Thorens TD160 mk 2- Restoration and Upgrade project

[Wakefield Turntables]

Mike, that looks great. Your My a bit further down the line than myself but it looks like it's coming together nicely for you. The platter looks great, mine hopefully should be done this weekend. My springs are still floating in the ether. The plinth is something I'll probably start making in a week or two. There is no time-line for this resto, I was told to go "steady-away" so that's what were doing. I congratulate you on your resto skills!

[Jac Hawk]

Cheers Andrew, my guy has done a great job on the plinth and the new springs turned up on Saturday, just waiting on the feet, arm board and belt to get delivered then I need to decide on the new top plate, I’m thinking either gloss black or bright silver and last of all I need to source a motor adjustment spring and retaining screws

[Wakefield Turntables]

Pt 8 - Scrubbed up well.

No photo's tonight lads, I'm knackered (again)! The bench polisher, mops, and polishing blocks turned up today as did a very expensive set of measuring calipers. I polished the outer platter of the 160 tonight and it's come up fairly well but I can still see some pitting so I may re-do the whole thing. I'm very impressed with the bench polisher, big, brutal and gets the job done. I also polished the inner platter today to remove 45+ years of old rubber that had accrued, again it looks a thing of beauty it's just a pity no-one will see it. Speed stability has improved a notch, so I wonder if the polishing has helped. We are at 45rpm bang on and are hovering between 33.2 and 33.3 rpm. I've also had a little play with the motor suspension spring and this seems to have helped things a little with speed stability and the deck is now whisper quiet, the deck does have a motor knock kit fitted, so this helps. I'm still waiting for the springs to arrive so this gives me plenty of time to do the plinth and base board. I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

stay tuned....

[Jimbo]

Looking forward to more pics Andy. The polishing sounds like its going well and it will be good to document so the owner can see the finished results of the platter ,both sides!

[Jac Hawk]

The journey so far:

New Feet and 18mm birch ply base board
[IMG]IMG_0062 by mike davis, on Flickr[/IMG]

Internal dynamat damping to top plate, sides and base board, cork damping to suspended top plate, new springs, rewire and new motor control caps and resistor
[IMG]IMG_0063 by mike davis, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]IMG_0064 by mike davis, on Flickr[/IMG]

New European Oak plinth with satin varnish, polished platter and sub platter

[IMG]IMG_0061 by mike davis, on Flickr[/IMG]

[Jimbo]

Wow Andy that is going to be a stunning looking TD160.

[mik_rik]

The journey so far:

New Feet and 18mm birch ply base board
[IMG]IMG_0062 by mike davis, on Flickr[/IMG]

Internal dynamat damping to top plate, sides and base board, cork damping to suspended top plate, new springs, rewire and new motor control caps and resistor
[IMG]IMG_0063 by mike davis, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]IMG_0064 by mike davis, on Flickr[/IMG]

New European Oak plinth with satin varnish, polished platter and sub platter

[IMG]IMG_0061 by mike davis, on Flickr[/IMG]

Hi Mike
Must say it's looking impressive,enjoying the progress of both projects
keep us updated
mick

[Wakefield Turntables]

Pt 9 - Another night another update.

I finally managed to get some pics uploaded. Last night I polished the platter and sub platter.

The platter before a polish.



And then with a bloody big bench polisher. This picture really is poor and does not show the real finish.




The the inner platter before a polish



Inner platter polished.






I've been on a little shopping spree tonight and bought some bitumen damping sheets. I've used Dynamat in the past but I don't like the fact that you can see the Dynamat name everywhere so I bought something a little cheaper whilst doing the same job and understated. I intend tidying up the wiring under the
160 I intend fitting a new PCB which will tidy everything up whilst replacing the caps and resistors and also get rid of some of the silly resonant parts sitting on the underside of the 160. As always my mantra is less is more. As you can see in the next picture it's a shambles and I hate that. The eagle eyed amongst you will also see we have a motor knock mod kit fitted to the motor which has made things whisper quire whilst protecting this 160 from future motor knock.



OK that's it for another night, stay tuned.. :cool:

[Jac Hawk]

I'm not happy with the new suspension springs i bought they are way too strong and don't allow me to adjust the suspension enough to get the platter level, i've sent an email to the place i got them from and they have replied by saying i must have the short version of the suspension struts / bolts on my turntable and i would need the long version, this would make sense but i didn't know that Thorens had made any alterations to any of the TD160 suspension components, is this guy just pulling my chain?

[Wakefield Turntables]

I'm not happy with the new suspension springs i bought they are way too strong and don't allow me to adjust the suspension enough to get the platter level, i've sent an email to the place i got them from and they have replied by saying i must have the short version of the suspension struts / bolts on my turntable and i would need the long version, this would make sense but i didn't know that Thorens had made any alterations to any of the TD160 suspension components, is this guy just pulling my chain?

Mark, I'm sorry to hear your experience with these springs. I can't comment on them as I never even heard of them before you highlighted their existence. My springs from the USA are still in New Jersey, USA !! So, I can't even comment on them. I think he could be pulling your chain, I've not heard of this modification before. Have you tried consulting the Thorens group on Facebook? It's not beyond the realms of posssibility that Thorens did mod the 160. Either way if it had been my company I would have offered a replacement spring set on return of the one you own. Did they offer you this option?