

[Hiten]

Superb execution saket. Very professional.

Some good news & one bad news:
Will have to try some other shop, which will take again some time and hence delay the project.]

I would say discard the idea of glass dust cover. Fragile and heavy with no option to add hinges. Look for some non working Technics TT and salvage its dust cover.
Regards.

 

[Saket]

the paint job looks very ccol, great going!!

Thanks Reuben, the job is done upto my satisfaction. It is just that I could not catch up with the process at the workshop due to some domestic commitments.

It is looking like new after the paint job.

Best wishes!

Thanks Amit! Yes, they have been able to put up a good paint job. Proper sanding, using a good paint, and most importantly the painting skills are essential to get a good finish. I am glad that it has come up this way.

Now the only bottleneck in the cosmetic department is the dustcover. Will hunt for another shop now. Meanwhile, as the original dustcover is with me now, I will start the assembling process. It is dangerous & somewhat impossible to work on the TT with the bottom cover off without the dustcover.

 

[Hiten]

It is dangerous & somewhat impossible to work on the TT with the bottom cover off without the dustcover.

Flip the dustcover and you can use the same dust cover to protect tonearm while assembling innards of the TT.
Regards

 

[reubensm]

Thanks Reuben, the job is done upto my satisfaction. It is just that I could not catch up with the process at the workshop due to some domestic commitments.

No worries Saket, was on the look out for the details, especially about the primer coat as paint on plastic has the notorious ability to peal off. They key coat is the primer coat I guess. Any idea about the primer coat, number of coats or primer and final coat, etc?

 

[Record Player]

Saket - Very impressed with the paint job. OEM finish.

 

[Saket]

Now I must dedicate this post to Hiten Bhai and our forum!

I was actually looking for the original Technics headshell and feet for the turntable. I had stated it in the opening post of this thread. I had my reservations in getting it from abroad, one due to exorbitant costs and second, the long time required for shipping. The price of original technics head shell & feet were about USD 32 & 75 respectively on eBay.

Our FM, Hiten came as great help. He sent me the original feet & head shell at a price that I will just call a 'token' for all the stuff. In fact, he did not quote any price and asked for whatever I felt was reasonable, that too only for headshell. He sent the feet without accepting any money!! When I conveyed my offer to him, he himself told me that its too much for the headshell and he actually cut that figure to almost half!!

Later I broke my TT's tone arm rest which was made of plastic. Hiten was again kind enough to check his bin again. He later sent me a pic of an arm-rest on his non-functional Sansui TT to ask whether that would fit on mine. I asked him to include that in the shipping. Again, as luck would have it, the tone arm rest on his Sansui TT was not a standalone component. It was coupled to the damping mechanism. I gave him the trouble of dismantling the damping mechanism with the arm rest which he later included in the shipping.

I received the parcel on Saturday and could only open it in the evening. It was packed extremely well, shipped by India Post: reached me in 2 days flat!
The surprises don't end here; when I opened the parcel, apart from the head shell & feet, there were many additional stuff too. Hiten had sent some headshell lugs, headshell wires, cartridge fixing hardware like screws, and did I tell that he sent few more extra head shells too!! I will put my old cartridge in one of those headshells which would help me compare the old cartridge to the one I generally use. May be it encourages me to get some more cartridges too!

But for the above, I was touched by the nice gesture shown by Hiten Bhai. Also, this can happen 'online' only on a closely knit forum as HFV!:clapping:

Thanks Hiten Bhai!

Regards,
Saket

 

[Record Player]

Kudos to Hiten. Such lovely gentlemen we have on this forum.

 

[reubensm]

I think this is the right spirit of our lovely forum. I had a similar experience with Mr.Kuruvila Jacob who readily sent me a ceramic cart and refused to accept any money for it. Ceramic carts are incidently more expensive than magnetic carts in the international market. Salute both Mr. Kuruvila and Hiten.

 

[AmitKumar]

I would suggest you to discard the idea of making a dustcover of glass. It will be very heavy and will be risky to handle. somehow i am always scared of glass.

about 1.5 yrs back i was trying to buy some thicker good quality acrylic sheets for use in interiors in my home. later i discarded that idea. i think they may serve your purpose.

Regards, Amit

 

[Saket]

I would suggest you to discard the idea of making a headshell of glass. It will be very heavy and will be risky to handle. somehow i am always scared of glass.

about 1.5 yrs back i was trying to buy some thicker good quality acrylic sheets for use in interiors in my home. later i discarded that idea. i think they may serve your purpose.

Regards, Amit

Yes Amit, your pointers are correct. I will try to get it made from acrylic sheets, provided I get people to work on that. That will definitely be better choice than glass. Lets see how does this unfolds.

I would suggest you to discard the idea of making a headshell of glass.

I am sure that you meant a dustcover!

Regards,
Saket

 

[Hiten]

Saket and Reuben
aare baba you are embarrassing me. I have gained more from the members than I have given.

There are number of members who are giving selflessly just for the love of this hobby. For ex. Sachin has given me MM phono kit without taking any money. I wanted to mention that in separate thread when I had completed that DIY kit, but since you all have mentioned just my name I think this is the right time... So to all those wonderful people thanks and hats off to you.
Regards

 

[AmitKumar]

Yes Amit, your pointers are correct. I will try to get it made from acrylic sheets, provided I get people to work on that. That will definitely be better choice than glass. Lets see how does this unfolds.



I am sure that you meant a dustcover!

Regards,
Saket

Yes Saket,

I meant dustcover only. dont know why i wrote headshell.

Regards, Amit

 

[reubensm]

Was wondering how a perspex headshell would look on a Technics Turntable. Interesting concept actually, giving it a thought, it may look quite dashing but radical of course.

 

[Saket]

Was wondering how a perspex headshell would look on a Technics Turntable. Intesting concept actually, giving it a thought, it may look quite dashing but radical of course.

Also, may be better in terms of resonance than metal!

 

[Saket]

Could not work much on the player in the last 2 days. Will try to compensate tonight.

 

[Saket]

Okay Friends, here is the big one: The Player is UP & SINGING:clapping::yahoo:

Last night marked the last & equally critical time of the restoration of my turntable; and I am very glad to share that everything went on pretty fine and my continuous sitting from about 09:30 PM to 4:30 AM paid off!

I was not able to work on the TT due to some other household commitments for the last 2-3 days. Hence all parts had no option than to wait to get in their new skin. Neither I wanted to rush into the job, I had decided that there will be no hurries. Until I get proper time to give it to the tt, I won't sit with it. The TT deserves your time, isn't it?

After a light dinner, I sat among the components and flipped the dustcover and put the tt (inverted ) on it. Decided to mount the tone arm base and the tone arm first of all. The arm-rest that I broke while dismantling the TT, was fixed well with araldite but my sincere thanks to Hiten bhai for sending his Sansui's arm rest to me after taking the trouble to dismantle it.

The tone arm base was mounted by 3 screws, so that was not the problem. The tone arm bearings were lubricated with high quality engine oil and assembled into the base. The anti-skate spring was fitted on the slit. The process to fit the tone arm was not too tough to be frank, but the pictures which were taken while dismantling the TT came as great help, there is no doubt about it. Not tough but not easy too.

Then the electronics, i.e.. the main board, transformer, IR LEDs, mosfets, switches, etc. were put back in the system. Funny enough, somehow I forgot to put the strobe lamp lens back, for which later I had to again open the board to put it back.

After these electronics were put back, the plug in connectors for opto sensors, Arm drive, remote control (yes, the model supports a wired remote control), etc. were plugged back: piece of cake!

Then the tough one, the automatic mechanism. The 3 opto-sensors were fitted back in place, I knew that they would need calibration, hence left them a little lose. They are anyway mounted on springs for adjustments. Then the electro-mechanical switches, which get pressed (& hence activated) one by one by a rotating pulley were put back; again to be calibrated later.

All mechanicals were lubricated well before putting back. The rubber pulleys ( 2 nos.) were slightly sanded to have better contact. The tone arm wires are very delicate. The outer insulation were burnt with soldering iron to uncover the conductors which were soldered back cleanly to the mini-tone arm board, including the earth (black) signal wire. Wire route was properly set in the channel provided in the board and proper tension for sagging was allowed.

Then the TT was turned upright to check if things are acceptable for the stage 1 of testing! The platter turned at the correct speed, though I forgot to put in the strobe lens, but the strobe leds signalled that the rotation is at correct RPM. Coming to automatic mechanism, the tone arm ascended but descended little short of the LP record. Not bad, that is adjustable, and was adjusted to correct runway to descend.

But the auto return and auto-stop were not working at all. The 2 electromechanical switches were calibrated a few times along with the opto sensors, and bingo, everything started working. In fact, my cue button used to malfunction everytime it was used. In the proces, I had cleaned all the switches with alcohol sprays, after which even the cueing button came to life The headshell was changed to original one sent by Hiten bhai and the original feet too.

SO, the TT was carried back to the cabinet and attached to the amp. It sang for the first time at about 4 in the morning! Everything nice, listened it in the morning too, everything is good. The cartridge was aligned.

Also, I used to get terrible feedback previously, but the original feet have very good dampers which have reduced the feedback & probably eliminated it (subject to some further high volume testing)

So, finally I am as happy as a pig in a slop Pics to follow in the next post.

Thanks for indulging here folks!

Regards,
Saket

 

[reubensm]

Perfect job, awaiting the pics....now you're into the secret, with a little bit of effort, patience and with a systematic approach, restoration is never as difficult as it seems and is great fun!!