Technics SL-1400 mk2

[RochaCullen]

Hey Angus,

I will definitely send you on mine. I'd be delighted if you would have a go at repairing it. I'll send you on the JB Weld I bought as well, as I obviously have no idea how to use it

I'll happily compensate you for any time spent on fixing the cam. PM me your address and I will get the item off to you in the post ASAP.

Many thanks

Nathan

[RochaCullen]

Well,

I posted the cam off to Angus on Friday, as I am not afraid to admit when I am beat, and the cam repair was just a little too fiddly for my limited skill-set.

Really looking forward to getting it back and putting the mass of parts back together. More pics to follow.

[RochaCullen]

I finally managed to get everything together that I needed and I began the reassembly.

Credit for the recommission of this great deck goes mainly to Angus who responded to my earlier posts and offered to help me by fixing the broken cam. Angus went even further than that and supplied me with some specialist lubrication for the various cogs and cams involved in the techie's inards. So all in all, a big thanks to Angus.

A pic of the repaired cam as performed by Angus:





The cam is now placed on the bottom plate for the tonearm assembly:



And then the arm lift shaft is added which goes up and down with the movement of the cam:



The spring and circlip are then added to the bottom of the shaft and then the bottom plate is attached to the base of the tonarm:



Here you can see the muting mech, the base of the anti-skate, a couple of stray earth wires and the new cardas internal require.



Here is the reattached PCB for the tonarm wire:



The tonearm wire is then soldered onto the PCB and the tonearm fixed onto the TT base plate (I had to redo this again as there was a bit of a hum when I first tried the table out, I later sorted this by redoing my sloppy soldering):



The next stage is to connect up all the wiring and fix the top plate onto the base plate of the TT, and here is the top plate waiting to go back on:



The top plate back in place:



Then reapply the protective cover:



The next stage is to turn the TT over and add the plastic cover that goes around the outside rim of the base and also holds the small TT feet:



The plastic cover in place:



Then we plug everything back in, and add a headshell and cartridge:



Final part, play some vinyl:




Unfortunately the auto return is not really doing the job properly, but the cueing is now working as it should, so I just turn off the auto return and cue as you normally would on a techie.



The TT is sounding fantastic. The total set of mods/repairs were:

- Upgrade the internal tonarm wire to cardas.
- Free up the antiskate which had stuck over time.
- Upgrade the external tonearm wire and RCA connectors.
- Upgrade the captive power lead.
- Repair the lube the broken cueing cam. Thanks again Angus.
- Clean and reassemble.
- Add the AUDIO TECHNICA LH13/OCC as a replacement headshell
- Add the AUDIO TECHNICA AT 440MLa cartridge
- Add a set of AUDIO TECHNICA AT-605 feet (Pics to follow)

Was listening to Daft Punk's Random Access Memories last night, and it sounded fantastic. I really am chuffed with the deck.

[RochaCullen]

I'll post some pics of the deck in some decent light soon enough.

[phonomac]

Hello Nathan,
Good to see that you've got the SL1400 Mk2 back in operation.

Here are a couple of tips that might help with the auto return:

• with the power off, rotate the platter by hand 10 - 12 revolutions; this re-synchronises the mechanism when it has been disturbed.
• if that doesn't fix it check that the solenoid actuated by the optical switch on the arm is achieving full travel, otherwise the return linkage won't engage with the drive gear.

Glad to hear that you are enjoying the sound of an SL1400 Mk2!

regards

Angus

[RochaCullen]

Hello Nathan,
Good to see that you've got the SL1400 Mk2 back in operation.

Here are a couple of tips that might help with the auto return:

• with the power off, rotate the platter by hand 10 - 12 revolutions; this re-synchronises the mechanism when it has been disturbed.
• if that doesn't fix it check that the solenoid actuated by the optical switch on the arm is achieving full travel, otherwise the return linkage won't engage with the drive gear.

Glad to hear that you are enjoying the sound of an SL1400 Mk2!

regards

Angus

Thanks Angus,

I tried what you mentioned, but I think that part of the mechanism is fine. The arm does return at the end of a record.

Really the problem is when the arm is being returned it is not lifted clearly. While the cueing mech works it may present too much of a load to lift in time. The cueing is a little stiff. I lubricated it as you directed, but perhaps I was not as accurate as I might have been.

Nathan

[RochaCullen]

So I've been meaning to do this for a while, that is, publish some more pics of this great deck:



It does sound more refined than my stock sl1210, which makes me want to hurry up and start tweaking that other techy.



I managed to get my hands on some lovely Audio Technica feet for the TT. I doubt they are in the league of the isonoes but they certainly put a bit of distance between the deck and the granite below it.

I'd be very interested to hear if isonoe can provide different thread sizes to that stock one issued to fit the sl1210.



A closer look at the feet.



I think the digital display looks really cool



The arm is a joy to cue. And even though the auto return does not function as it should, you can turn it off and you still retain the auto stop of the platter when you return the arm to rest.

[Macca]

Great looking deck you've got there. Red LED is the best kind. Did these come out after the SL1200?

[synsei]

T'is a thing of beauty Nathan, good job sir. Looks mean and moody sitting on those AT feet, they really suit the deck

[RochaCullen]

Great looking deck you've got there. Red LED is the best kind. Did these come out after the SL1200?

I think they came out at the same time, that is the SL1200, SL1300, SL1400 and SL1500. thevintageknob refers to the SL1300, SL1400 and SL1500 as side versions of the SL1200, each of which varied in the level of automation, i.e., not at all, semi, and fully automatic.