Parrotbee, I hope there is no blame at all attached to helping with this problem. Certainly none aimed at you or your machinist. Where are you located? Has any further progress been made?
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This is "seat of the pants" thinking, but it seems to me that horizontal movement, if it is only evident when one applies considerable force in the horizontal plane, is not a deal killer. If the tonearm is loose and flopping left to right or etc in the horizontal plane, that is a problem. In my case, the tonearm can be rotated in the horizontal plane but only with considerable effort, and it never moves during actual use, where the drag on the pivot is only in the milligram range, so I decided to forego the repair process, for the time being at least.
Colby Lamb offered to make me a new set screw with a widened "head" such that it tightly occupies the vertical channel in the B60 shaft and thereby prevents wiggle. But he needs the whole part in order to do the job accurately. I don't want to send it to Oregon just now. Thanks to Nandric et al for the alternative cure mentioned above; maybe I will try that since it takes only a few minutes and can be done at my home, 2700 miles from Oregon. After I screw up the screw (or lose it in the carpet or under my work bench), THEN I will have to send it to Colby.
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Chakster, Until now, I did not know where the OP is located. Obviously, his capacity to interact with a machinist in Oregon is limited by geography. However, if a competent machinist knows the parameters (possibly M30X1.0), then the OP may be able to locate one to make this piece for him. OR, as "imhififan" has shown, he may be able to buy the part on line with no fuss. Or, has he contacted you to take advantage of your own kind offer? Cripes, I am in the US, and I buy car parts from the UK all the time; shipping is not THAT crazy, and the parts start out being cheaper and much more available in the UK than here.
As to your own problem with the set screw in the B60, I suggest McMaster and Carr, which is also in the US, but the part is so tiny that shipping probably could be reasonable. Another source is "Mr Metric", on-line. And, Colby Lamb offered to machine for me a special set screw for my B60 similar to the improved version that Nandric had made in Europe. (I think that's correct; with a squared off protrusion at the end to engage the channel in the B60 and thereby eliminate side to side motion.) However, I have delayed that little project because I am so pleased with the FR64S/B60, as is; I don't want to take it apart and be deprived of its use. Or, you're closer to Nandric than you are to Colby Lamb. Funnily, I have bought audio capacitors from Russia and the Ukraine. Shipping to me from those locations is faster than from Canada. (Both the US and Canadian Customs Officials are fanatical; it seems they are not happy unless the border transit takes at least a week.)
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Parrotbee, Metric pitch is not measured in "threads per inch". The inch is not a unit of distance in the metric system. However, one inch = 25.4 mm. The millimeter, etc, IS a unit of distance in metric. If you count 25 threads per inch, that would equate to one thread per mm, which is expressed as a (metric) pitch of 1.0. In the metric system, THAT is a standard pitch, albeit a "fine" pitch for an M30 part. (Metric has "coarse" and "fine", much like SAE.). The platter retaining ring for my SP10 Mk3 is M18X1.0, for another example.
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As I mentioned at the top of the thread (I think), I DO know a machinist who most likely would make this single nut for the OP, if he is given the correct specifications to work from. That is Colby Lamb in Oregon, USA. I can provide contact info, if desired. Colby made me a new threaded retaining ring for my SP10 MK3 platter; without that part it is impossible to fix the platter in place. It sounds like the needed FR nut may be M30 (30mm diameter) with a metric pitch of 1.0.
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Based on my prior experience with re-tooling for Fidelity research and technics products, I guessed earlier that it is metric. 25 threads per inch is just about one thread per millimeter, which is a standard for metric. The thread pitch is 1.0. Of course, I am not there, and I am not a machinist. I don’t want to step on his toes.
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Ummm... Chak, I was just trying to be funny. And I partially disagree with that definition of "thingamajig", having heard and used the term since the 1950s. It refers to an object the correct term for which one either cannot recall at that moment or one does not know. It's a useful shorthand that dates at least to WW2 military, if not before. (I learned it from my WW2 veteran uncle when I was a very young child.) I believe it to be American slang, but it could have emanated from England as well. I have never heard it used in reference to a person.
By the way, it's a "nut" in the sense that it is threaded and the use involves its capacity to fasten two things together.
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I am becoming unstable just reading this thread. Or maybe the correct term is "de-stabilized". But then, I am not a "stable genius".
Having spent a great deal of time in Tokyo, owing to the fact that our dear son has chosen to make Japan his home, I am often amused by the way in which the Japanese interpret and adapt the English language to suit the way their brains work. It would make perfect sense for them to conflate the English words "stabilizer" and "nut", when the term is used to describe a thingamajig that holds a tonearm in place. In some other context, it might be just a nut. Note, according to Uber, that they used both words, just in case.
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That's a very kind offer from Chakster.
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I typed the word “BY” when I meant of course of Buy, in my post above. Most likely this happened because I am speaking into the phone, rather than trying to type with my big fat fingers.
Dover, I certainly could be wrong, but I think the OP is looking for the large nut that goes under the tonearm mounting board and mates to the thread at the end of the vertical shaft of the FR 64. In any case, at least for my FR 64S, the counterweights are not threaded at all. I guess I am making another assumption that a stabilizer is a counterweight.
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It’s likely to be metric.
You could by a thread gauge and possibly luck out with a standard metric pitch. A caliper will give you the diameter.
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