Garrard 4hf

[cloisters]

Hello all

I'm completely new to this so please bear with me - I picked up a Garrard 4HF at a boot sale the other day 'because it looked nice' (mistake number one) - it was only four quid though - and not in awful nick, considering. I put a new plug on and it fires up ok, but being used to your standard belt driven decks, the operation looks a unfamiliar. There are two faults that seem obvious...



1) despite the silver mechanism (left middle) spinning fine, I'm not sure how this works in tandem with the idler wheel...do they connect somehow? am I missing a part? When the platter is replaced it stays stationery.



2) the speed changer is stuck at 33rpm and seems pretty resolved in staying there! is there a way of freeing this up?



The complete beast! As you see it's certainly battered and probably needs a thorough clean, but still in considerable condition. Is there anything obvious I'm missing here that I need to sell my soul on eBay to obtain?

Again, these questions may seem obvious but I'm totally new to this game. Any advice on getting her back up and running gratefully received. Thanks!

[LPfan]

Hallo,

You are very lucky. It is very rare to find a 4HF at that price, and almost impossible to find one with that white enamal base.

The "silver mechanism" is known as the motor pulley around these parts. When you lift the tonearm from the rest and push it to the right, away from the platter, the black idler wheel shall engage between the inner rim and the motor pulley.

There is no alternative to elbow grease to free up the jammed speed change. My 4HF also arrived with the same issue, caused by a special Garrard grease fondly named gorilla snot by members here.

Search through the forum, there are several threads and posts about the 4HF here. Do not attack it with tools until you have gone through them, do not try to take apart the internal wiring, it is quite complicated and the wiring diagram is not yet available.

Regards,

LPfan

[josephazannieri]

Yo cloisters:

Our helpful friend from Mumbai, LPfan, has told you how to start this unit, and has also told you about the gorilla snot that you will have to remove to loosen up the speed change, but he has not explained how the unit works. You have lifted the turntable off it. If you look, you will see that the idler wheel is in a carrier that has a spring attached to it. When you push the arm to the right, as LPfan describes, the spring will pull the idler wheel into contact with the motor spindle and also with the inside of the turntable. the motor will start to spin and the turntable will begin to spin. Instruction manual is found here:

http://www.vinylengine.com/library/garr ... -4hf.shtml

You are going to have to take some WD-40 or other penetrant and use it to dissolve and remove the gorilla snot. You may have to disassemble some aspects of the speed change mechanism to get it to work freely. When it works properly, the idler wheel will line up with the smallest diameter of the motor spindle pulley when the speed is set for 16 2/3, and with the largest diameter of the motor spindle pulley when the speed is set for 78. Obviously each speed has its own step on the spindle pulley. I had one of these briefly. They are not super high performance units, and are not well suited to a cartridge that wants to track at less than about 3 grams. But they look really cool, and you can play modern records with them, but you need a relatively low compliance cartridge to do it.

You will probably need to look at the cartridge that is on it, and see if the unit is wired for stereo or mono. Since you are in UK, your unit might have a DIN plug rather than RCA plugs. At some point you are going to have to plug it into an amplifier and speakers and see if it gives sound. You will have to see if there is a good stylus (needle) on it. You can remove the plug in head and turn it over to look and see what you have. If you can read the manufacturers marks on cartridge, it will tell you who made the cartridge. There are many sources for styli, and there are many sources for other parts. When you look at cartridge count the number of wires coming off it. If there are 2 wires, it's a mono cartridge, and if there are 3 or 4 wires, it's a stereo cartridge. If you can tell us the cartridge manufacturer, we can tell you more. Cartridge is the thing inside the plug in head that runs in the grooves and makes music.

And good luck from that old record playing old Garrard guy,

Joe Z.

[cloisters]

Incredible stuff, guys. Sincere thanks to you both!

This beast now makes a lot more sense when laid out like that. It appears that, when activated, the idler wheel is not meeting up with the motor spindle - therefore I'm assuming it's gorilla-snotted up, or something similar....hmm....the plot thickens. Pushing the idler wheel manually onto the spindle works fine, but there is not enough power to rotate the platter when replaced.

I'll have a another thorough look over it tonight. The manual there is priceless, so thanks to whoever uploaded that. My WD40 is primed and, luckily, it looks like a half decent stylus. Thanks again for your help!

[josephazannieri]

Yo cloisters:

Have you tried just putting the turntable back on, plugging it in, and engaging the drive? It might just go ahead and turn.

First take the turntable and turn it by hand. It should move freely and easily, and it should not hang up and stop, even if it is in the pickup and shutoff cycle. You may have to apply a little pressure to get it to turn in shutoff cycle, but it should not take a lot of force.

Take a look at the surface of the idler wheel. It should be firm, yet pliable, and not hard or shiny. Rubber should not come off on your fingers when you feel it. If rubber comes off, idler needs to be replaced. If the surface is hard or shiny, the idler may not be able to transmit torque from the motor to the turntable. You can clean up a shiny surface by holding idler against the motor spindle and applying some 220 grit wet or dry sandpaper to it. DON'T GO CRAZY! A little is a lot here. Just sand it enough to expose a new surface. You can also soften the idler with a product called Rawn Re-Grip, which refurbishes idler wheels that have gone hard. It is available at http://www.parts-express.com and http://www.mcmelectronics.com.

It may also be that the spring that pulls the idler wheel toward the motor is not adjusted properly. If you look at arm to which spring attaches, you will see a screw in the middle. This screw adjusts the spring tension. You should be able to loosen the screw and shift position of arm to tighten spring. Also idler carrier may be monkey-snotted up and not moving freely from side to side.

These are typical failures found on these idler drive jobs. If needed, you can get idler wheel refurbished for about $45.00 US from a number of companies such as Svalander Audio. But I would first check idler contact and carrier motion, and try sanding it and checking spring first.

And good luck from that pliable, but poorly surfaced old guy,

Joe Z.

[waterhouserock]

I am looking for a 4 hf with original plinth, or even just the plinth alone.. if anyone has one for sale?? Pm me if you do or know where I can find one.cheers.