Quote:
Originally Posted by radiotvnut
Let's begin with the turntable. It is a Magnavox Micromatic which was built by Collaro of England. These changers were among the better quality models of the '60's. They use a better quality Electrovoice ceramic cartridge that tracks somewhere around 3-4 grams; so, your records should not wear out very fast on this one. Your speed problem is not normal and is probably due to old dried lubricants in the mechanism and motor. The first thing I'd do would be to take the motor out and clean all the old gunk out and re-oil it. Also make sure that the TT platter turns freely and that the rubber drive wheels turn freely and are in good shape.
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What he said. Sounds like you just need to clean out the old gummed-up lubricant from the motor bearings and re-oil the motor. [Use a lightweight oil designed for small mechanisms-- don't use WD-40]. Watch for gummed up lubricant in the changer mechanism and in any mechanical linkages, but don't apply new oil indescriminantly in the changer mechanism-- only on pivot points and sliding surfaces that originally had lubricant. Also, as radiotvnut says, check the rubber idler wheel while you're at it, especially if the turntable sounds like a cement truck full of rocks, or the changer "stalls" during its cycle.
By the way, the Micromatic/Collaro changers are kinda neat in that they have an interesting intermix mechanism in which the changer "feels" the diameter of the record with an indexing arm (later models used the tone arm itself for this purpose) before dropping the record on the platter.