Goldring G101 Turntable

[Snowy52]

Hello and help please. I am trying to bring this G101 turntable back to life for a friend. The turntable revolves at the correct speed but has a very large amount of wow. Having carefully removed the single screw that secures the spindle from coming out of the bearing housing and separating the spindle from it's housing, I notice that there is a tapered hole in the bottom of the spindle. Should there be a ball bearing for this hole to rest above? The rim of the turntable is extremely close to the baseplate, this makes me think that there is something missing from the bottom of the bearing housing. There is a small circular plate at the bottom prevented from falling out by an internally fitted circlip. A diagram of this assembly would be a great help.

[unitaudio]

Hello, welcome to the forum. I had a long love-hate relationship with one of these decks but never got to the point of having to dismantle the main bearing so I don't know for sure what is supposed to be in there but from the sound of it, I think you are indeed missing a ball bearing, assuming the drive belt isn't stretched.

The thing that makes me think this is that you said the platter is very close to the chassis plate. I don't remember mine being like that (but we're going back to the 1980's) and I vaguely remember a gap of about a quarter of an inch or so.

I know this is all a bit vague but I hope it helps in some way nevertheless.

Regards,
Paul

[Edward Huggins]

Try downloading info from "the vinyl engine". Wow is quite rare on these. Have you replaced the belt? There will still be a few people at Goldring (still at Bury St. Edmunds) who will know about these, Mr. Rudrum may even still be there.

[Nickthedentist]

All good advice.

Shine a torch down the female bit of the bearing. Is there a misplaced ball evident?

Does the male bit of the bearing have a concave indentation in its tip, as if it's meant to have a ball sitting in it?

N.

[Snowy52]

Thanks guys, I think the missing ball is the correct diagnosis. There is no sign of the ball but the spindle is definitely machined concave at the bottom.

The next question is what size would the ball be?

The other issue I have is with the arm lowering device. The long steel arm below the chassis which pivots between two plates would only move so slowly that the arm took 2 minutes to lower onto a record!!!! Having stripped it, cleaned and re-greased it, the arm now lowers much too fast. I have tightened the nut & bolt but to no avail. I'm guessing the grease is the problem, what sort of grease should I use?
Mark.

[sparkymike]

Go on the Lenco /Goldring forum. (Lenco Heaven.)
Mine of information on there about all the Lenco/Goldring decks.
Mike.

[sparkymike]

Just looked on the Lenco site and some of the decks has an 5mm ball bearing under the spindle.
Mike.

[Snowy52]

Thanks everyone, I think I'm getting there.
Mark

[D_S_J_R]

The drive torque was very low indeed on these, so careful choice of cartridge is essential if wow, dynamic or otherwise, isn't to be an issue. A shame they're now totally priced out of this market, but an AT120E tracking at a smidge under 1.5g should be a good match to this arm I think - it's decades since I played with a G101 though, so ancient memories as to the behaviour of the arm. The evergreen AT95E or surprising Rega carbon version of the AT91 should also work well at 1.8g or so.

Sorry if the above is totally unnecessary...

[david freeman]

According to several reviews of the G101 in the mid 1970's, the arm friction was quite high, and only deemed suitable for cartridges tracking around 2.5grammes.

[Snowy52]

I think you're right David, not an arm for anything decent. This one has a Goldring G800 but more often the Goldring 850 was fitted. It's a pretty poor setup, no obvious calibrations on the arm so my stylus force gauge will be needed here to set it up.
Regards
Mark

[Snowy52]

Thanks for all the helpful advice. I have put a 3mm ball into the end of the spindle, with a dab of grease to hold it in place. I made a cap to seal the bottom of the bearing tube using my hot glue gun, building it up a little at a time until a complete cap was formed. Amazingly it now seems to perform as well as might be expected from this budget device. I'm sure my friend will be happy to have it back working.
Regards
Mark