SME 3012 circa 1969 cueing mechanism

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I have one of these with an Ortofon SPU Gold [Van den Hul retipped]

The silicon damping fluid in the cue mechanism has dried up which means that I dare not let the arm auto descend - unless I want to watch the arm bounce up and down on the record until the cantilever breaks.

Has anyone ever replaced the fluid in the cueing mechanism?

It used to be a factory job but SME no longer services the 3009 etc range so I have been told.

I supect you can't actually open the shell to replenish the damping fluid.
 
Hi
As far as i remember the vertical "pin" in the lift is threaded so You can unscrew it and get new fluid in. But i think You would get the field sevice manual from:mailto:service@sme.ltd.uk (The SPU and 3012 combination i think still is about as good as it gets )
 
I've done it a few times. Don't remember many details other than it was really hard to open it and you need the highest possible viscosity (1000000?) silicone oil. I never managed to get such thick oil but after the repair it worked like a dream anyway.
 
Hi,

I never managed to get such thick oil but after the repair it worked like a dream anyway.

Neither have I but I used the thickest grade I could order from the pharmacy and that worked just as well.

If it's the same grade as the one used in the damping trough of the arm itself then I still have an original container from SME in case anyone's desperate...

Cheers,😉
 
I did this some years ago with my old 3009 SME. I used 1000000 silicon oil, but 500000 is also ok. You have to dismantle the lever mechanismus by screwing out the 2 little screws on the topside of the lever and putting up the cover and fill in a tiny quantity of such oil. it works fine then

regards
hsort
 
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