It came in the mail yesterday!

[Zaimejs]

I bought a "broken" 95B on eBay for 10 bucks. I unpacked it... the plinth is plastic and terrible, there is no cover, but the parts are in immaculate condition, which is exactly what I was hoping for. It's completely locked up, and I'm debating whether to refurbish it to get it running again, or to just use it for parts as needed?

It came with an autodrop spindle, and I replaced the one that came with my Garrard.... it fixed my autodrop/return problem! I know that people here told me the spindle might be the problem, and I guess it was. I played two LPs last night, and after the second one, the player shut off (before it would just start over again and again).

The cables are completely unfaded... like they've never been used.

Quick question... is there a special type of glue and tape to hold the silver middle part and the rubber mat to the platter?

[chan1]

Hi Zaimejs. Glad the new auto spindle worked. Had to be something simple.

The Zero's came with what looked like double sided athletic white tape to hold down the platter mat. It appears that they gave no thought to how that would effect the balance of the platter or what would happen when it dried out and let loose. I cleaned this old tape off and tired elmers rubber cement and this would work if the mat was nice and flat but they rarely are. I removed the elmers then and glued it down with a water based product like white school glue. Let it dry with 30 lbs a few days and now the mat is flat. Some may say this creates resonance but if it does I can't hear it. The zeros metal platter has 3 inches of flat surface and then it dips down to the center. The mat has a raised rind molded into it to even out this dip so a replacement mat is not an option. So, if it were me and the metal platter were flat, I would replace the original mat with felt or a new wonder mat to lower the possibility of resonance but that is debatable. Want to keep it original? Rubber cement for the middle ring and a neutral PH adhesive made from Polyvinyl Acetate for the mat. Its reversible. Product name: Lineco

Later,chan

[Zaimejs]

Thank you, I will look into that!

So I'm just comparing the two models. I just took the idler wheel off of the "new" one. It's a bit more supple than the "old" one, so I replaced that. When I took the platter off of the new one, I noticed that it is quite a bit heavier than the other... it seems weird that the same exact models would have such a noticeable difference in platter weights. The idler wheels were a bit different too. Same rubber, but the inner part was brassy in one and tinny in the other. Don't think it matters.

I plan to continue my excavation, replacing "old" parts with "new" as needed.

[Zaimejs]

My victory was premature... it is no longer stopping on the auto return. Worked once last night... and that's it.

[Zaimejs]

I couldn't resist getting the "new" one to work, so I disassembled and reassembled it this morning. I got the auto to mostly work. The tone arm is really stiff, so I think I might try to take that apart. I haven't done that yet... I could practice on this one just in case I really mess something up.

It has a Shure 910E cartridge... I'm guessing that's OEM. The stylus is pretty old, looks original too, and it only plays in one channel. The cartridge carrier was one piece that I wanted for replacement... might need to fix the soldering. I suck at that.

[pogo]

I
Quick question... is there a special type of glue and tape to hold the silver middle part and the rubber mat to the platter?

Dunno. First thing I've always done is remove that crap. I'm not sure why they thought it was desirable to glue the mat to the platter.

[Zaimejs]

How do you make the mat stay?

[Alec124c41]

How do you make the mat stay?

I use gravity for all of mine. Willing to sell some for a nominal fee.

Cheers,
Alec

[Zaimejs]

ha ha.

[pogo]

ha ha.

So you think he wasn't serious? Glue your mat to the platter and be happy.

[Alec124c41]

I like to experiment with different mats, different materials.

Cheers,
Alec

[Zaimejs]

Cool.

So I got this one to work and the auto return and stop after playing multiple records works on this crappy old one, but not one my "better" one. I have watched it go through the motions of stopping... trying to figure out what it does differently, and I just can't see it. I might have to video tape it again.

It's such a small thing, but it bothers me. You know?

My better Garrard 95B drops records and plays them perfectly, but at the end of the stack, it starts playing the last record over instead of understanding that there are no more new records to drop. It doesn't even hesitate... just boom. Starts again.

The "new" one plays the record, returns and knows that it is time to stop. It's not the spindle... Everything on the better one is looser and runs more smoothly, so I don't see how it could be something sticking.

I'll have to just keep on keepin on.

[chan1]

Hi zeimejs. Try this. Remove the part that the long spindle fits down into, you know, with the black spring steel, from the working machine and install it on the non working machine and see if that works.

Regards, chan

[Zaimejs]

Thanks... to swap that part, you have to take everything off... might do that this weekend. Let you know.