Arm board and Cue
(note: left click on icons to view full size image)
If you want to remove the arm but don't want to clip the wires, you have to pull the terminal fixture with it. The plastic terminal comes out readily by compressing the plastic lock plugs that lock into the motor-plate. This terminal will be tossed out in favor of gold plated RCA jacks. This will allow me to use the interconnects of my choice.
(above) The standard plastic armboard just prior to stuffing it full of blue-tak. After listening to the table with the armboard stuffed full of it, I decided to remove the blue-tak. The sound had gone somewhat duller and lackluster. Removing the blue-tak from the cavities of the plastic armboard restored the sound that I had prior to the mod.
Note the metal bushing at the large diameter. There is a precision fit between that bore and the aluminum barrel of the TP16 shown just above the board. The arm is held to the board by 2 set screws and depends to no small degree on the quality of fit between barrel and bore. BTW, it is obvious that VTA can be set at this point by loosening the set screws and raising or lowering the body of the arm.
(above) Looking at the underside of the TP16 MK I.
(above) Armboard assembly after being packed with Blu-Tak. Note the Cue mechanism is attached complete with cable. More about that below.
(above) The cue mechanism, cable and all. It was far easier to remove the cable fitting from the control end rather than at the lever end since it is permanently crimped in place there. At the control end, the cable snaps into a plastic fitting.
(above) Looking at the mechanism as it is installed. The cable operates a spring loaded lever which pushes against a rod. The rod travels up or down inside a cylinder and has attached at it's other end the cue bar which contacts the tone arm to raise or lower it.
(above) Removing a mounting screw.
(above) Removing the other mounting screw.
(above) Removing the retaining screw that holds the push rod to the cue lever. Note, bracket has been rotated to allow access. Note also that the cue bar at the top side of the table (now inverted) needs to move about in close proximity to the tone arm. Exercise extreme care when doing this.
(above) Extracting the push rod retaining screw in a careful way. This tool will be used for initial reassembly as well. Not also orientation of all springs and the lever as they will tend to move about some after the push rod is released.
With the above 3 screws removed, the mechanism will lift straight off the push rod. The rod can be extracted by rotating the cue bar to clear the tonearm. Note also the spring spacer. This will be reassembled, of course.
(above) PJ1 motorcycle chain lube is the stuff I found that closely approximates the original lube used by Thorens for damping motion of the cue mechanism. It provides enough drag to allow a clean smooth drop to the record surface in just over 1 second. Just about right. The cue mechanism had been getting a little stiff and slowing down on the drop time. Otherwise I would have left well enough alone.
Re-lube procedure:
1) clean push rod and cylinder of old lube residue
2) apply liberal amount of PJ1 to push rod so as to have 100 percent coverage
3) allow lube to air dry onto the push rod ( note that the PJ1 goes on thin and runny, but congeals in the atmosphere to a waxy paste)
4) after 30 minutes, add another coat of PJ1 to the push rod and allow to dry again.
5) fit push rod to cylinder and note the amount of effort it takes to push the rod thru.
6) reverse disassembly procedure to assemble.
(above) Setting the cue bar for height. The set screw tightens against the push rod and sets the height of the cue bar. It will be necessary to have some tension against the tone arm when parked as the bar must maintain the stylus over the record surface by a distance to your liking. I've got mine about 3/8 inch over the record surface. Direction of bar is aimed parallel to face of gimbal as shown.
Installing RCA jacks to the unit.
(above) RCA jack installation as finished. I used 1/8 inch black walnut for mounting plate material. Gold plated RCA jacks came from Fry's, a large electronics department store.
a photo taken before any mods.
and another.
This one shows a plastic terminal board interfacing between the leads directly off the tonearm on one side and on the other side to the rca wires out to the phono stage. In this exercise the terminal is dispensed with and replaced by rca female jacks mounted solidly to the back of the plinth. Afterwards any interconnect using rca plugs can be used to connect the turntable to a phono stage. The downside is that an opening is cut into the original plinth, making it no longer unadulterated.
(above) From inside the box. Wiring is simple. Using the terminal as a road map, I duplicated the scheme to the jacks. The tone arm wire is color coded btw. Red and Yellow. Ground wires are bare. I noticed that the tonearm wire appears to be even of a finer gage than that of a human hair. It's kind of hard to see this stuff when soldering. The green wire is a non-Thorens piece I needed to scrounge up to ground the circuit.