Heybrook TT2 - Restoration Thread

[shane]

Hi Andy, sorry for the late reply.

The short bolt hasn’t snapped off, it was cut off in the factory. We found that the turntable sounded better with only one bolt fully tightened so we made it so that you couldn’t put a nut on the second bolt.

Why is it better? The answer we gave officially was that introducing a slight lossiness into the cartridge/arm/board/bearing/platter system dissipates and damps down vibrational energy more effectively without compromising the geometry of the assembly, but in truth your guess is as good as mine!

[Wakefield Turntables]

Why is it better? The answer we gave officially was that introducing a slight lossiness into the cartridge/arm/board/bearing/platter system dissipates and damps down vibrational energy more effectively without compromising the geometry of the assembly, but in truth your guess is as good as mine!

So I suppose you had no other way of measuring this other than by 'lug ole? As ever thanks Shane for the knowledge. Nice to know the example I own is supposed to have the snapped bolt and not another job!

[shane]

Indeed! The final arbiter for all Heybrook designs was half a dozen pairs of ears.

[Wakefield Turntables]

I think to be honest the way to measure any piece of kit is simply using your ears, certainly, that's how I've ended up with all my kit.

[prsjnb]

My thoughts returned recently to a TT2 restoration project I had begun a few years back and then set aside having disassembled and re-veneered the plinth. It is an early(ish) example (S. No. 1193, I believe) that I purchased new circa 1983 and subsequently returned to Heybrook (Mecom) in the late 80s/early 90s for a sub-chassis upgrade (steel to aluminum).

Due to my now less than reliable memory, as well as my failure to take photographs and adequate notes at the time of disassembly, I now face two problems:

1. there are two, non-identical aluminium 'bars' which I recall sat between the plinth and motor mounting plate but which I no longer recall which way round to install

2. when returned following the sub-chassis upgrade the critical alignment markings for the springs had been omitted and I failed to add any of my own before removing them

So, can anyone advise as to the correct orientation of the aluminium bars and how best to align and balance the suspended sub-chassis 'from scratch'?

Hopefully yours

Jon

[shane]

Hi Jon,

have a look back at post no 17 in this thread. You’ll see a picture of the chassis of Andy’s TT2 showing the positions of the markers. They were in the same place for both chassis types.

Regarding the ally bars, the thick one goes at the back, giving the motor plate a slight tilt forwards. The tilt is adjustable using the grub screws on the front edge of the motor plate to get the belt running centrally on the crown of the motor pulley.

If you visit the Vinyl Engine forum you can download a PDF of the original owner’s manual which tells you how to set this up.

[prsjnb]

Very helpful - thank you Shane.

[Wakefield Turntables]

Another wee update on this excellent TT.

I'll do some more pictures tomorrow. Suffice to say I keep learning new things about this deck. I had no idea it had a hidden switch inside that allows 120/240V operation. My TT2 started to make some horrible noises from the motor. So, surprise number two, I find a thrust pad under the motor. I remember Shane mentioning that the Impax motor benefitted from the thrust pad. In what way? I've removed mine from the motor, things are now silent and I seem to have improved speed accuracy by -0.1 rpm to 33.4 rpm. Anyway, I'll try and get some more thoughts published tomorrow.

[walpurgis]

At a guess, perhaps the thrust pad is there to reduce wear in one plane or another.

[Wakefield Turntables]

At a guess, perhaps the thrust pad is there to reduce wear in one plane or another.

Nope the spindle just sits in fresh air generating friction with the outside world . I think that these motors may "knock", I have no experience with Impex motors but I do know that Thorens motors suffer from "Thorens knock" as they age. This is an audible clunking noise which gets very annoying. A simple solution is to attach a ball bearing or thrust plate on the underside of the motor spindle to remove the knock. I wonder if Heybrook did this to stop this possibility ?