Thorens td 125 motor vibrates back and forth

[bacgoff57]

Hello I just bought a 125 and when it was shipped the 45 adapter was found inside. The fuse was blown and the motor spins by hand but only vibrates with power applied. Does anyone know if this is a bad board or motor?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks Ben

[vincitsemper]

Hello,
If you are feeling vibrations from the motor,when plugged in,there is a good chance that it just needs lubricating.

The lubrication may have dried up causing the motor to seize,it will still turn by hand but require too much force to get it spinning on its own.

Get yourself some service oil,3 in one or sewing machine oil,and apply a few drops to the motor's top and bottom bearing whilst turning the pulley by hand.Unplugged from the mains of course.Be gentle with the motor's spindle as a bent spindle is something best avoided.

You will have to be patient and keep repeating this operation,maybe for a couple of days, but it has a very good chance of getting the motor spinning again,in my experience at least.Gently warming the motor with a hairdryer may help speed things up.

Problem with the TD125 motor,and other Thorens',is that the motor cannot be opened unless you drill the rivets out so it's a matter of waiting for the oil to penetrate the bronze bearings or drill the rivets and replace with screws.

The motor is vibrating as it's trying to get going,good news!

Don't bother taking anything to bits before making sure that the motor is well lubricated and smooth.

Good luck and come back to let us know how you get on.

Regards,

Victor.

[bubba45]

Have a read of these threads too:

viewtopic.php?t=474

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=2118&start=15

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=39475

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=41315

You will hopefully be lucky and just have to replace the large electrolytic capacitors on the circuit board - a common problem with these Td125's.

If the motor is just vibrating it indicates that at least one of the phases is not getting enough volts to the motor.

[bacgoff57]

Hi bubba45
I checked the different voltages 33,45,16. The 33 is low the 45 is low and the 16 is on voltage. The 16 pulses on my vom and when i adjust the pot the pulses increase as voltage increases. The 33 and 45 are solid on the meter. My 125 is an mk1 checking across the blue and black of motor wires according to service manual.
Thanks for helping

[vincitsemper]

Hello,

Bubba,I mentioned lubrication as three of my Thorens decks exhibited the same issue.A vibrating motor is also a symptom of dry grease as the motor tries,and fails,to spin.

I have recently fixed a friend's motor and he himself fixed one from a TD125 soon after. Either I am very unlucky or vintage Thorens motors do tend to seize if not maintained.

Hope you get the deck going.

Regards,

Victor.

[bacgoff57]

Hi Bubba
Great advice you were spot on with your diagnosis. I put a coupe of drops of liquid ball bearings on the spindle and turned it for a few minutes and it started to turn easier, plugged it in and she was turning. I tuned the voltages to their proper amounts and played an album. She sounds sweet.
Thanks for the help
Benny

[bubba45]

Nice one Benny. Glad to hear it's up and running. I have managed to get one out of 3 running myself and another VE member is looking to see if he can fix at least one of the others.
My one that works is excellent. A really great belt drive TT.
Glad to have helped.