I had to remove one of the tonearm bearing screws to rewire the tonearm. Now I have tightened the bearing screw so that I can't feel any clearance in the bearing. I have used a 20mg weight to see if the stylus drops more than 3mm from horizontal position, balance, as described in the manual. My question is how tight does it need to be and which way do I turn the lock nut? (clockwise as the bearing screw is counter-clockwise?)
Thanks for your advice! 🙂
Thanks for your advice! 🙂
Shouldn't be tight, zero preload sounds right to me.
If the locknut is on the adjusting screw thread, it tightens the same way. Tightening a locknut usually introduces slack, so you may have to trial and error a little - get the locknut slightly tight and do the final bearing adjustment then - that removes backlash in the screw.
Be gentle!
If the locknut is on the adjusting screw thread, it tightens the same way. Tightening a locknut usually introduces slack, so you may have to trial and error a little - get the locknut slightly tight and do the final bearing adjustment then - that removes backlash in the screw.
Be gentle!
If it rattles, it's too loose.
If it doesn't rattle, it is too tight.
You want that hyper-thin line between.
As Mark says, this is usually multiple-guess. (It helps if you have adjusted valve tappets.)
If you screw it down SNUG you may ruin it.
If it doesn't rattle, it is too tight.
You want that hyper-thin line between.
As Mark says, this is usually multiple-guess. (It helps if you have adjusted valve tappets.)
If you screw it down SNUG you may ruin it.
Zero balance the arm and place a 1 gram wt. on the head shell and see if it deflects
Dont expect to do this in 5 minutes
If it does not move its too tight and if you cant get to this weight level the bearings are junk
You need to be well under the tracking weight of your cartridge.
Regards
David
Dont expect to do this in 5 minutes
If it does not move its too tight and if you cant get to this weight level the bearings are junk
You need to be well under the tracking weight of your cartridge.
Regards
David
It moves easily, more than 3 mm, when I put 20 mg on the head shell above the stylus tip. The bearing is in top condition, it's like PRR described:"the hyper-thin line between". Will try to follow Mark's instructions. The difficulty is that both bearing screw and lock nut are not that easy to turn. Thanks for your help.