Tone arm cueing problem on technics sl 1210

The cueing mechanism should lift and lower the tone arm regardless of whether there is oil in the cylinder or not. The silicon oil is used to dampen the movement. If the lever does not operate the tonearm, then there is mechanical damage under the platter.

the anti-skate is set wrong, this stops the arm skatting on to the label in the middle of the record & destroying your stylus tip.

I've seen this on technics turntables before. Try tightening the screw on the arm.

the auto stop mechanism needs adjusting

Your tonearm might be damaged.

- OPTiC

Technics DJ Repair Videos
Technics DJ Repair
Technics DJ Parts
DJ Parts
DJ Equipment Sales
Audio Video Accessories

I have also had this problem with the same model turntable. I opened mine up and the problem seems to have been that the grease on the arm lift and cueing lever was gumming up the linkage between the two. (I suspect that my turntable hadn't been used in some time.) I managed to free up the parts by manually working the the arm lift (pressing it down) several times. I'm not sure that I needed to open up the chasis for this fix but it did help me to see what was going on. Good luck with yours.

Tim Orange

IMO the problem can be solved in 2 ways, either move the counterweight on the back of the arm towards the turning point of the arm ( by just adjusting it 10 - 20 % of an whole spin you can adjust a lot), or buy an other needle which is heavier then this one...

Uh, hold the black headshell with one hand. With the other, twist the bumpy ringlock on the tonearm gently clockwise. Slide the cartridge out. You should be facing the TT.

Balancing the tone arm is a two step process. Set the needle weight adjustment to zero(0) and make sure that the tone arm is balanced. It should rest horizontally without touching anything. Next, set the needle weight (usually 1.5 grams). Both adjustments should be on the rear of the tone arm. That should cause the tone arm to drop toward the record and have the correct pressure for the needle. Also, check the anti-skate adjustment. If that is off, the behavior you describe will occur as well.

Dan

It's very hard to get those screws aligned and tightened correctly. They are machine calibrated with the precise amount of torque. Once they become loose, it's very hard to get them back to original factory settings. Also, those screws are conical screws, which means they have a cone shaped tip on them. That cone shaped section sits on 4 very small ball bearings which balance the tonearm. There is a very thin piece of sheet metal which protects the ball bearings and keeps them aligned, if any of these parts are damaged, or bent in any way, your tonearm is damaged.

Unfortunately, if you can't get the balance correct, you will have to replace the tonearm. You can buy a new TONEARM HERE, however, replacing it, is a whole other process and not recommended if you have no soldering experience, as you could damage your unit even more.

Hope this helps.

- The 1200s Experts