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TD150 resto

M

matt j

pfm Member
I've acquired a TD150 in a bit of a sorry state, no arm but an SME cut board. I have a spare Hadcock that can go on it but first things first it needs stripping to see what is ok to reuse. On quick inspection the bearing looks ok.

The chassis looks a bit bent and twisted because the drive pulley is touching the speed change/belt guide arm, it also looks like the motor shaft is out of true, so it may end up not being worth restoring, but we shall see.
 
I assume you mean the plinth/top-plate being bent? Post some pics! TD-150s are fairly simple things and can usually be sorted out. The motor spindle may prove a challenge though.
 
It's possible that the motor azimuth has been buggered with. Overdoing this can distort metal parts. Easily put right, in most cases.

TD150-Belt-Asjust.jpg


TD150-Azimuth.jpg
 
Craig B said:
It's possible that the motor azimuth has been buggered with. Overdoing this can distort metal parts. Easily put right, in most cases.

TD150-Belt-Asjust.jpg


TD150-Azimuth.jpg
Click to expand...

Yes I did wonder about the azimuth but turning the pulley by hand shows clear weeble wobble unfortunately.
 
Ah, that is too bad. As these decks didn't employ the motor protection rod of later TD-1xx series Thorens, it has likely had the shite knocked out of it in transit with platter on.

I notice that eBay prices are reliably much higher than what old Thorens used to want for a new motor (even taking inflation into account).

Then again, I can't see it being beyond the realm of possibility to fit the same pulley to a new 16-pole AC synchronous motor, and drill out 4 x Linn pattern mounting holes, using dome washers beneath for azimuth adjust.

[Image credit: That's my ancient scan of a poor photocopy!]
 
That's the motor pulley having been pummelled at an angle in the direction of the outer left mounting bolt.

There does appear to be signs of grief elsewhere, so you may be right about it having been under a load of heavy crap.

Or, perhaps, shipped with the platter wrapped, but placed above the plinth and free to float round within the box. The chewed inner front edges of the plinth being a tell here.
 
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Ok the tinkerer in me couldn't wait until tomorrow so 5 minutes and it's in bits. I think the technical term is bent to f**k.



After a quick play I don't think the motor is as bad as first thought. The plinth is also shagged at one of the corners, would probably glue easy enough just to get it up and running.

The thin foil top plate has a dent in it from a non standard screw that has been used to screw the chassis to the plinth, that should come out easy.
 
The top plate straightened out easier than expected, mostly by hand but I needed the adjustable spanner trick for the worst part, still, doesn't look too bad. Would be nice to have a shed or a workshop with a nice bench for this sort of thing but not much I can do about that.









Plinth plus all the parts, randomly scattered of course just to keep the rebuild interesting.






The thin ally top plate is probably past saving, it has small marks all under the anodizing so to make it presentable it would need stripping back, which is probably more work than it is worth even if it is a simple job, especially when a replacement can be found easily enough.

Having dug deeper this morning I've come up with a plan. I think I will buy another donor unit that is in much nicer condition with its original arm, I will then transfer the arm to this unit and tart it up and give it to my Mum who has voiced interest in wanting to play a few records she has found amongst her things, this one will do nicely for that job.

I will then use the other as a base for my purposes.
 
Not one to give up too easily, I gave the face plate a nice relaxing bath of caustic soda to remove the anodising. Sadly there's too much pitting to make it feasible to refinish it so that is a write off, it would probably paint but stuff that for a laugh.
 
What about having the bare top plate powder coated?

I used to call up the local coating shop and ask what colours they were doing of a week, and they were always willing to throw a piece in for naught.

Come to think of it, electro plating would be well cool. This Dr. Dual guy is just over in the next town from me...

chrome_Dual_1019_004.jpg
 
I have a working Thorens 150 turntable c/w TP13 tonearmin excellent cosmetic conditon for sale. Asking £120 + postage. Has recently been removed from a home built radiogram so no plinth.
 
I love these kinds of photos, btw. They trigger my compulsion to assemble something that deserves to be put together properly (if that makes sense?).

I used to take all sorts of things apart, just for the joy of putting them back together again, usually with more care than they got the first time round.

IMG20210707115555.jpg
 
Craig B said:
I love these kinds of photos, btw. They trigger my compulsion to assemble something that deserves to be put together properly (if that makes sense?).

I used to take all sorts of things apart, just for the joy of putting them back together again, usually with more care than they got the first time round.

IMG20210707115555.jpg
Click to expand...

I could have taken photos of disassemble and bagged up all the parts, but where is the fun in that? :D

It wasn't actually a conscious decision, my job involves taking things apart that I have no idea how they work so this is like a bus man's holiday, just easier and cleaner to work on!
 
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