Help with problem setting up Phantom I tonearm?

I figured this out by beating my head against a wall for a few days. BTW, the hair never grows back! Glad this worked for you and hopefully, this is now documented in the archives for others to benfit from.

Dear Sbrown,

I wish I had communicated with you earlier, I wouldn't be waiting for my hair to grow back in now. Although I had checked levels (there was a discrepancy between the level of the platter and arm board while on a common plinth! - VPI-19), removed the demoing fluid, removed the anti-skating from the arm altogether and raised the tracking force (only slightly) your fix was simple and an IMMEDIATE remedy.
I wonder how you ever figured this out as there is very little discussion on this element of in the instruction manual?

Hats off to you - Cheers

I had the same problem - drove me nuts until I figured it out. The issue is the Magneglide has pulled the bearing off center. There should be a gap of slightly less than 1/8" between the magnet & the arm. You'll notice that when it's wrong, the gap is less than half of that. To fix this, loosen the bearing cap and pull the arm away from the magnet and then re-tighten the cap. The arm should reseat itself in the proper location.

Just a wild guess, but it sounds as though something is badly out of level. I don't know how the Planar mounts to the plinth, whether by a flange or other means, but is there a way to ensure the arm mount itself is level? Is it possible the plinth is level, but not the arm mount? Might be something to look at.

Best of luck,
Dan