To damp or not to damp JMW-9 Sig ?

It's a screw down there! No, the hex key is not supplied (VERY strange, indeed), so you have to buy it. Don't remember the size, and I'm not home this week, so I can't check it out. VPI should know.

On top of the bearing on the arm tube (when you look at the arm from above) there is a hole with a screw in it. This screw will lower or raise the top of the bearing inside.

No metion in the manual, that is right, but this is what I've been told by HW at VPI.

"The center screw in the top of the armwand adjusts the damping level. Clockwise from the top and you have less, counterclockwise and you have more. Don't drop it too low as you need clearance for motion."

This damping thing sometimes makes me wonder. I've had three different armwands (2 x 9" Signature and a10.5i) and also put up the 12.7 arm for my friend. None of the arms, as they came from VPI, experienced any damping when the "cup" was half full. Mostly 2/3 or more. I suppose most arms are like that. Very few know about the screw on the top. Strange thing is, everybody seems to experience differences, even though I'd bet most of them had no damping even though the cup was 1/2 full. You have to check - as Artemus_5 did - that there is damping fluid attaching to the part of the bearing on the arm wand.

12-31-07: Artemus_5
FTR, I thought about trying less fluid. I thought it may have been over filled. But there was no fluid on the underside of the JMW-9 arm when I took it off of the pivot. That made me believe that there was not too much fluid. The trough was about 1/2 full.

I suppose that if there is no fluid on the underside of the arm - the part of the bearing in the arm wand -, then there has been no damping going on at all. I had the same experience. I'd say everyone who fills the well 1/3 or 1/2 should check out if there is any fluid on the bearing on the arm wand. If I have understood HW right, you increase/decrease damping with the screw on top of the arm wand.

Best