Sanyo Music Centre platter removal suggestions please

[Jolly 7]

Here is a Sanyo music centre I have acquired over the weekend. There are a couple of issues with it. The radio and cassette player are working pretty ok, but the record player isn't. I have very limited experience of record players and was expecting to see a broken or slipped belt, but couldn't see any. I can hear the motor(grey, bottom right hand corner) turning when I lift the tonearm, but the platter isn't turning. I am not sure how to investigate further and what the likely cause of the platter not turning could be. Can anyone please advise. Pictures attached. Thanks.

[teetoon]

Hello. This turntable is a rim drive type so there will be a rubber wheel underneath the platter.
If you look at the turntable bearing from underneath as in your 3rd picture there is a clip which looks a bit like half a paper clip. This should slide off and the turntable will then lift off.
Its possible that the linkage that changes the speed has become sticky with old grease and is not free to move stopping the drive wheel from making contact. Hopefully when you get the platter off it will be easy to see what is happening.

David.

[Jolly 7]

Hi David
I was able to get the platter off very quickly, thanks to your most helpful instructions. I found that the rubber idler wheel is not making contact with the moving motor spindle. Some further pictures attached. Which parts are the linkages please ?

[teetoon]

Can you turn the speed control or is it stuck ? If it's stuck, just give it a wiggle and try to see what is not moving fully underneath.
You can also try to move the wheel and see if it feels stuck. It should be free to move toward the motor spindle and turntable rim.

[Jolly 7]

Wow. That's so helpful. I was confused by the speed change button and the knob projection is not the speed selector, the black marks on the knob are. No wonder the rubber wheel was not making contact with the motor, silly me.😃 I have put everything back together and am now to able to listen to my small selection of 33 RPM records. Wonderful. I have some other questions but will leave these for another day. Many thanks David.

[teetoon]

Well done, it's easy to mis read controls you are not used to. Really good when you get them working.
I hope you have fun with it, you can always get good advice here on these players which seem to come up quite often on the forum.

Edit: one last thing, I think you are supposed to select the speed control to one of the off positions when not in use, so that the idler wheel is not against the spindle as it would cause an indentation on the wheel. This would make a bump as it passed the spindle and spoil the sound.
Hope this makes sense.
David.

[Restoration73]

In case you are unaware of the history of the stylus fitted (it may be of concern if worn)
replacements are available;
https://www.musonic.co.uk/index.php?...enid=uca2tj9dl

[Jolly 7]

Thank you. The stylus seems to be working fine for now, but has a small amount of greening in the middle, maybe because of poor storage. My experience of records is limited, but it seems some are playing better than others. Did record manufacturing quality or materials vary, similar to audio cassettes ?

[Restoration73]

The very basic nature of the deck may not permit the full evaluation of vinyl quality i.e.
it will be subjective, but as a generalisation a good pressing with minimal wear will
sound better than a poor one, especially if compounded by wear. A good example
would be old juke box 45s that have had many repeated plays. With few exceptions
vinyl mass production could lack quality control although this improved greatly by the
point at which CDs took over. This subject is too large for one posting!

[ben]

Bear in mind that these units are little more than toys aimed at use in bedrooms for playing 45s on. The arms lack any kind of counterweight and antiskate and track heavily. In the ones I've seen there was considerable 'play' in the crude bearings used. The cartridge has fairly poor compliance, being based on an ancient TC8 design. Not a deck to play rare or valuable LPs on!

[kirstyd]

when lifting off the turntable take care not to loose the small ball bearing thats at the bottom of the turntable shaft

[Jolly 7]

Oh..I don't remember seeing it but I'll look for it where I dismantled it. It's playing records ok even without the half paperclip retainer, but the tonearm is quite wobbly and won't automatically return to its resting position (wonder if this set is meant to do that anyway, seeing it's so basic).

Originally Posted by teetoon

Well done, it's easy to mis read controls you are not used to. Really good when you get them working.
I hope you have fun with it, you can always get good advice here on these players which seem to come up quite often on the forum.

Edit: one last thing, I think you are supposed to select the speed control to one of the off positions when not in use, so that the idler wheel is not against the spindle as it would cause an indentation on the wheel. This would make a bump as it passed the spindle and spoil the sound.
Hope this makes sense.
David.

Great tip, thanks. By the way, is there anything I could do to prolong the lifespan of the rubber on the idler wheel ?

[ben]

Originally Posted by Jolly 7

Oh..I don't remember seeing it but I'll look for it where I dismantled it. It's playing records ok even without the half paperclip retainer, but the tonearm is quite wobbly and won't automatically return to its resting position (wonder if this set is meant to do that anyway, seeing it's so basic).

No auto return on these!

As I said above, in all those I've seen there was wobble on the arm due to the poor design and/or construction. For this reason, performance is pretty ropey and caution is advised before playing cherished LP records on it.