TD-160 motor replacement

[Tekkir]

The shaft on my td-160 motor is bent. Can anyone recommend a replacement, preferably a DC motor that will do both 33 and 78 RPM?

Thanks,
Tekkir

[jonatan]

Heya,

Take a look at the Origin Live TT motor. I think it is able to run at 78 RPM. Doesn't come cheap though, I think it starts at €300 all the way up to €900. Considering the same upgrade for my thorens table when my motor fails, already spinning in the wrong direction ocassionally.

[Jaxn51]

Originally Posted by Tekkir

The shaft on my td-160 motor is bent. Can anyone recommend a replacement, preferably a DC motor that will do both 33 and 78 RPM?

Thanks,
Tekkir

Have you had any success locating a motor?

[Tekkir]

Not as of yet. I've contacted theanalogdept.com and I'm looking on Ebay for original replacement. The price of the DC controller/motor units are totally prohibitive.

[kevinkr]

Long ago (nearly 20yrs) I had an Pink Triangle LPT turntable with a dc drive set up, and it had really poor speed stability - to me basically intolerable, the speed changed significantly (and audibly) during the course of playing a single side. I ended up selling it to a fellow in the UK who was going to get it updated..

There have been allegations that most of these aftermarket dc based motor drives have very poor speed stability. See the Linn forums for an extensive if possibly biased discussion of this issue. (I don't doubt it is true based on my limited experience.) Make sure anything you purchase has a tachometer and servo control - and I would suspect there is not one that does.. Ones that rely on sensing back emf do not seem to work very well.

A backwards rotating ac motor may be an indication that the phase shift capacitor is bad. I'd replace it. Further I would take real good care of the motor you have - replacing it will not be too easy depending on the number of poles it has. Premotec makes excellent 24 pole motors, but IIRC a lot of Thorens AC motors are 16 poles - not so easy to find replacements for.

I would be wary of the speed stability of any reasonably priced dc motor based drive. (There are usually one or more lurking on eBay.)

[Tekkir]

Thanks Kev,

Probably good advice on the controllers. I've already come to the same conclusion on care of my present motor, though the spindle is bent. It wobbles and knocks.

Thanks again for the advice,
Bill

[mikvous]

I've once replaced a bent motor spindle (it was an ac motor from a Walker turntable) using a long drill bit cut to size

[tinear]

I have a thorens 160, I havn't used for years. Contact me if you're interested ,let me know what part of the country you live in. tinear

[jonatan]

A backwards rotating ac motor may be an indication that the phase shift capacitor is bad. I'd replace it. Further I would take real good care of the motor you have - replacing it will not be too easy depending on the number of poles it has. Premotec makes excellent 24 pole motors, but IIRC a lot of Thorens AC motors are 16 poles - not so easy to find replacements for.

That sounds great, how can I locate this cap? I have no idea how it looks and with what to replace it.

Would be really awesome if this can be fixed, doesn't sound expensive and I can solder a little so can't be hard considering the joints are pretty large.

[Tekkir]

Sounds like an interesting project, Mik. I'm guessing your machinest skills are far greater than mine, but if I manage to get a replacement motor, I may experiment.
Thanks, Tinear. I'll be in contact.

Bill