ELAC Miracord TT -share all about 'em

[monkboughtlunch]

Hey Monk, finally got it apart . Alright, in Larry's tutorial he mixed a couple of drops of oil in with the Permatex if I'm not mistaken. I don't really see it as a necessity, but you can if you want. Make sure the oil is the blue cap motor bearing oil and not the standard 3 in 1. I used a light film of oil on the spindle, no grease. As for the cam, I didn't remove it completely, mine wasn't nearly as dirty as yours. I just lubed the shaft with a drop or two of oil and cleaned the old grease off where I could and applied a bit of Permatex to it. While I was in there I applied a couple of drops of oil to the motor bushings and wrapped it up. Hope that helps. Mike

Thanks! Before I put the bearings and two washers back on, there is a fixed, non-removable metal piece that makes contact with the bottom bearing washer (see picture below). Does grease go on that fixed piece or does it stay dry?

 

[monkboughtlunch]

I used a light film of oil on the spindle, no grease.

It looks like Larry greased that metal tube. See below. Is oil the better way to go?

 

[likebike23]

Monk, you are having what my wife likes to call "analysis paralysis" lol. It certainly can't hurt to put a thin film of grease on it for corrosion resistance at the least. Dude, don't sweat it so much, these tables haven't had this much love for over 40 years and they still work! Put it back together before you break something for God's sake . Oh yeah, enjoy .

 

[malden]

It's hard to go wrong with a Shure M91 on a classic changer.

The M91 tracks between .75 and 1.5 grams. For a changer, I would go with a M93 which tracks between 1.5 and 3 grams.

 

[dlucy]

I've found an original copy of the ELAC Miracord 50H II service manual in English. I've sent a scan to VinylEngine, so it should appear there whenever they get the time to process it. If you are desperate for a copy before then, please send me a PM.

 

[monkboughtlunch]

Put it back together before you break something for God's sake . Oh yeah, enjoy .

LOL. I'm beginning to regret I attempted this. I've completed lubricating and greasing the unit but now have playback issues. Maybe some experts can help:

• When I plug the table in to test it, the platter begins spinning right away
• I press the stop button or move the tonearm back to the rest, the platter continues to turn

I also noticed a small spacer came loose. I believe it may go under the cam wheel. Does anyone know how to remove the cam wheel? Does the push button assembly have to be removed to get access to it?

 

[AnthonyL]

Don't regret! I spent 2 weeks with my Miracord 750 mk II, There were so many issues. I had the no stop too, and it is relatively easy to solve, although isn't covered anywhere I could find, including the service manual!!!?@?!@?

Try this:

1. Unplug and remove the platter
2. Press the stop button
3. Turn the spindle by hand, until you're at the very end of the cam stroke (i.e. the end of the cycle where the gear is engaged). You should notice an armature that moves to depress the stop switch. This is observable from looking at the top! The stop mechanism is on the top left under the platter, but the adjustment for it is off to the right.
4. On the adjustment, loosen the screw, move the armature so that the stop mechanism is fully engaged at the end of the cam stroke.
5. Tighten the screw and repeat the above procedure. You should see that even after you've rotated the spindle past the end of the cycle (cam stroke) that the stop mechanism stays in place. If so :
5a. Press 12, then continue to rotate the spindle. The stop mechanism should disengage, and the tone arm should move to around where a 12" record would start.
5b. Plug it in and verify that when stop mechanism is engaged, the motor isn't spinning.
if not: repeat the above procedure until end of cycle again, then increase your adjustment.

Notes:
- You might want to experiment with the stop mech. to see how far it needs to be in order to actually cut off the motor.

- It will take a bit of scratching your head to figure out how the adjustment works. Took me 10 minutes of ah hah moments to understand it.

- If you remove the platter and post a photo of your unit, I'll highlight the areas I'm talking about. A picture is worth 10,000 words.

Good Luck!

 

[likebike23]

@monkboughtlunch: Just to add something, be careful before you do any adjustment. Make sure that it is in fact out of adjustment and not something else like a pinched wire or a part that got captured during your previous service. Observe the mechanism as Anthony suggested first and try to identify the cause.

As for your spacer that you found, it sounds like you didn't remove the cam so how could it have come from under the cam? It most likely is from somewhere else. If you can find an exploded parts diagram it might help you ID the part and its location.

I was joking about stopping before you break something, but there is a grain of truth in there. I was a copier tech for a number of years and things can and do go wrong. There were a lot of times that a new problem was created from servicing something. Often it was an error in reassembly. Before you start, it's always a good idea to have a good grasp on how well a machine runs before servicing it. I also learned not to just make adjustments to "solve" problems, it usually just masked the real issue. There were guys who would mess with adjustments and never fix anything, they were known as "tweekers". Finally, sometimes less is more when fixing machines. I would always tell new trainees that if you go looking for problems where there are none you will eventually cause them. Good luck, Mike.

 

[monkboughtlunch]

Hi AnthonyL and likebike23,

Thanks for your help. Please find photos below.

To clarify, on Saturday, I did attempt to remove the cam wheel to grease the underside (per the recommendation in Larry's 2009 write up). Unfortunately, there are no instructions on how to remove the cam wheel. I was only able to lift it partially. it was blocked by that black metal piece connected to the pushbuttons. So I removed the c clips from the long rod in pushbutton assembly (see last picture below to see the rod I am referring to) to try to move the black arm that was preventing the cam wheel from lifting off. This allowed me to lift the cam wheel a bit more but I still couldn't remove it. So I reassembled everything. When I buttoned everything up I found the spacer that had fallen out of the turntable. I'm wondering if the spacer (see picture of it below) is part of the cam assembly. Could this cause the issues I'm experiencing, or do I have multiple issues at play? If the spacer is part of the cam assembly, I need to figure out how to remove the cam wheel and reseat the spacer.

If you shine a flashlight under your cam wheel and view it from the side, do you see a brass spacer under the cam wheel similar to mine?

 

[AnthonyL]

Here we go! The blue circle is the stop mechanism. At the end of the cam cycle on STOP, the
lever should engage enough to switch the motor off. The red circle is the adjustment. If it doesn't, loosen the adjustment screw, and manually slide the stop lever in the blue circle until the switch is engaged. Test again. Good luck, and nice table.

 

[monkboughtlunch]

Before you start, it's always a good idea to have a good grasp on how well a machine runs before servicing it. Good luck, Mike.

Confirming all features worked 100% before I began the lubrication / regreasing process. Before I removed the correct third nut, I had turned that larger incorrect nut. See below. What is function of the larger nut and what is impact of turning it either direction?

 

[monkboughtlunch]

For posterity, I'll share some pictures of the bearings and cut out switch. This is a 10H. There were 9 ball bearings.

Below: Original grease.



Below: cleaned with isopropyl alchohol



Below: bearings in alcohol bath



Below: reassembled with white lithium grease and a few drops of 3 in 1 oil



Below: Cutout switch as found (note green corrosion)



Below: cutout switch after DeOxit

 

[AnthonyL]

Also, on your cam wheel, if you weren't able to remove it with all linkage and other gears clear, the original grease might be seized (becomes like glue over time). Mine was seized, and as soon as the cam gear was engaged the motor didn't have the force to move it. If you have this problem, but only if because it's a pain, strip it back down again, and apply a heat gun on low setting for 5 seconds at a time until the gear is is freed. You will notice that it becomes very easy to turn as it heats up. When it cools it will turn back into glue! Rotate the cam gear back and forth and gently lift it off the shaft, clean the shaft and center hole of the gear with alcohol and a toothbrush to remove the old grease. Then grease the shaft and re-assemble. Take lots of pictures along the way because there's lots of things going on there.

On the bright side, at the end of all of this love you're putting in, you'll have a very good table that will last 2 lifetimes! These things were really built to last and require minimal maintenance.

 

[AnthonyL]

Confirming all features worked 100% before I began the lubrication / regreasing process. Before I removed the correct third nut, I had turned that larger incorrect nut. See below. What is function of the larger nut and what is impact of turning it either direction?

View attachment 897250

That is the adjustment for the cam stroke. When I replied I assumed you were servicing a non working unit. In this case, before attempting the process to adjust I explained above, try to loosen the small nut, and back the large nut out 5 turns at a time, locking it in place with the little nut each time. Each time, go through the process of hand turning the spindle through the cam cycle to see if the stop works.

 

[monkboughtlunch]

Also, on your cam wheel, if you weren't able to remove it with all linkage and other gears clear, the original grease might be seized (becomes like glue over time).

To clarify, I could lift the cam wheel up half an inch. What was stopping it from coming off completely was black arm over it per below picture:

 

[AnthonyL]

To clarify, I could lift the cam wheel up half an inch. What was stopping it from coming off completely was black arm over it per below picture:

View attachment 897265

OK, so if it aint broke then don't fix it Focus on getting the STOP to work, and everything else hopefully will fall into place.

 

[monkboughtlunch]

OK, so if it aint broke then don't fix it Focus on getting the STOP to work, and everything else hopefully will fall into place.

What about the mystery brass spacer? Is there one under your cam wheel (i.e. the side of the cam wheel facing up toward the platter). If you shine a flashlight from the side, do you see a spacer? Thanks!

 

[AnthonyL]

What about the mystery brass spacer? Is there one under your cam wheel (i.e. the side of the cam wheel facing up toward the platter). If you shine a flashlight from the side, do you see a spacer? Thanks!

I don't see it anywhere, but our models are different. Is it the same inner diameter as the bearings you packed? Perhaps it's part of the spindle assembly? You would have had to have removed it, I can't imagine it would come off accidentally.

 

[monkboughtlunch]

Were you able to lift the cam wheel completely off? If so, what were the steps?

 

[AnthonyL]

Were you able to lift the cam wheel completely off? If so, what were the steps?

That black lever sitting on top needs to be removed. To do that, there is a pin that runs through the bank of buttons. It has a C clip on the end of it. Carefully remove the C clip, then slide the pin out. Then you can remove the lever. Once the lever is off the cam wheel can be removed to clean and lube.