Someone that can recap/refurbish/recalibrate a direct drive turntable motor?

If being confident about Rotation Speed is important to you, investing in a strobe not controlled by the Mains Power will offer improved readings.

A dedicated Strobe such as the Key Strobe will give peace of mind.

I am not suggesting the following is something you are experiencing, it is made known to show how a dedicated strobe can be an additional value as a speed measure tool. 

The strobe will also have the capability to show anomalies, where further investigation has for myself in the past, proven Platter Spindle Bearing Wear was present and a eccentric rotation was the result, the strobe was capable of showing the fluctuations in speed. A friend who specialises in refurbishing DD TT's has discovered many TT's with Platter Bearing Wear using this same method. For those who use his service, the option of having the Bearing rebuilt using modern materials, machined to extremely tight tolerances and bespoke produced suit each Spindle/Housing Interface. The end product is one where no more metal on metal is able to occur at the Spindle/Bush - Spindle/Ball-Thrust Pad interfaces.

This type of bearing mod' has become quite popular and for those that can swap out a bearing housing reasonably easy, there are many adopting this approach to utilising a modern bearing design.

DD TT's are a little more difficult, but this is a modification very much worthwhile investigating. 

pindac,

I'm interested in anything that can improve my motor. Is your friend currently taking new business?

Fidelis Analog is the only game in town. If JP ( the proprietor) will agree to work on the TT81, go for it. There is no second best.

By the way, the problem most likely resides in the servo mechanism, not in the motor. 

I'm UK based, their is a Member of the Forum Lenco Heaven and DIY Audio who's user name is 'BillWojo'. I believe he is residing in the US and is very well versed on TT's from this Brand and a selection of other Vintage Japanese TT's.

I would also include somebody who is not a business in any inquiries to be made, it is not strange for a proprietor of a Commercial entity to not have made discoveries they charge for as a result of enthusiasts publicly sharing information.

Most Bearing modifications and replacements that are offered be a Commercial entity are only available as a result of what has been learnt from investigating forums where DIY enthusiasts are offering up information about their undertaking the servicing or additional engineering required to improve / modify these. mechanical devices. 

The TT 81 is a TT that is very worthy as a donor to undergo a modifications.  

Pindac, as I understand it, the OP has a TT81 with speed issues. He needs someone who is expert with the servo mechanisms of vintage Japanese DD turntables. In the USA, that person is JP Jones at Fidelis Analog. He doesn’t necessarily need a new bearing or even Panzerholz.

Interesting Thread Policing going on.

"I'm interested in anything that can improve my motor. Is your friend currently taking new business?"

There are others on DIY Audio and other forums who have fully overhauled this  TT model and other Japanese Vintage TT's. These individuals are very open with what they did and have assisted others successfully with Trouble Shooting operational issues, these individuals are easy to find and do seemingly reside in the US.

My suggestion is a viable option to consider for the OP, as investigation could discover a local support might be on offer. Who knows? A good friendship might be very close to taking root. There is zero harm being done if a few more of these are able to be cultivated. 

I feel very confident the OP would very much enjoy learning of Panzerholz in use as Plinth Material. Especially as material that has been selected by quite a growing number of TT users, where the P'holz has superseded the use of the earliest  designs for a Plinth. I am sure the OP would like to know about cases where the use of P'holz has been very convincing, encouraging other materials such as Stones, Resins and Metals to be superseded in use.

I'm more than satisfied with my discovery of the different producers of the material known as a 'Phenolic Resin Impregnated Densified Wood', of which Panzerholz is a Brand name for it.  

 I'm more than satisfied with my being an advocate for the use of Densified Wood, enabling others to learn more if wanted. 

If you can select quotes, I can select quotes, too:

"My daily driver is a JVC TT-81 in the dual tonearm JVC plinth, but lately it’s been pretty flaky, e.g. noticeable flutter, along with an occasional speed runaway and strobe not reporting correctly even though the speed is clearly close."

This is indicative of a servo problem. All the bearings and all the Panzerholz in the world is not going to fix the problem described in the OP. That’s all I am saying. I know your suggestions are well meaning. If armstrod lives in the UK or on the continent, perhaps you know of someone with the skillset to investigate the servo of a JVC turntable. That particular mechanism is very complex. I bought a malfunctioning TT101, which might be even more complex than a TT81. I spent two years and sent it out to 2-3 gurus over that time with no success. Then I found JP Jones through internet revelations regarding his work on Technics SP10 TTs. JP found and fixed the very esoteric problem with my TT101 in about a week (a cracked PCB tracing that was obscured under a blob of solder). That was more than 5 years ago, and the TT has been functioning perfectly ever since. Others have had similar experiences. No disrespect was intended.

@lewm There are a range of experiences to be encountered when buying into vintage equipment. Limit these experiences to TT's and investigations will show up a variety of TT's that have undergone refurbishment or serving of some type.

Limit the TT's even further to Vintage Japanese DD TT's, investigation will show up, that there are plenty of TT's having needed work undertaken. Commonly it is seen to be operational issues where the TT is showing anomalies in how it is functioning. Usually these are resolved by a EE with the right skill set, or enthusiasts with adept EE Skills.

You went for the support that is offered from a business model, this is not the only option. I have encouraged the OP to look at an alternate option, not to push them away from your suggestion but to broaden their knowledge base.

I myself converse periodically on Two forums and have face to face discussions about the Vintage Japanese DD TT's I own.  

What the OP was gently informed of is that the overhaul of a TT can extend to the Bearing housing. We can't see inside, but for a selection of individuals that do see inside, the assessment might be a good clean out, with a replacement Trust Pad and Ball for the reassembly with new lubricant.

Individuals that have seen inside, also discover operational conditions that are very much unwanted and corrective works are required. How the corrective works are produced will vary. I have become a advocate of the work undertaken to replace all sacrificial inner bearing housing parts, that remove the risks of metal on metal contact occurring during the new replays. 

The use of Thermoplastics as Bushes and non-metal Balls and Thrust Pads, has been so attractive as finished design, there is no want to return to what was.

The OP as a owner of a Vintage Japanese DD TT is now aware of the Bearing Housing being very old and most likely never having undergone a oil change.

The OP also is now aware of how an investigation of the Bearing Housing followed by a service or overhaul will prove to be very good for its future use.

To receive the required support for a overhaul on a DD TT will be a hurdle to get over, if this is a adopted method. Other TT's have options for a overhaul readily available.  

If there are variable speed controls, either external or internal, they may need a shot of Deoxit in the green and black can. I've seen controls get noisy and cause exactly the complaint described. Photos I've seen of this machine don't show speed controls but that does not mean that they might be inside.

Its also old enough that if you plan to continue using it, the capacitors in the power supply should be replaced. If it were me I'd replace all the other electrolytic capacitors in the unit too.

I think the TT81 differs from the TT101 in that the latter TT has external buttons to increase or decrease rotational speed in small, regular increments. The TT81 does not have that feature, so far as I know, but as you say there are likely to be potentiometers internally that do modulate speed. As I understand it, adjusting such variables is part of what it takes to calibrate a DD. The servo mechanism was also described by JVC as being "bi-directional". My TT101 had the following issue when I bought it: At start up, the TT would come up to speed, but in the speed display window, an erroneous readout would appear, for example if set for 33, the digital speed readout would show "33.32" or "33.34". It would go on this way for a minute or so, and then it would stop dead. The brake would not actuate to stop the platter. The digital readout would disappear leaving only a decimal point lit up, and the platter would coast to a stop. What’s worse, the problem was intermittent but frequent. Bill Thalmann could not reproduce the failure mode in his shop. Nor could one other repair shop to which I sent the unit. Finally, I fiddled around with it enough that I made the intermittent problem into a regular occurrence. (Which is to say, although I had no idea of the real problem, I made things worse with whatever I did do.) I then found out about JP Jones and sent the unit to him. He had never worked on a JVC DD prior to working on my TT101. He found the problem described above; the PCB had cracked across a tracing which defect was hidden under a blob of solder. Apparently the JVC PCBs are hygroscopic. They absorb water from the atmosphere, swell up, and can thus damage a tracing. Once discovered, this was an easy repair. Since then I have found the TT101, with beefed up plinth and specially fabricated aluminum tonearm mount board, to be a superb TT.