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November 21, 2004
Today I inspected the original bearing. I disassembled it completely and found that not one single part could be used on this project.
43)
The complete original bearing. Not really bad....at the first look.
44)
Downside of the old bearing. The bottom screw with the spindle bearing
plate is missing.
45) 
Detail of the construction. Under the platter you see the magnetic rubber
ring and on opposite top side of the bearing the flat printed coil for pick-up
of actual rotation speed.
46) 
Pulling out the old spindle. Running marks will be clearly visible.
47)
The flat printed coil in detail. It is damaged. You see it left of
the green wire.
48) 
The platter with spindle removed from the bearing. Running marks on the
spindle can be seen well.
49) 
Detail shot of the spindle lower end.
50) 
Running surface for the spindle ball. Damaged as well.
51)
Another detail shot showing that the lower end of the spindle ran dry for too
long.
52) 
The mating part doesn't look much better.
53) 
One last look back.....Goodbye to the old bearing.
54) 
Forgot the bearing ball. Placed here on a TD126 single puck for his last
coming out. You see its condition. The oil level in the bearing well
is indicated quite obviously. Very low.
55) 
Brand new, unused Prestige platter spindles. Well oiled and stored in a
closed jar for 20 years. All ready to use. They are all just waiting
to rotate for the first time.
56) 
Bearing bottom screw. Brand new, unused. The bearing ball will rotate in
the upper inlet, made of nylon. The same as used in the TD124 models.
57)
The new spindle. A bit dusty but brand new.
58) 
A new bearing ball.
59) 
Showing the complete line-up of brand new parts used in the lower inner bearing
end of the Prestige turntaable.
60) 
A new outer part is added.
61) 
Liquid sealing fluid is added to the threads prior to assembly.
62)
The new bottom screw.
63) 
A complete assembly of a new Prestige bearing. Every single part is
unused, new and original.
64) 
New bearing at bottomside.
65) 
First fit-up test to the renewed floating chassis.
continued tomorrow..........
November 22, 2004
".............of course the Prestige project was a relatively easy project until today. It is easy to search in stock for brand new parts. But this situation will change soon. There is no new platter instock and also, no electronic components. The replacement or rework will cause big problems. I would like to elevate the project to a much higher mechanical level, as motivation for further needed work."
66)
Some details of the upper bearing parts in the new spindle assembly.
67)
This photo shows a problem appearing. The center hold of the old drive
platter is to large in diameter for the new spindle. This drive platter
will not be able to be used on this project.
68) 
Underside of the old drive platter. I have new drive platters, of course,
but the inlet with the magnetic rubber ring has to be transformed to fit the new
one because the new one is empty on the lower side. So first, I pressed in
the new spindle into the new drive platter. Always risky. Even on normal
tables. The drive platter must be heated up to 150 degrees to start the
process. Otherwise the spindle will not be correctly positioned because
the center hole is to small in diameter. This is a problem that was never
solved on the the late Thorens production line. The spindles were pressed
in --cold--with high force, causing problems in accurate rotation. If
heating up the platter, the spindle will go smooth into the platter without
causing geometric faults but it takes 45 minutes to cool down the parts --too
long in the further Thorens production. This time, all went right.
This was the first Prestige platter I pressed in. I was very glad about
the outcome because I have only 2 drive platters in stock and therefore only two
chances for correct assembly.
69) 
The first assembling of the new platter to the new bearing on the
turntable. Also, I just searched in stock for some new additional
parts. I found new archbase bolts and added them to the table. Some
of the gold plated screws are still missing but I hope to find them.
December 3, 2004
The drive platter was finished today.
92) 
First I drilled out the staking on the old drive platter to release the magnetic
ring and its base plate.
93) 
The new empty drive platter from the downside.
94) 
The new drive platter with the magnetic rubber ting placed together with the
base plate. First I tried to glue it together, with a bad result.
95)
The final mounting method. (staking) It is original and better than using glue.
December 7, 2004
..........most important was a telephone call this morning. My painter was on the line, informing me that the platter was finished. This man is a wizard in colors, normally working on all kind of cars (specializing in very new ones and expensive old-timers). I found him sometime ago when I was looking for a perfect painting of Baby Blue and the Reference Double Drive.
Also the two tonearm plateaus arrived back from painting. The right one is the original one, just cleaned and renewed in surface. The left one was taken from stock, but it was slightly damaged over the years.
Late this evening I decided to do the first trial assembly of the floating chassis.........just to get an impression of how it will finally look. The golden adjustment screws on top are taken from stock. They are not cleaned yet. I will decide later to keep them as they are or do a new gold plate. The brown felt mat is an original Prestige one, including the black eloxal aluminum center ring and the original record clamp on the top. The wood of the tonearm bases should be a little darker, more similar to the base construction, but it was a great moment to fit these parts together for the first time.
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