TD160 Motor knock

[Jac Hawk]

As some of you know i recently acquired a Thorens TD160, not because it's the best deck in the world but it's the deck that has a great many memories for me and was the deck my late father gave to me which started my ongoing love of HiFi, sadly i no longer have that deck, but earlier on this year it became an itch that i needed to scratch and as i've mentioned i got another one.

So bringing everything up to date, i got a deck, an arm and went about some restoration and upgrading, however the motor which must be as old as i am has started knocking, i've purchased a thrust bearing but it hasn't helped, is there anything else i can try or would i be better off looking for a new motor?

[struth]

Check belt is OK. Also the suspension can cause that if its out of kilter a bit.

[walpurgis]

Have you checked the motor bearings for wear (lateral slack) and endfloat?

[Jac Hawk]

It has a new belt, the suspension has been adjusted and levelled, i've oiled and serviced the motor as much as possible even adding a thrust bearing as i've read that endfloat is often the cause of the knock, i have noticed that there is a slight wobble as the pully spins round, i'm not sure if the wobble is actually from the motor shat or the pulley, but maybe the motor has had a knock through it's life, the deck the motor is from is a MK1 so it didn't have the protection post which was fitted to later models and maybe the motor has suffered minor damage which i can only assume happened years ago and has had a cumulative adverse affect.

[struth]

did it start with new belt? yes the shaft could be loose slightly or be bent. thrust plate issue too. if you can run it on its side you might see whats causing it. they are fairly simple so there isnt too much can cause it

[Jac Hawk]

did it start with new belt? yes the shaft could be loose slightly or be bent. thrust plate issue too. if you can run it on its side you might see whats causing it. they are fairly simple so there isnt too much can cause it

The deck hadn't been used in years, once i rebuilt it initially i ran it with it's original belt and noticed that it had a knock and that it was running a little fast, so i changed the belt and got a thrust bearing, the motor speed is still a little fast but not so much as it has an audible effect and probably stylus drag will slow it down to so it's as close as damnit, but the motor knock is a persistent problem, i'll do some further checks as suggested

[walpurgis]

What oil did you use on the motor bearings? If it's too thin you might get some chatter, but not something that could really be described as knocking.

[Jac Hawk]

What oil did you use on the motor bearings? If it's too thin you might get some chatter, but not something that could really be described as knocking.

3in1 believe it or not, 1 drop that's all and apparently it's the oil recommended by many as the best to use on the platter bearing which surprised me a bit.

[walpurgis]

3in1 believe it or not, 1 drop that's all and apparently it's the oil recommended by many as the best to use on the platter bearing which surprised me a bit.

Should be OK.

[Jac Hawk]

Should be OK.

were you expecting some sort of elaborate oil infused with ground unicorn horn and dragon blood costing thousands a drop :eyebrows::eyebrows::lol::lol:

[Jac Hawk]

So i've done a few tests and the motor spindle is ever so slightly bent and when i take the belt off and the knocking stops, which says to me that either the knock is coming from the pulley assembly or the bent spindle is causing the noise from inside the motor

[Doctor Fuse]

My TD 160 has a bit of motor knock noise. The spindle looks straight [enough], so I just figured it was an old motor, probably with a worn lower motor bearing.

I got the appropriate hardware store parts to make a motor bearing thrust plate, way back at the start of this lockdown, maybe in May, but since I have moved on to a Mission 775S table, I haven't got around to installing it.

I am hoping you meant a bearing well/spindle thrust bearing, and not the motor thrust bearing, when you mentioned "thrust bearing". I was hoping this would fix the noise.

It never really bothered me while listening to music, even on quiet passages, it just got the little bit of OCD in me riled up.

[Jac Hawk]

Me too Kenji, I can't detect the noise while music is playing it just grinds my gears that it isn't perfect.

[Jac Hawk]

Does anyone know what motors are compatible with the TD160 i.e. TD166, TD150 etc?

[Jac Hawk]

I think i've sorted it! most forums and so called Thorens specialists will tell you that the knock is a side effect of end float (the spindle moving up and down on its bearing) causing the motor to knock, anyway I tried all the remedies including 3 different motors, but all of them were noisy, they knocked or both. Unfortunately these fantastic little motors aren't available new anymore so the best you can hope for is something about 40 years old, so I was almost at the point at looking for a modern alternative when a mate asked if i'd ever replaced the 2 caps and resistor on the motor control board? honestly not something i'd have associated with motor noise, my thinking was if there was a problem with it then the motor wouldn't spin properly, anyway i've just changed them and voila!! no more noise, now i'm not saying that end float isn't something that will cause your motor to knock, but if you have an old Thorens and you haven't replaced these 3 parts then i'd strongly recommend that you do.

[walpurgis]

Useful bit of info there Mike. :thumbsup:

[Jac Hawk]

Like Blue Peter mate, I’ll be showing you how to make Christmas decorations out of used bog rolls next