@billwojo
I also bought a Victor 7045 in Japan some time ago and luckily the rubber damper holds the weight very well, so I only sent it for a complete overhaul in a technical laboratory, but I also own a QL7 with the same arm but built in simpler way, where the damper had yielded and the counterweight had dropped dramatically.
I repaired it myself with the rubber gaskets for sealing the taps and it started working excellently.
https://i.postimg.cc/kgGh2X8y/DSCN5962.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/MGDcgxPh/DSCN5956.jpg
If you can make the mold to build your own rubber damper that’s a great idea ... you could do business with manufacturing many rubber dampers for the many UA 7045/7082 arms around the world.
A tip: the vintage tonearms bought used must always be revised if you want to keep them in perfect efficiency as new; bearings with hardened and out of tolerance grease, and a lot of dirt stuck to it... hardened and dried out connecting cables, lifter not work or without siliconic grease and other problems that are not noticed take functionality away from the initial design and the cartridge will never track to the best of its ability.
Around $ 150 should always be budgeted for an overhaul when buying a used vintage arm as they are delicate mechanics like watches; Have you never had your famous brand mechanical watch serviced? I really hope not otherwise it would be very bad.
I also bought a Victor 7045 in Japan some time ago and luckily the rubber damper holds the weight very well, so I only sent it for a complete overhaul in a technical laboratory, but I also own a QL7 with the same arm but built in simpler way, where the damper had yielded and the counterweight had dropped dramatically.
I repaired it myself with the rubber gaskets for sealing the taps and it started working excellently.
https://i.postimg.cc/kgGh2X8y/DSCN5962.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/MGDcgxPh/DSCN5956.jpg
If you can make the mold to build your own rubber damper that’s a great idea ... you could do business with manufacturing many rubber dampers for the many UA 7045/7082 arms around the world.
A tip: the vintage tonearms bought used must always be revised if you want to keep them in perfect efficiency as new; bearings with hardened and out of tolerance grease, and a lot of dirt stuck to it... hardened and dried out connecting cables, lifter not work or without siliconic grease and other problems that are not noticed take functionality away from the initial design and the cartridge will never track to the best of its ability.
Around $ 150 should always be budgeted for an overhaul when buying a used vintage arm as they are delicate mechanics like watches; Have you never had your famous brand mechanical watch serviced? I really hope not otherwise it would be very bad.