Pink Triangle Parts

[rrrinva]

I recently bought a Pink Triangle turntable from an on line auction. The auction house packed it poorly, and the animals at the US post office damaged the cover and the tonearm beyond repair. Also, the auction company claimed that it worked perfectly but they didn't include the power supply so they obviously lied. So does anyone know of a power supply that will work and where to buy one. I am also looking for some advice on a good moderately priced tone arm to replace the broken Aurum. Serial # is PT 2580. This is my first foray into high end vintage audio so any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Rick

[abril]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune,turntables do not take well to being poorly packed or thrown about.
From the serial number you have given it sounds like you have a PT1,a suitable PSU would be this
http://www.amazon.com/Velleman-Compact- ... pd_sim_e_1
set it to 9V and it MUST be tip +.
This is a switching supply and it would be better if you had a linear supply but this would get you started.

Helius arms as far as I can remember use a Linn type fitting,if the arm is not repairable then possibly something like a Linn Basik+ would be a good affordable option,although there are many others to choose from.

Good luck

PS
I hope the main bearing survived OK

[rrrinva]

Thanks for the advice on the power supply. Do you know of anyone who would take a chance on repairing my old Helius aurum? The arm is visibly bent and probably needs to be rewired.

[tim_bissell]

I don't know about the US, or what sort of a rush you are in, but...

Helius is still making tonearms (and now an interesting looking turntable also); they service and repair their old arms (I have had two serviced so far!) - If anyone has the parts to rebuild it, they do. If not possible (e.g. they don't have an spare arm tube, then they do give trade-in values against new arms - I got a Scorpio 4 that way.

They are well worth contacting; http://www.heliusdesigns.co.uk/

P.S. I hope you are getting some compensation from the auction house and/or courier - a replacement lid is about £90 and a replacement bearing (was it shipped with the platter removed?) is just under £200 - although you may be able to claim UK sales tax (20%) back from that - but that is before postage!

-- Tim

[rrrinva]

The platter was not removed for shipping but the bearing may be OK. The tonearm dust cover took the brunt of the blow. It cracked and pushed down on the tonearm which bent. The cover then actually got hung up on the little plastic pink triangle logo which popped off. I got an incredible deal from this auction, $232.41 US. I asked them to insure the table for much more at my expense but they only insured it for the purchase price. The US post office refunded my $232.41 so basically I not own it for free. I would much rather have it working for my original purchase price. The miracle is that the cartridge never made contact with the top board as the arm didn't bend that far.

[Zebbo]

Hi rrrinva
Are you familiar with just how fragile the PT bearings are? There is a tiny sapphire jewel set in to the top of the shaft and if the TT was shipped with the platter in place and it's been abused as you describe you will be VERY lucky if it's not damaged. You need to get a magnifying glass at the very least to see if it's intact, fingers crossed it is.

[tim_bissell]

Unfortunately, as it is an early PT1, the bearing jewel is not set in the spindle (which has a rounded metal top) but in the metal housing in the platter; you'll need to shine a powerful light down their to visually inspect it. If you fit the platter without a belt and spin it gently, it should rotate freely for 30 seconds or more, without any noise...

-- Tim

[rrrinva]

Wow, thanks guys. I am learning a lot. I spun the platter without a belt and it stops in about 15 seconds. It isn't completely quiet either. Looking down the hole with a lighted magnifier, I see no sapphire jewel so I am guessing it was damaged. What are my options at this point? Will another platter work? Is the jewel available and can the platter be fixed? I sent the tonearm to helius for repair. I figured I would do that regardless.

[Zebbo]

Oh mate, that doesn't sound good I'm afraid. I replaced a bearing assembly on my later Export and it cost me £180! I'm not sure that the early bearings are even available. You might be down to looking out for a good used one but Tim might know better. Don't know if it's possible to fit a later type bearing to an early deck or not. The jewel is very difficult to see at the best of times, (they're not all blue and sparkly, more like a browny colour), it would be worth giving the assembly a thorough clean out with something like a WD40 spray to remove any old oil and crud, dry it all off then apply a little oil to the shaft and try again.

[Zebulon_minor]

$0.02,

I wonder if this company would have suitable replacements for a cracked thrust plate...

http://www.melleroptics.com/sapphire_catalog.asp

Z_m

[Zebulon_minor]

Well,

Since also I have picked up a spare PT1 with a busted bearing, I am going to give it a go with one of these synthetic sapphire plates, how hard could it be

I sent them a message briefly outlining that I was looking for a replacement thrust plate, hopefully they are open for doing business with the public. I live no more than ten minutes away, so if that were to be the case, then I easily can swing by. I will keep you updated.

*If* I manage to find something suitable in size and strength, and the price isn't prohibitive, then the trial and error process begins; how to affix it...

Ideas...?...

Z_m

[tim_bissell]

Oh mate, that doesn't sound good I'm afraid. I replaced a bearing assembly on my later Export and it cost me £180! I'm not sure that the early bearings are even available. You might be down to looking out for a good used one but Tim might know better. Don't know if it's possible to fit a later type bearing to an early deck or not. The jewel is very difficult to see at the best of times, (they're not all blue and sparkly, more like a browny colour), it would be worth giving the assembly a thorough clean out with something like a WD40 spray to remove any old oil and crud, dry it all off then apply a little oil to the shaft and try again.

The bearings are basically compatible, but some of the earlier bearings were slightly (0.5mm or so) narrower than the later/modern ones, so a modern bearing will not fit straight into the hole in the platter. One I replaced was like this, so I had to slightly enlarge the hole in the platter - I wrapped some coarse emery paper around my forefinger and spun the platter round it, checking if I could just slide the bearing into the platter every 20 seconds or so...

And yes, the early bearings were red rubies.


Good luck Z_m - if you get anywhere with the repairs, there will be a queue of people with busted bearings knocking on your cyber-door!

-- Tim

[natty_dredd]

Don't see why it shouldn't work, replacing the saphire.. Could be tough though.

Is the saphire on the tip or in the cup part?

In the tip, you could heat the bearing up so that it expands, put the saphire in while its hot and, with an exact fit, hope that it cools to create a tight fit. (or just glue it in..)

In the cup part, heat again may mean that the alluminium part expands more that the brass part so that you can then pull the brass part out and then repair the saphire as you would a tip.

When I looked into this, I think companies were willing to send free samples of a few. I never got around to it.