OK Luca, there is one other solution but this one is a little tricky. If you were to bend the head shell just a little downwards at the front this with increase the VTA a little allowing you to lower the back of the arm giving more clearance but allowing you to keep the head shell parallel to the record. The metal is soft. I would take it off the tonearm and put the plug in a vice. It has to be bent symmetrical and just a degree or two. Worse case scenario is you'll need to get a new head shell. You could do worse.
help with clearance between sme 3009 arm's tube and arms lifter assembly
Hello guys,
I’m writing to ask for your support to correctly couple a Thorens TD160B mk 2 with a a SME 3009 improved seried 2 removable headshell arm. The cartridge I use is a Benz ACE L.
I bought the arm’s base and mounted the arm, verified its null points with the protractor, regulated the pickup orientation and put the cartridge shell parallel to the LP surface with an LP on the mat.
So far so good.
The point with me is that the clearance between the arm lifter assembly and the arm tube: it is too short. When putting the cartridge on the LP the arm tube touches the arm lifter (the semi-arc on top of the lifter case) and so it the stylus does not touch the LP at all.
I know (or at least I think I know) all about the exagonal 1/16’’ screw to be unscrewed to rise/lower the arm’s pillar and the other to untighten and rotate the arm lifter ring. So, I screwed the hex screw to rotate the arm lifter ring to the lowest point of the thread which below the arm’s yoke, on top of the arm’s pillar, but the clearance between the arm’s tube and the lifter is still too small to any avoid contact between these two parts.
With that said, now I run out of ideas.
Images at:
https://imgur.com/zNxfC1p
https://imgur.com/qx0x6TG
https://imgur.com/GVeJjj4
https://imgur.com/KcAhhLG
Please, is there anybody out there ( ) who already run into this problem and who is so kind to help me ?
An additional info: in order to correctly set the arm pillar height (it affect the VTA...) I put a small inclinometer on the top of the cartridge shell and adjusted the height of the pillar until the cartridge shell was parallel to the disc surface. Is it correct ? I think so, but prefer to ask.
Many thanks
Luca
I’m writing to ask for your support to correctly couple a Thorens TD160B mk 2 with a a SME 3009 improved seried 2 removable headshell arm. The cartridge I use is a Benz ACE L.
I bought the arm’s base and mounted the arm, verified its null points with the protractor, regulated the pickup orientation and put the cartridge shell parallel to the LP surface with an LP on the mat.
So far so good.
The point with me is that the clearance between the arm lifter assembly and the arm tube: it is too short. When putting the cartridge on the LP the arm tube touches the arm lifter (the semi-arc on top of the lifter case) and so it the stylus does not touch the LP at all.
I know (or at least I think I know) all about the exagonal 1/16’’ screw to be unscrewed to rise/lower the arm’s pillar and the other to untighten and rotate the arm lifter ring. So, I screwed the hex screw to rotate the arm lifter ring to the lowest point of the thread which below the arm’s yoke, on top of the arm’s pillar, but the clearance between the arm’s tube and the lifter is still too small to any avoid contact between these two parts.
With that said, now I run out of ideas.
Images at:
https://imgur.com/zNxfC1p
https://imgur.com/qx0x6TG
https://imgur.com/GVeJjj4
https://imgur.com/KcAhhLG
Please, is there anybody out there ( ) who already run into this problem and who is so kind to help me ?
An additional info: in order to correctly set the arm pillar height (it affect the VTA...) I put a small inclinometer on the top of the cartridge shell and adjusted the height of the pillar until the cartridge shell was parallel to the disc surface. Is it correct ? I think so, but prefer to ask.
Many thanks
Luca
Showing 6 responses by mijostyn
It has been so long. I do believe that if you loosen the grub screw at the back of the arm rest/lifter platform you can twist the entire platform around the post, (take the arm out of the arm rest first and best remove the head shell) the post is threaded. One turn should do it then reposition the arm rest, tighten the grub screw, put the head shell back on and you should be good to go. |
@isfarzo, was that arm rebuilt? It looks like it has an aftermarket knife bearing installed which is locating the tube too low. You already have the arm rest platform as low as it will go. Lowering the back of the arm will help but that might give you the wrong stylus rake angle. You could also raise the front of the arm by placing a shim under the cartridge but your ability to be able to adjust for the right SRA is going to be limited. I suggest you get in touch with these people http://www.smetonearms.com/ and see what they have to say. You may want to send your beautiful arm to them for a check -up! |