VE is not the most reliable source, either. But that's interesting to know. Perhaps that is where I first noticed the recommendation to use the UA7045 with high compliance cartridges, mentioned above.
Have a Victor UA-7045 tonearm coming
I've been searching for either a Victor UA-7082 or a UA-7045 tonearm ever since I purchased my Victor CL-P2 plinth with two arm boards.
The rear arm is almost ready to go, it's a Audio Technica ATP-12T mounted in a custom aluminum armboard. I also had to machine a bracket to add a Jelco JL-45 tonearm cueing device and a tonearm rest. This should be perfect for my low compliance DL-103.I have been looking at both models of the Victor arms and have posted WTB on several forums, watching Ebay but nothing nice has come up. So for the past month I have been keeping an eye out on the Japanese website Yahoo Buyee and finally saw something I liked. It's a clean looking UA-7045 that should work out nicely.
https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/v741873067?_=cnZxVG5GZVlFQTA3VEZVTDBjQnRCS1RGYWtnTW1ZOTZORUVmb2R...=I won the auction this morning for $202.81, way cheaper than I've ever seen one of these go for. estimated shipping is around $50.00 via DHL. It takes up to two weeks for the seller to get the arm shipped to Buyee and they will inspect and repackage it for shipment via DHL. So in several weeks I'll have this in my hands.
Since I know the spindle to pivot distance I will machine an armboard for it in advance.
Anybody familiar with this series of arms knows all about the rubber damper in the counterweight stub that degrades and causes the dreaded tonearm droop where the weight starts hanging down.
There are two types of this series of arms, those that have the droop (most) and those that will develop it soon. Aging rubber and gravity never let up. Every arm will eventually have this problem.
I've talked to my friend Elliott about this as he had one of these arms for a short time. He sent me a sketch of a rubber piece that he made from hardware parts that he used to fix his. Between Elliott and the internet I found enough info to figure out how this comes apart but I'm not entirely happy with the fix. Since Victor can't supply the rubber dampers I've been thinking about possibly making a mold and casting them out of urethane. I have samples of urethane coming to me from a supplier so I can compare the hardness of the rubber bushing to the urethane samples to find a close matching durometer value.
The mold will be a simple affair, machined out of aluminum. I need to dig out a vacuum pump buried in my garage to see if it works and I found a vacuum chamber on Ebay for 50 bucks.
Once I get the arm I'll pull the stub off and get some critical measurements and work from there. I can even do a temporary fix on the stub until I have a decent result as I have never cast urethane before.Anyway, I'm very excited to be getting this tonearm and at least one member here (chakster) talks very highly of it.
BillWojo
The rear arm is almost ready to go, it's a Audio Technica ATP-12T mounted in a custom aluminum armboard. I also had to machine a bracket to add a Jelco JL-45 tonearm cueing device and a tonearm rest. This should be perfect for my low compliance DL-103.I have been looking at both models of the Victor arms and have posted WTB on several forums, watching Ebay but nothing nice has come up. So for the past month I have been keeping an eye out on the Japanese website Yahoo Buyee and finally saw something I liked. It's a clean looking UA-7045 that should work out nicely.
https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/v741873067?_=cnZxVG5GZVlFQTA3VEZVTDBjQnRCS1RGYWtnTW1ZOTZORUVmb2R...=I won the auction this morning for $202.81, way cheaper than I've ever seen one of these go for. estimated shipping is around $50.00 via DHL. It takes up to two weeks for the seller to get the arm shipped to Buyee and they will inspect and repackage it for shipment via DHL. So in several weeks I'll have this in my hands.
Since I know the spindle to pivot distance I will machine an armboard for it in advance.
Anybody familiar with this series of arms knows all about the rubber damper in the counterweight stub that degrades and causes the dreaded tonearm droop where the weight starts hanging down.
There are two types of this series of arms, those that have the droop (most) and those that will develop it soon. Aging rubber and gravity never let up. Every arm will eventually have this problem.
I've talked to my friend Elliott about this as he had one of these arms for a short time. He sent me a sketch of a rubber piece that he made from hardware parts that he used to fix his. Between Elliott and the internet I found enough info to figure out how this comes apart but I'm not entirely happy with the fix. Since Victor can't supply the rubber dampers I've been thinking about possibly making a mold and casting them out of urethane. I have samples of urethane coming to me from a supplier so I can compare the hardness of the rubber bushing to the urethane samples to find a close matching durometer value.
The mold will be a simple affair, machined out of aluminum. I need to dig out a vacuum pump buried in my garage to see if it works and I found a vacuum chamber on Ebay for 50 bucks.
Once I get the arm I'll pull the stub off and get some critical measurements and work from there. I can even do a temporary fix on the stub until I have a decent result as I have never cast urethane before.Anyway, I'm very excited to be getting this tonearm and at least one member here (chakster) talks very highly of it.
BillWojo
Showing 14 responses by lewm
I think it's one of those cases where someone at some time mentioned here that the UA7045 was suitable for high compliance cartridges, and from that moment forward it became a "fact". I was surprised to read that statement, because by eye the UA7045 appears to be at best medium mass, maybe even high mass. But I also have not been able to find actual data. |
Greg, unfortunately getting the turntable to operate properly might be more complex and expensive than fixing your tonearm. However, the number one guru for DD TT repair is JP Jones. He can be found at fidelis analog, his website. As to the tonearm problem, maybe BIllwojo can help you. This thread is more than a year old, but maybe by now Bill has machined the needed rubber or rubbery parts to fix your tone arm, if it’s only problem is a floppy counterweight. Contrary to what Chakster insists, there is absolutely no reason why you cannot do a proper repair yourself. Removing the counterweight assembly is very easy to do. Just be sure you do not lose any of the tiny screws that one must remove. |
Chak, You've expressed one man's opinion.... Your own. I would not agree categorically that vintage tonearms are more "beautiful" than modern tonearms (whatever that means in describing a device that is actually a tool). Modern tonearms do tend to look different from vintage tonearms in the sense that materials science has advanced over time, allowing for the use of new plastics, carbon fiber, and wood that was not practicable 40-50 years ago. |
Elliot, No need to apologize for being curt. I enjoy these discussions, and I view them as a way to learn from others here. We are a very tiny fraternity of people who have even the slightest interest in most of these subjects, so vigorous debate makes us all better. Your latest post is such a bewildering panoply of statements that I agree with and statements that I find completely incorrect that I will not try to dissect it all right now. But your opening statement was this: "It is NOT the grooves that make the inner motion, it is a natural force that occurs, and is proportional to tracking force." Please tell me what is the "natural force"? VTF does affect the magnitude of the skating force in that higher VTF generates more friction in the groove. But without the force of friction (which is impossible in the real world) there would be zero skating force. I don't really care how many blank LPs one can buy on Amazon, nor do I care how many others set AS using a blank LP, the fact is that using a blank LP is not a rigorous way to set AS, because of the lack of grooves. Your alignment protractor, while it is probably fine when used as an alignment protractor, is an even worse tool for setting AS, because so far as I can tell, it is not made of vinyl. Hence the coefficient of friction between its surface and a diamond stylus is going to be different from that of vinyl to diamond. Now, when all is said and done, setting AS is always going to be sloppy, because during the course of playing an LP, the skating force is constantly varying in magnitude all across the surface of an LP, if you are using a conventional pivoted tonearm. Thus there is no one perfect setting for AS, which is why illogical methods for setting AS can sometimes "work". But it's best to understand at least the theory behind the process. |
Elliot, I am not sure what you are recommending, so maybe I am off base
in the following statement. If you are recommending setting AS using a
smooth, i.e., grooveless, portion of an LP, or a test LP that has no
grooves at all, or that alignment protractor which is not even made of vinyl, seen in the URL you cited, then I suggest this is not a good idea. Because the
skating force (the force you are trying to counter when you set the AS
force) is caused by the friction force of the stylus tip in the groove.
An LP with no grooves does not accurately reproduce the skating force
you are trying to equalize. Moreover, that alignment protractor you've recommended is not even made of vinyl, so it's a worse tool for setting AS than even a blank LP. Apologies if I have misunderstood your
previous post. |
Bill, In days of yore, some advised setting AS equal to VTF, but I think in this "modern" era, no one would advise you to do that. Now will come a flood of advisories on AS, but what I do is to start out with the most minimal amount of AS that is achievable with the particular tonearm I am using. If I hear distortion in the L channel, I will tick up the amount of AS until that distortion goes away. The required amount of AS is always way less than VTF. This is all by ear. |
I'll have to take mine apart to see what you are talking about. It's only apparent from the outside that there is the one black rubbery donut that creates the decoupling of the joint to the shaft that holds the CW. Do you mean to say there is another non-metallic part inside? Have you got a schematic or diagram? My 7045 is not in use, so I haven't had to worry about it. I replaced it in the context of my QL10 with a Fidelity Research FR64S. (QL10 = TT101 + plinth + tonearm, originally either a 7045 or 7082.) |
Bill, Now I am not sure what it is you want to replace. I had assumed you are talking about the rubber (I used the word "rubber" as a catch-all; I did not mean to insist on rubber in the formal sense) donut that provides decoupling of the CW assembly. So what are you referring to when you say, " if the square head of the bolt touches the small collar that holds the assembly in place than you have lost the damper effect"? Obviously you would choose a replacement part that does the job right. Incidentally, these days you can buy O-rings made from just about any variant on rubber that makes sense. Just go on-line to McMaster-Carr or there is another site that specializes in O-rings per se. Neoprene and urethane and etc are probably available. In fact, it would probably be more difficult to buy an O-ring made of conventional "rubber", if you wanted to. By the way, I have written this elsewhere many times in the face of Chakster’s insistence that the CW has to stick out the back like a full-blown erection, there is some mechanical advantage to having a slight droop such that the center of mass of the CW lies in the plane of the LP. If you notice the design of modern tonearms, like the Triplanar and the Reed and etc, that’s how they do it intentionally. |
Here you go, urethane O-rings up the yin-yang:https://www.theoringstore.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=367_454 |
Bill, in my opinion, you are way overthinking this. I would just go to a good hardware store and find a tiny O-ring of the proper size that does the job. Although I have never yet replaced the rubber donut in my own 7045, I have seen that most good hardware stores have O-rings that would work. I see no need to be anal about casting a perfect replica. |