Tonearm shape on a Dual 701

[opuscule]

here's what i found on the dual forum "I think the steuerpimpel needs a small amount of the amber grease found in the unit to function, actually it is applied to the main lever plate."
I tried to take some grease away and looked a what happened...nothing new !
always the arm goes off the record if i set the cue control height lower than the auto.

[Hugues TR4]

Very strange indeed...
It worked all right with my 1019, following Alec's advice on this, who is a Dual specialist on this site.
Check the thickness of the pimpel: if it isn't the right size, it will not work properly.
The advice of mrow2 would also be precious in this case (he found the way to remanufacture "steuerpimpels" on Dual's specs).
Maybe you could contact them directly through their personal message service...
Bonne chance,

Hugh.

[vlamofoon]

Clean your "pimpel" thoroughly with isopropyl alcool: it should be dry and free from any grease! This works by friction.

Excuse me but here I need to interfere. The friction path on the so-called 'haupthebel' part no. 219 as well with the 601 and 701, are under high air pressure accompanied with sand or glass roughned, and originally lubed with Shell Alvania Nylon lubricant to reduce excessive wear of that steuerpimpel.

[opuscule]

so that's why i found some "grease" at the end of the part 167 the famous steuerpimpel !!!
Please vlamofoon, could you help me by telling me what part of the turntable i should grease (or re-grease) and with what kind of grease or luricant ?
thanks a lot

david

[vlamofoon]

If you take a look at the armbase under the chassis, seen from the back/left of the recordplayer, you will notice a vertical small rod wich (with the recordplayer at rest/shutdown and the arm on its rest) almost touches a, at its edges rounded, flat horizontal surface approx. 3x1,5 cm. wich is part of a large metal lever.
At the end of the vertical rod you will notice a small, probably desintegrating, round piece of nylon. That’s the notorious Steuerdimpel (Pimpel). Most of the time it, nowadays 2012, falls apart in sticky bread-crum like wastestuff. The course: The original used grease: Shell Alvania is a composition of soap and mineral oil wich after time decomposes nylon.

Now if you look sharpely at the runway path of the Steuerdimpel, THAT is the place where to put a mixture of siliconspray and teflonspray (Spray from both equal quantities on a small cupboard and mix it) That is what I am doing since some 20 years and it works good.

Steuerdimpels I have always made myself:
Take some nylon inner-isolation of 60- or 75Ω coaxial antenna wire and cut of a small piece of approx. 5-6 mm. and widen its centre to approx. 2 mm. to a depth of about 4 mm. et voila: you have your new Steuerdimpel.

The tricky thing is that most of the time you cannot take your recordplayer in use with a new Steuerdimpel without re-setting tonearm/lift clearance for automatic and manual play.
Here in this forum it is a too long story. You can find the manual for it in the knowledge-base of Vinylengine, thanks to a Member-uploader.

Succes!

[opuscule]

are we talking about the same thing ? if yes, my steuerpimpel is in perfect condition. My aim problem is that the tone arm goes half way accross the record and the returns to the holder any ideas on how to adjust this? The reset mode (holding the arm doesn't work)
If i set the lift screw too low then with automatic launch, the arm will go directly to the end of the record...and it will keep on doing this unless i set the lift height quite high. I don't understand why the lift screw has only influence on the cue control and not on the height of the arm when launched automatically.
I'd like to take care of this beautiful 701. Is there some pictures of where oil is needed ?

[Alec124c41]

I think opuscule's problem has nothing to do with the steuerpimpel.
If you hold the tonearm tube with finger and thumb, is there any movement when you try to rotate it on the tube axis?

Cheers,
Alec

[vlamofoon]

I think opuscule's problem has nothing to do with the steuerpimpel
Cheers,
Alec

Alec,

That's is what I think too or the damn' thing is worn so far that the steel rod protudes through. (often the case) But the brown discolouration is typical for a steuerdimple almost falling apart, like I said in 'breadcrums' if you squeeze it between your fingers.
A slack armbearing like you suggest I doubt, as I may say so, because the armbase controls do not change or the complete arm was one time removed and not installed correctly again.
If the pimple is okay, I think of a wrong setting of screw No 208 on the main-lever wich takes care of the correct distance and/or pressure of the steuerdimpel corresponding to its frictionpath.

Opuscule, is the blue Loctite on the screw wich you can see on your uploaded picture almost at the top somewhat left of the middle, unharmed?

[opuscule]

thanks alec & vlamofoon for your help !
alec what do you call tube axis ? (the tonearm tube ?)
vlamofoon, i took the pimpel from its axis, it is in very good condition, not falling apart. Concerning the screw you are mentionning, it is unharmed but quite loose...do you think we're on the good track ?

thanks again

[opuscule]

one last thing when i launch the automatic mode, the small platter (rotor) doesn't run at its full speed immediatly, it seems to hesitate, like a small hiccup (with a very tiny ticking if you listen carefully and closely). But when the needle touches the vinyl, the platter runs at its regular speed. Is it normal ? If i play the record manually, nothing like that happens.
here's a video http://9giga.sfr.fr/n/50-17/share/LNK24165020eff85ae71/

[vlamofoon]

thanks alec & vlamofoon for your help !
alec what do you call tube axis ? (the tonearm tube ?)
vlamofoon, i took the pimpel from its axis, it is in very good condition, not falling apart. Concerning the screw you are mentionning, it is unharmed but quite loose...do you think we're on the good track ?

thanks again

The screw should feel locked snug in place if you try to turn it. If you are shure it's quite loose, I think its preset-hight is changed, and thus affecting calculated pressure on the steuerdimple.

Proceed as following, but take in account that what follows is a tricky procedure.

*unplug the turntable from the mains AC
*save guard your cartridge-needle!
*note the original place of the set-screw (you can use the cut in the screw-head as a
mark to remember

*Turn the set-screw one full turn (360) degrees counterclockwise.
*Remove the platter.
*Engage the startknob and start turning - very slowly! - the motor by hand clockwise
Remember: never turn the motor/platter counterclockwise when manually rotating with start- or stopprocedure engaged!

Now watch carefully the movement of the tone-arm if the movement improves.

You may repeat this procedure but be aware of the tricky part: if you feel at a certain moment that the resistance of turning by hand increases - compared with before - the moment the yellow-coloured command-wheel engages the main-leaver wich pushes against the steuerdimple: immediately stop turning the motor and turn the screw back to its former position. That is why it is so important to keep track of the position of the screw everytime you turn it.

[opuscule]

at first sight it seems to be working !! thanks a lot, i can lower the height of the cue control in manuel mode without having the arm skipping through the record !
well done vlamofoon !!!

[flavio81]

one last thing when i launch the automatic mode, the small platter (rotor) doesn't run at its full speed immediatly, it seems to hesitate, like a small hiccup (with a very tiny ticking if you listen carefully and closely). But when the needle touches the vinyl, the platter runs at its regular speed. Is it normal ? If i play the record manually, nothing like that happens.
here's a video http://9giga.sfr.fr/n/50-17/share/LNK24165020eff85ae71/

This is normal. Enjoy your 701. Over 1 year has passed from the beginning of this thread, and i also have a 701 now!!

I created a new steuerpimpel using a pencil eraser!

[opuscule]

thanks flavio for reassuring me !