-edible zone-
-- RonWill's Thorens TD125 "Long Base", arrived with shipping damage. Within this page is the story, in pictures, of how the table regained it's former glory. And perhaps a little extra.
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23) This poor thing got abused while shipped
and plinth was in pieces. It was temporarily splinted for this shot.
6) The top front edge of the alum chassis is lop-sided and it's not
due to the suspension!!
14) Obvious isn't it? The sub-panel below
the alum chassis is distorted!! Probably the postal services also
shipped an elephant who stepped on it...or some reckless postal staff...
10) This is the top of the spindle well (where the sub-platter /
spindle goes in), with it's mounting screws.
17) The bottom of
the spindle well, where the spindle bearing rests, is popped open. Can
you imagine the abuse that went unseen.... Next to the well are the
voltage selector, protected with a plastic covering, the motor and
circuit board.
7) Sub-platter with washer-catchment bearing at
the tip...it's fixed & doesn't rotate within the catchment.
11)
The 3 discs that form the base of the spindle well. The black disc with
dimple (at left) meets the spindle bearing. The middle 'flexi-disc' is
an insulator...I guess. The last thicker disc forms the base that we
normally see from beneath the table.
19) Beneath the TD125...it's
about to be stripped naked...Notice the arm-board connected to the alum
chassis's extension?...this board is meant for the SME3012 ;o)
16) This slider switch below the front alum facade is the SPEED selector
21) On/OFF switch + circuit board...and all these are mounted onto
the sub-panel
3) Alum chassis removed and cleaned from oil and
debris.
4) Beneath the alum chassis...se the 3 suspension springs
and guides?
5) Closer view of the suspension springs & rubber
guides.
20) One more shot before the 125 does a striptease. Note
the washer resting in the white suspension 'cup'.
22) Closeup of
the motor, belt guide & pulley. See the 'hole' on the right? This
particular suspension cup was removed with some brute force as
distortion of the sub-panel was the worst at this point. Note the curved
edge of the panel (at top of pic).
18) One of the many shots of
the circuit board. I'm electronically-handicapped and don't want to see
a loose wire hanging around...oops...where should this end go...?
2) ...the knee bone is connected to the thigh bone...sub-panel
stripped clean, and all parts are bagged and labelled...sheesh...what a
mess!
15) sigh....oh what a gap!...
30) Close-up of the
spindle's bottom where the press-fit discs used to be....
10)
Spindle well with screws and discs. Now, how the heck am I supposed to
fix this...??
9) Another view of the open-ended spindle well's
bottom (hmmm...what's with my fetish for bottoms)...
12) Some
trimming was necessary to fit in the 3 discs, without being loose. The
discs were aligned and pressed with an injector clamp press. To
strengthen the base, self-polymerizing clear dental acrylic resin was
used. This also acts as a lubricant sealant.
29) Ah...much
better. Not perfection but close. Look Ma...no gap! With distortion
corrected, the 3 suspension cups now fit nicely and turn freely (no
jam-thread).
24) Re-assembled plinth corners are reinforced with
3" woodscrews...
25) Restored TD125, now spray-painted with black
'pearl' finish. All speeds hold stable and platter spins without rumble
or lateral play. Spindle well is filled with low-viscous air-turbine
bearing oil...will try Mobil-One 0W-30W another time. All I need now is
to fit a nice arm to it!
1,28) All together with SME 3009 Series
2 Improved tonearm, a Shure V15 Type3 LM cartridge, and playing vinyl.
And the TD125 spun vinyl happily ever after......(ed.)
But that's not all....
For further adventures in Thorens
spinning see RonWill's website, Link here:
https://www.angelfire.com/retro/ronwill/hifi.html