My new Technics SL-1310MkII and the famous cueing problem

I just received a 1310MkII in perfect cosmetic condition with the only problem being the cueing failure. Don't have any pics yet as I just opened the carton, confirmed that the seller followed my step-by-step instructions to the letter and that the TT is all in one piece and left it there.

There is lot's of styrofoam pieces around as he removed the platter, counterbalance and headshell and packed them separately and replaced the platter with two pieces of round styrofoam followed by another two rectangular fitting the dustcover that was resting on the plinth with the hinges removed.

Now, my plan is to work on that TT, disassemble the tonearm and discover that cursed upon piece of plastic(?) that breaks causing the cueing failure. I am even ambitious to find a way to repair that and share that experience here with pictures and comments.

Before I venture into this, I welcome any suggestions, ideas and hints in disassemblying the TT. I do have a copy of the service manual.

I look forward to your progress on this table. Its been about a year since I got my 1300MK2 and had it apart. There is a lot of stuff in there for sure. Good Luck

Nice looking turntable SaSi! I considered getting one a while ago and discovered the root of the problem was a broken plastic gear. Over on AudioAsylum there's a thread where some guy found an off the shelf replacement gear and fixed the problem. The thread was hard to find so I may have saved a copy, will take a look for it on my PC.

Here's the thread.

http://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/t.mpl?f=vinyl&m=739688

ChairSpud said:

Nice looking turntable SaSi! I considered getting one a while ago and discovered the root of the problem was a broken plastic gear. Over on AudioAsylum there's a thread where some guy found an off the shelf replacement gear and fixed the problem. The thread was hard to find so I may have saved a copy, will take a look for it on my PC.

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Chair i know that guy and his post was not about that. It was the small gear on the bottom of the arms for the 1600 1700 MKII tables. That problem as to the 1300 or 1310MKII is pretty much a non fixable thing as the one guy who knew how to do it saddly has passed. But I'd be interested in if someone could find a way to fix it.

Stanton681EEES said:

Chair i know that guy and his post was not about that. It was the small gear on the bottom of the arms for the 1600 1700 MKII tables. That problem as to the 1300 or 1310MKII is pretty much a non fixable thing as the one guy who knew how to do it saddly has passed. But I'd be interested in if someone could find a way to fix it.

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Oops, thought the gear was the source. Sorry if I confused things.

Good luck! We're all behind you.

What i've always wondered about those tables. 1300MKII 1400MKII and the 1310MKII and1410MKII is could they be converted to manual tables with an arm change to say a 1200 or 1210 arm? Must be a way to disable the auto function on those.
Good luck.

Stanton681EEES said:

What i've always wondered about those tables. 1300MKII 1400MKII and the 1310MKII and1410MKII is could they be converted to manual tables with an arm change to say a 1200 or 1210 arm? Must be a way to disable the auto function on those.
Good luck.

Click to expand...

The unit came with an original Owners Manual, so I will make sure I have a look at the manual for that.

I really hope that the cue problem on mine is for real and not an issue of drained goo oil or cleaning. It certainly will be complicated in the tonearm assembly from the looks of the service manual exploded view, but in reality one doesn't need to take the thing apart totaly to reach the fault whatever that it.

Now I'm off to work and will take the unit out for initial photos and cleaning in the afternoon.

SaSi said:

The unit came with an original Owners Manual, so I will make sure I have a look at the manual for that.

I really hope that the cue problem on mine is for real and not an issue of drained goo oil or cleaning. It certainly will be complicated in the tonearm assembly from the looks of the service manual exploded view, but in reality one doesn't need to take the thing apart totaly to reach the fault whatever that it.

Now I'm off to work and will take the unit out for initial photos and cleaning in the afternoon.

Click to expand...

Hi from what I've gathered over the time i've been on here and other sources for your sake the drained goo oil or cleaning would be a much better thing. But I'll go out on a limb and say it's probably the cuing issue as it was a terrible design and the replacement was even worse.

ChairSpud said:

Nice looking turntable SaSi! I considered getting one a while ago and discovered the root of the problem was a broken plastic gear. Over on AudioAsylum there's a thread where some guy found an off the shelf replacement gear and fixed the problem. The thread was hard to find so I may have saved a copy, will take a look for it on my PC.

Here's the thread.

http://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/t.mpl?f=vinyl&m=739688

Click to expand...

This is the part that breaks:

Thanks for the picture. Much easier when you know what you are looking for. Am I right to guess that what breaks is the small "pole & flag" thing to the left?

Stanton681EEES said:

What i've always wondered about those tables. 1300MKII 1400MKII and the 1310MKII and1410MKII is could they be converted to manual tables with an arm change to say a 1200 or 1210 arm? Must be a way to disable the auto function on those.
Good luck.

Click to expand...

It's a little slow at work right now so I started looking around for hints on the matter at hand. Unsurprisingly, many of the hits on Google come back to AK. And one of them is this regarding disabling the auto return function. There is a small knob in the back of the tonearm to convert the table to manual.

SaSi said:

It's a little slow at work right now so I started looking around for hints on the matter at hand. Unsurprisingly, many of the hits on Google come back to AK. And one of them is this regarding disabling the auto return function. There is a small knob in the back of the tonearm to convert the table to manual.

Click to expand...

That button disables the auto functions as long as you don't hit "Start" or "Stop" (Don't ask me how I know:sigh: )

SaSi said:

It's a little slow at work right now so I started looking around for hints on the matter at hand. Unsurprisingly, many of the hits on Google come back to AK. And one of them is this regarding disabling the auto return function. There is a small knob in the back of the tonearm to convert the table to manual.

Click to expand...

Yes but will it still function if you replace the arm is my question. In other words if one changes out the arm will the Start/Stop button still function.
Because the way i interpret your reply you'd still have the screwed up cuing the only way to eliminate it i would think is replacing the arm.

I unpacked the TT and thoroughly cleaned it from the smalls balls of styrofoam that were all over the place. Very small price to pay for a TT in cosmetically impeccable condition arriving in one piece without a scratch or a dent. That is hands down the best packed TT I've received. I wonder if the seller is a fellow AK'er. Nah - he wouldn't be selling it...

The table turns and keeps a steady speed even if I touch the platter with my finger. Even if the touch is strong. And swings from 33 to 45 and back in a snap.

The cueing mechanism is shot. The lever doesn't do anything. That "thing" pictured a few posts back is obviously broken. And it appears that the goo fluid is also gone as there is no damping at all. The arm raising "arc" is staying up or down as I move it by hand. And I am suspecting there is a level of "redundant" antiskate even with the dial set to 0. That will need fixing too.

Stanton, as far as I've read the service manual and blowup diagrams, there doesn't seem to be an easy way to replace the tonearm on a 1300MkII. It is mechanically coupled to the set of gears and pulleys under the platter.

The auto-off switch disables the auto-return. Pressing START and STOP really engages the tonearm travel gears, so with the raising mechanism gone it is dangerous to press START or STOP. If someone decides not to fix that tonearm, it is best to cut the cables going to the switches or disable them otherwise. They are not needed as the platter starts turning as soon as the tonearm moves into position.

All-in-all, this TT promises some really interesting evenings on the workbench. I am going to make space tonight for that. Have to move the SL-1210, SL-1510 and RS-7500 out of the way. And as the "storage room" is really "cracking at it's seams", moving the giant deck and two delicate TTs down there is a small project by itself.

I will hopefully have done that by midnight tonight (2:30 hours from now) in time to bring the sick 1310 upstairs for some pictures and a first spin. It has an Ortofon OMB10 of unknown condition.

For the time being, I'm offering a link to a blog page showing the disassembly of an SL-1310MkII for fixing a problem with the solenoids. Nice and detailed pics of the disassembly. They were very helpful to me to figure out quickly how to do the basic disassembly/strip.

EDIT: February 2018
Just noticed that the blog page with the instructions is no longer up. Thankfully I had copied the content and made a word document with the detailed pictures and instructions. It's 4,5MB large and can't post it on the thread. If anyone would like a copy, please PM me with your email and I will send it. for a
Or check post 136 here for a sampled down version in pdf which should get you going.

I seem to be getting better and better in stacking things.

Anyhow, old stuff is gone, space made and the new table is here with photos taken. And still 1 hour to midnight.

The dust cover is in good overall state with a couple of scratches here and there. No scratches on the plinth and the tonearm seems to be fit. My previous impresson of a residual antiskate was false - I didn't have the TT on a flat surface. Now it is perfect.

I attach a few pictures of it as it is now. Still a couple of styrofoam pieces here and there.

Upon close inspection at the cue lever, I noticed that the rod inside the tonearm assembly where the cue lever is attached, shows a small crack. It could be the faulty piece is there.

I think I've identified the offending piece using the picture against the service manual. It is labeled TA17 and it comprises of 3-4 separate pieces all labeled "Lift bar assembly". The name at least seems relevant.

And one last thing. As the TT now becomes warmer in the room, it appears that the cueing dampening kicks back to life slowly. It now lowers the arm slowly when I lift it and leave it there.

I have completed the disassembly according to the instructions found at the link I posted on post 15. It is easier than I expected although that step where the subchasis is unfastened and the TT needs to tumble over is really cumbersome. This is one heck of a heavy TT, even without the platter on.

The tonearm is fastened on the subchasis by means of 3 screws. I removed them and the tonearm can be lifted off the chasis to work with. I repeated the removal - replace a few times to be certain how to put it back and ensure the levers and rods attach together in the right way.

I identified the offending piece of plastic. It is indeed the one shown in the pic Blue Meanie supplied. Only difference is that on my deck the part is white instead of black.

I have inverted the image of the part to make it white and more visible and have marked with red the point where I see it being broken.

I have not yet disassembled the tonearm. It was getting late and not the best time to do such detailed surgery. I will take a few closeup pics this afternoon and work on the tonearm over the weekend.

i own a 1310mk2 i did that pic of the broken part .thried to glue it no chance:thumbsdn:
so i use my tt manual it is good to take the broken part out because it has effect on the friction of the arm when broken

Hi,

I would venture that if someone fabricated that part out of metal, that it would eliminate this issue for the rest of the turntable's life. Someone should consider making a batch of them for Technics owners. There's money to be made here for the enterprising for a beefed up part.

You could be right. I am guessing that aluminium would be strong enough. But there are a few other plastic parts in touch with this one that might fail in case this one can take the punishment. Moreover, the piece *might* need to be elastic in order to work properly. Would Teflon be a good material?

I don't know if this is the case until I disassemble the toneram. More about that in a few hours.