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Advice/feedback needed on Morch UP4 setup

I am trying to set up a new Morch UP4 arm on a new Amazon Model One table. I have no experience or exposure to this set up or any experience with setting up arms and carts since the early eighties. The question I have is concerning the lack of stability of the assembly at the pivot point. Should it be loose? I have put the weights on and installed the wand and it is still very unstable at the pivot point. I realize this assembly is riding on a bearing and that it is really the only point of contact but I can't beleive it is not supported laterally somehow. For instance, if I have the arm in it's base along with the prescribed weights on and the wand installed and I pick it up by the head shell with one finger it rotates, or spins, if you will. I hope this question makes sense, if anyone out there has set up a Morch UP4 hopefully you have seen the same. An advice/ experience/ feedback is greatly appreciated.
wdt

Showing 2 responses by dougdeacon

dougdeacon
3,338 posts
 
Ditto on the saveonscales.com recommendation. Also ebay. You can get a .01g digital scale for well under $100. This has been recommended many times here.

The only hitch is that you have to DIY some kind of platform to drop the stylus on, in order to weigh at record height and keep the cartridge away from the often magnetic scale. Your platform can be made with a cut up credit card, a bent strip of (non-ferrous) sheet metal or even a folded piece of paper, depending on your rig.
dougdeacon
3,338 posts
 
Hi Wdt,

The UP-4 is a unipivot, which means the the arm is supported entirely on a single, sharp point resting in a small cup (or possibly the reverse). There is no lateral support of any kind. That would defeat the intention of the design, which is to eliminate bearing friction.

All unipivots rotate about the axis of the armtube when torqued rotationally, as by lifting with the finger lift. This is normal but it does take some getting used to.

The critical thing is that the stylus be vertical when riding in the record groove. This adjustment is called "azimuth". On a UP-4 I believe this is accomplished by rotating one of the counterweights. Hopefully there are instructions for this in the manual.
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