Micromatic teardown & rebuild

MY neighbor asked me to help out with her micromatic table. i got there ant the tone arm was wired up but the counter weight was off and the tonearm was detached from the assembly. she lost both screws for attaching the counterweight and the tonearm itself. any thoughts on what size screws i'm going to need?
 
larryderouin said:
The big wheel (at the bottom as you face it from the front) is the cycling acctuator. It sound;s like it's hung up part way thru the cycle. Carefully turn it CLOCKWISE until the tonearm sets back in the holder.

Then go thru it all AGAIN, and get rid of the "marine grade" grease. Too Heavy for the mechanism. you wouldn't put Wheel bearing grease in your engine crankcase.

The Micromatic will/should self center when it's run thru a cycle, either manually or by the motor.

Replace the motor mounts, and the idler wheel. www.thevoiceofmusic.com has them.

ONLY USE WHITE LITHIUM GREASE and light machine oil on it. NOTHING ELSE.
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Great thread Larry, I'm still looking for schematics for the Maggy I picked up. I checked out Yahoo groups and couldn't quite figure it out. Is it part of the Audio Asylum?

Kennyg
 
Nice one Larry! Having done many Zenith (VM) changers this was my first foray into the Callaro. Your guide would make a great slideshow on Youtube.........cheers!
 
Hey Larry, have you ever had any problems with the switch itself, mine just recently decided that it has either too much play or spring tension and will fall about 1 degree below ON and will cut power to the table as if I moved the switch to off.

Any help would be great as I've been unable to figure out how to take the switch apart since it seems like it's riveted in.
 
I know this thread started 10 years ago, but I thought I'd drop in to say that the OPs instructions and photos were indispensable in getting an early 60's Micromatic back up and running in a Magnavox portable I picked up from a thrift store. Thanks!
 
Hello! Thank you so much for these instructions. They have been very helpful already. I bought a 1961 Micromatic a couple days ago. It was clunky and running slow. I've done a partial disassembly and cleaning/regreasing, and it's already running smoother, but it's still slow. I'm going to clean and oil the motor next.

But a question about the drive wheel: I removed the screws (2 screws in mine) from the reject wheel shaft, but the wheel won't pull off. Should it be that easy? Or is there something else locking it in place.

Thanks.
 
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I know this is a pretty old thread. The instructions are excellent! I am however having a bizarre problem after tearing down, cleaning, lubing & reassembling: The changer works perfectly except for when there is no record detected and it should shutoff. If I cycle the cam manually, everything works perfectly. However, if the motor drives the drive wheel or I try to cycle the cam quickly to simulate the speed at which the motor makes it cycle, it behaves as though there is still a record present, albeit a very small record, and returns to play instead of returning to the rest post and shutting off. Again, no problem if I somewhat slowly cycle the main cam by hand. Any thoughts on why the positioning finger is not following the proper path on the cam when no record is detect?
 
mrclean98 said:
I know this is a pretty old thread. The instructions are excellent! I am however having a bizarre problem after tearing down, cleaning, lubing & reassembling: The changer works perfectly except for when there is no record detected and it should shutoff. If I cycle the cam manually, everything works perfectly. However, if the motor drives the drive wheel or I try to cycle the cam quickly to simulate the speed at which the motor makes it cycle, it behaves as though there is still a record present, albeit a very small record, and returns to play instead of returning to the rest post and shutting off. Again, no problem if I somewhat slowly cycle the main cam by hand. Any thoughts on why the positioning finger is not following the proper path on the cam when no record is detect?
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I had a similar issue after my disassembly and cleaning. I put a lot of effort into the remounting and aligning of the tonearm as well. The autochanger seemed to want to cycle without a record mounted, :dunno: then turn off. Rechecked all the gearing, and could not find "the issue".

Fortunately, I had on stand-by an inexpensive TT, non-magnetic cartridge mount :naughty: that allowed me to connect to the OEM console location.. and play quite well. After all that, it still sounded ))) mediocre ((( :idea: but returned the console to full function. Actually, I am more fascinated by the "air induction" remote and auto search tuner.. far ahead of its time for a 60s model but I guess standard if you had the $$ :king: to purchase this console.
 
50nstillhifi said:
I had a similar issue after my disassembly and cleaning. I put a lot of effort into the remounting and aligning of the tonearm as well. The autochanger seemed to want to cycle without a record mounted, :dunno: then turn off. Rechecked all the gearing, and could not find "the issue".

Fortunately, I had on stand-by an inexpensive TT, non-magnetic cartridge mount :naughty: that allowed me to connect to the OEM console location.. and play quite well. After all that, it still sounded ))) mediocre ((( :idea: but returned the console to full function. Actually, I am more fascinated by the "air induction" remote and auto search tuner.. far ahead of its time for a 60s model but I guess standard if you had the $$ :king: to purchase this console.
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I believe I figured out what the problem was, although I haven't had a chance to test it in full operation yet. As I noted, the problem seemed to be speed related and showed itself when the main cycle cam was being driven by the drive wheel / motor. I could replicate it by quickly cycling the main cam manually. However, when cycled by hand slower it worked properly. I just happened to see in the Magnavox Service Manual under "Sub-Plate Removal and Replacement": It will be necessary to realign the Drive Wheel so that it contacts the motor pulley exactly in the center of the 45 RPM step. When reassembled the Drive Wheel ends up fully bottomed on the Drive Pinion without any adjustment, perfectly lining up with the 78 RPM step on the motor pulley, which is where I thought it was supposed to be. DUH!! This will definitely make a difference in the speed of the change cycle and should correct the problem. Will probably be a week or so until I have a chance to install back in the console and fully test, but feel reasonably confident this should fix the problem.
 
larryderouin said:
The later tonearm as shown in the above tutorial is a Magnavox 560345 which is one of the most common cartridges for that arm type. The modern equivalents are an ASTATIC 165 or Pfanstiel P-134 The stylus # is 557.

For the older type (black bakelite) Needle #365. Cartridge Electro-voice 149, 158, or 242.

This is what I've found based on 4 different models ( 1p3642,1p3700,1p3412(all newer) and 1st693(older)). The older types are all same shape, but different output voltages. Which one you get would depend on what the model of the console is.

All info was derived from Turntablesneedles.com. Other vendors will have other brands, etc.

I did see at one time, and can't remember where I saw it, a modification of the tonearm to fit a stanton 400 into the newer tonearm. It's supposed to work fairly well and without having to use a preamp.



Larry
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I bought the cartridge and 4 wire and pin set for my magnavox micromatic w604-11-0c. Someone had removed all the wiring and cartridge in the tone arm. There are only 2 braided copper wires coming from the underneath jacks. How do you connect 4 cartridge wires to the 2 braided copper wires? Do you have a wiring diagram? are 2 of the wires grounds?
 
Bumping this old thread... I recently reworked a Magnavox W620 turntable for a friend. The turntable worked fine on the bench, but when reinstalled in the console, the timing is off; the record drops after the arm comes over, and the auto shutoff isn't working properly. Is there any field fix for this, before I get him to return it? Seems like something got knocked out of place in transit. It's 60 miles away, so I can't run right over and look at it.
 
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