Garrard RC75A and similar Autochangers.

[slidertogrid]

Hi, Some time back I restored an Etronic Radiogram and posted it in "success stories".
Over Christmas it had a few long runs playing pile after pile of 78s, yesterday there was a loud pop and a flash and the deck slowed to a stop. There are four wires from the motor to the deck switch which also has links for voltage adjustment, looking at the motor I found one pair were pulled tight around the motor frame just where they exit the sleeving, this had chafed through one of the wires and had shorted to earth and had blown the wire apart, luckily enough wire was left on the motor for it to be retrimmed and soldered, the motor then still didn't have any continuity between the mains connections however. At first I feared that the windings had been damaged by the short, but each motor winding read ok seperately, one of the screws inside the switch on the link that you move to adjust the voltage was loose, after tightening that all was well.
I had not touched (or checked ) the screws when I fitted the deck so how it worked until it went pop I do not know!
The point of this posting is to say that if you have one of these autochangers it may be worth checking the wiring to see if the wires are tight against the motor frame as it looks to me that mine has been like this from new, it may save you a motor!
regards, Rich.