The Restoration Story of a garage find Technics 1210

[Wakefield Turntables]

I got asked by a friend to help him restore a garage find 1210, problem is he's pink-lint so we have had to do this as cheaply as possible.

On examination the 1210


+ The bearing is knackered (but still working).

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1519_zpsda1915c4.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1519_zpsda1915c4.jpg.html)

I would hate to think what has gone down the main shaft of the bearing. :eek:

The 1210 came to me looking rather dirty and sorry for itself :spew:

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1515_zps35141573.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1515_zps35141573.jpg.html)

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1523_zps219550dc.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1523_zps219550dc.jpg.html)

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1520_zps34cc87f9.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1520_zps34cc87f9.jpg.html)

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1522_zps02f2a8ad.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1522_zps02f2a8ad.jpg.html)

Its now had some spit and polish and looks a lot more presentable

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1524_zpsc24bfc13.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1524_zpsc24bfc13.jpg.html)

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1525_zpsd3dea0e1.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1525_zpsd3dea0e1.jpg.html)

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1521_zps10305479.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1521_zps10305479.jpg.html)

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1528_zps4c86b7d1.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1528_zps4c86b7d1.jpg.html)



Thanks to Jason we have a minty new (well new to us) tonearm

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1529_zps578a26b2.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1529_zps578a26b2.jpg.html)

For some reason the previous owner decided that they didn't want a finger lift :scratch:

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1527_zps08d5f7e3.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1527_zps08d5f7e3.jpg.html)

To do.....

Well when I have a bit of spare time this afternoon I'll be looking out for the 7" adapter I think I have one spare.

Replacing that bloody awful headshell with a nice minty second hand one and giving the cartridge tags a clean.

I'll be setting up the cart properly, the deck didn't come with one so I managed to find a cheapo £35 stanton MM in my tool box of spares.

The platter mat is a bit shit so I'll make my mate a nice new one out of 3mm cork tomorrow.

The plug on this thing is a mess I'll replace that as well.

The que-light isn't working so I'll have a look at that as well.

OK, until tonight.

[YNWaN]

Looks like a fun project :).

[Wakefield Turntables]

Yeah its about getting the old dear to sound somewhere 1/2 decent. My mate is no Audiophool so will be happy just to dig his old records out again. Its not going to be a bells and whistle restoration it will still look tatty but should be more than adequate for where its going.

[6L6]

Neat project! Please continue to take lots of photos as it gets cleaner. :)

[Wakefield Turntables]

I'm bored so I thought I would post a few more piccies of what I've managed to cobble together for this restore

I have now replaced the crappy old headshell with a nice one with a finger lift. I made a new cork mat, and also found the 7" adapter. I also managed to find a less grubby pitch slider knob.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1538_zpsf745d84b.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1538_zpsf745d84b.jpg.html)

Light not worky! :( Yep, like so many neglected 1210's the Que light is buggered!! Just look at the how dirty it is :spew: This probably going to be a weekend job.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1540_zps7509e741.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1540_zps7509e741.jpg.html)

Perhaps one of the downfalls of the 1210, the rubbish RCA's. I'll have a rummage around my spares, I think I have some RCA's floating somewhere, I'll also crimp a decent spade on the grounding wire. Again, another little weekend job.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1539_zpsc15b83a4.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1539_zpsc15b83a4.jpg.html)

This plug is horrible. It's dirty and scuffed. OK, not very difficult but the 1210 deserves a little better. So, a new plug with a nice new silver fuse from my spares, again another job for the weekend.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1541_zpsa1a5e219.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1541_zpsa1a5e219.jpg.html)

WHAT NEXT?

Well there are a few things to be done

1. Modify the feet - I'll probably dampen them with silicone and sorbothane
2. Fit the new bearing Darren is sendind me.
3. Clean the plinth a little further when I get the 1210 dismantled.

The journey continues.....

[Andrei]

Ugh, I'm gettin' palpitations! That nausea inducing photo of the RCA plugs set it off. I need a warm lemonade to calm myself down.

[Macca]

The state of that cuing light! Looks like it has spent the last few years sticking in someone's ass.

I should really replace the crappy RCA conectors on my Techie. Just for peace of mind :)

[Wakefield Turntables]

Some more down time tonight so I have had another hour on the deck. I have some more piccies

Decided to tart up the feet tonight. Looks like this poor 1210 came into contact with some red paint. The felt bases are also pretty crappy.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1543_zpsd36a4dcf.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1543_zpsd36a4dcf.jpg.html)

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1542_zps431cfffc.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1542_zps431cfffc.jpg.html)

So they all got stripped down

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1544_zpsc5bb3009.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1544_zpsc5bb3009.jpg.html)

Resprayed..

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1546_zpsadf0f94f.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1546_zpsadf0f94f.jpg.html)

And filled with silicone to add a little more mass and dampen the feet a little.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1550_zps69d693c7.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1550_zps69d693c7.jpg.html)

I made four new bases from 6mm medium density EVA! EVA is slightly compressive and some has some dampen properties. OK, so these arn't Isonoes
but for bits around the garage they should work well. Remember this is being done as cheaply as possible so this little mod has cost nothing and is something
I played around with on my own deck before I got the Isonoes. This mod makes a modest improvement to reply.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1547_zps8dcc707e.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1547_zps8dcc707e.jpg.html)

I cleaned the deck down a little further with some IPA rather than soapy water and removed loads more crud. Then decided to have a quick cuppa :cool:

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1549_zps9d6f8f40.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1549_zps9d6f8f40.jpg.html)

I then had a rummage around the garage and found this

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1551_zps7609e26b.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1551_zps7609e26b.jpg.html)

I decided to get my soldering iron warmed for a little soldering. I then decided to change a plug and do some soldering.... (whoopy do!)... This resulted
in a decent earthing spade being added to the tonearm earth cable. I cleaned up the contacts in the plug, tinned the cables, fitted a nice silver plated fuse and cleaned the contacts of the plug. I found some Chi-Fi RCA's probably not much better than the ones already but they look nicer. This is a job for tomorrow.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1548_zps06af16f6.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1548_zps06af16f6.jpg.html)

I turned my attention back to the cart and fitted some gold plated cartridge tags. These should bring a nice improvement compared to the old nickel ones
on the old headshell. I also cleaned the cartridge pins before sitting up the cart again.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1531_zpse1ae07ca.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1531_zpse1ae07ca.jpg.html)

And thats about it. Tomorrow will see fitting of the feet to make sure they look ok and then I'll probably dismantle the deck to get to the cue light, I'll probably clean the on/off switch down and then think about removing the bearing and then cleaning under the PCB. Joy! :D

[Andrei]

Andy
Despite my futile aspirations to the high end, I am enjoying this different take on the 1200. One of the cheap ('cheap' meaning cost in time only - which is actually more valuable) upgrades you can do is an all-round service. And by that I mean a general clean of the internals, pull out all the connections and do the Caig deoxit thing, pull the bearing apart and put in a high grade synthetic motor oil. This last mentioned wont really cost you anything because I am sure that's what you have to use for your Maserati.

[Wakefield Turntables]

We'll a lot of the stuff is sitting around at work or in the garage collecting dust so it's better the deck rather than cluttering up my workspaces. I'm waiting for a bearing from Darren of this parish and then the deck will be pretty much complete. I haven't added anything apart from dampening the feet or taken anything away it's a stock 1210. It's been quite therapeutic and an interesting experiment comparing stock 1210 against a massively modified version. The poor old thing will be dismantled tonight ready for the bearing. This gives me time to clean further and repair the cue light.

[Wakefield Turntables]

Small update tonight whilst waiting for my tea being made.. :D

I decided to replace the dreaded technics RCA's. After a little disection I found the following


http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1553_zps5a1495e3.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1553_zps5a1495e3.jpg.html)

Not very well put together. They do have a copper shield and what looks like a stainless steel shield. I would have preferred Aluminium but beggars cant be choosers. The actual tonearm cable is crappy thin multistrand copper. You would have thought they would have spent some money on this considering the deck is so well designed. :doh:

Ten minutes later and here are the new RCA's

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1556_zps87a9adc0.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1556_zps87a9adc0.jpg.html)

The new RCA's are quite bulky compared to the technics crappy efforts. So, I filled the RCA's with black silicone so the lead wouldnt wobble around and secondly to add a little vibration protection. Cheap but worthwhile.

And this lot is ready for the :bog:!

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1557_zpsf8a301ec.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1557_zpsf8a301ec.jpg.html)

The cue light is probably the next job. I have not been to work today so I'm hoping I have some nice boxes waiting with spares... :)

[Wakefield Turntables]

The 1210 is booked in for open heart surgery tomorrow as Darren of this Parish came up top trumps and posted the replacement bearing, we owe you a :cool:.
I'll fix the cue light and give the old girl a final fettle and then thats it job done and my mate can begin the addiction that is spinning vinyl.

[Wakefield Turntables]

I got home this afternoon after a complicated and brain draining clinic and decided I wanted to relax and do some techie TLC.

I started by getting my new bearing ready

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1559_zps381bd164.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1559_zps381bd164.jpg.html)

As you can see from the old one it was completely knackered and the bearing Darren sent looks newer.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1564_zpsfca5355e.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1564_zpsfca5355e.jpg.html)

Whilst I had the hood lifted...

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1558_zps95c1c4e6.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1558_zps95c1c4e6.jpg.html)

I decided to give the techie another little clean...

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1561_zps02e9d5fc.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1561_zps02e9d5fc.jpg.html)

:spew: the guy that owned this poor techie just didnt care about his deck. But I think it looks a little cleaner. :)

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1560_zps63ba8479.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1560_zps63ba8479.jpg.html)

The bearing was extremely easy to replace and so with give this 1210 a new heart....

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1562_zpsa0a8a78e.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1562_zpsa0a8a78e.jpg.html)

I added a little oil to the bearing

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1563_zps3901e383.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1563_zps3901e383.jpg.html)



Whilst I had to the poor thing dismantled I decided to clean up and try and fix the cue light

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1566_zps6a758ec4.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1566_zps6a758ec4.jpg.html)

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1567_zpsbdc2cc38.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1567_zpsbdc2cc38.jpg.html)

After checking I found out the bulb light has gone so because we are doing this as cheaply as possible I will leave for now but at least I know the rest is working.

And thats it. The deck works, its been fixed as cheaply as possible and it plays music very nicely.


http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l247/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/DSCN1565_zpsb77bc194.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/WAKEFIELDAUDIO/media/DSCN1565_zpsb77bc194.jpg.html)

Its not a beauty but its now fit for purpose and another 1210 has been saved from the depths of a dark dingy garage. HOORAH! :yay:

[RobbieGong]

Fire it up baby !!! :guitar:

[Macca]

Outstanding effort there, Andy. That will now be spinning tunes up into the next century, I don't doubt. The Toyota Hi-Lux of turntables ;)

[Wakefield Turntables]

Fire it up baby !!! :guitar:

I did just that and listened to a bit of Kiss!


Outstanding effort there, Andy. That will now be spinning tunes up into the next century, I don't doubt. The Toyota Hi-Lux of turntables ;)


Thanks. There are more things I'd like to do like externalising the PSU but thats another job for another day. The platter could do with tarting up and maybe dampening just like Andrei designed. But that costs money! I'll probably be doing more work on the deck on an as and when basis. :D

[synsei]

IT LIVES!!! :lol:

Well done Andy, nice job... :thumbsup:

[Wakefield Turntables]

IT LIVES!!! :lol:

Well done Andy, nice job... :thumbsup:

Thanks!