Garrard 301 platter scraping on 78rpm

[reddish75]

I'm coming to the end of my Garrard 301 restoration and have ran into an extremely annoying problem, when it's set to 78rpm the platter catches/rubs on something.

The table itself is an older grease bearing version and runs almost without noise when set on 33 and 45rpm, without the platter ot runs pretty much silent. To me it's obviously the idler mechanism or spindle but how would I confirm this? Or could it be something else?

 

[Tony L]

The 78rpm spindle is at the top of the motor spindle, so the idler is moved upwards by the speed control mech from 33 to 45, and from 45 to 78. My guess is this is a little out of alignment and the idler assembly is rubbing on the bottom surface of the platter.

First thing to check is the motor transit cage, is that completely slackened off and the motor floating entirely unimpeded in its suspension? This not being right could easily explain what you are hearing. The motor rubbing on the bottom of the plinth, or its wiring pulling it out of true could have the same effect.

 

[Locheeboy]

Use a spirit level to check that the platter is level, all across the platter. Check that all your springs are properly engaged.