I think its fu*ked

[Haselsh1]

Just done a bit of levelling work on the sub platter of my Thorens TD160 MkII and now the motor won't spin. The drive shaft vibrates so it is getting juice but it simply won't spin. Will I have to buy another...?

[shane]

Sounds to me like a loose connection somewhere. Like all these types of motor, yours is actually two synchronous motors stacked on top of each other on the same shaft, which is why it has four wires going to it. One of the characteristics of a synchronous motor is that when AC is applied to it, it doesn't know which way to rotate until something gives it a push in the right direction. By having two in the same shaft and feeding the supply to one of them through a capacitor, the AC to that one is slightly delayed which makes sure that it always starts the right way, and the unbalanced nature of the two waveforms means that it gets a good kick start. With yours, either one of the feeds has become disconnected or the cap has gone open circuit, so the remaining one sits there buzzing. Give it a shove in either direction and it will start, but only at half power. Shouldn't be too hard to find the problem.

[Haselsh1]

Yeah, I've tried rotating the platter by hand but it just slows and then stops.

[shane]

https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?clien...ml%3B400%3B223

This wiring diagram shows that this motor only has three wires as the green wire is common to both windings. If you have a multi-meter, disconnect the motor wires and measure resistance between red and green, then measure between yellow and green. They should both be the same. If either of them reads very high or very low then you're right, it,s f***ed. If they measure the same it's probably OK, so connect it back up again. It may well now work, as those connections are the most likely ones to have gone o/c. If it still doesn't work replace the cap and it probably will. The whole electrical circuit only consists of some wires, the motor, the cap and the switch. The switch is OK because otherwise it wouldn't buzz, so it has to be either a faulty motor, a faulty cap or a loose connection.

[Audio Advent]

Can well be a faulty cap as said - I've had that before and got a replacement from something broken I already had. But more likely loose connection if you've been moving it about.

[Haselsh1]

I would like thank you guys for your help but it is now fixed; the red wire was appallingly soldered. It only came loose when I tugged at it but there was very little solder holding it in place. Thank you once again

[karma67]

happy days!

[shane]

Good times!