Rek-o-Kut TR43H project not going so good...

[slant1332]

so i recently acquired a Rek-o-Kut TR43H /aud56 ...been tinkering,adjusting ,cleaning the unit while i wait for my cutting styli and blanks from appollo. i had never left the REK'O powered on for longer than 10-15 min. at a time and
everything seems to work ok as far as i can tell. ...then yesterday i got my package from Appolo. excited! i powered up the rek'o to get ready for some first time lathe destruction.

i left the room for approx 25-30 min with power "on".
came back and the smell of smoke and somethn burning..UGGHH. . both transformers where smoking/CRackling ...

Oh well,

should i /can i? bypass the entire Imperial Amp and all that old tech. and just run the platter/lathe/cutting head with some other power source?

any thoughts for this newbie?

[mratx]

The turntable doesn't use the power supply circuit from the amp section, you can wire it up to an AC power cable and run it from normal wall power. You'd just need to acquire an amp that matches the impedance of your head (or an amp and a transformer to match the impedance), plus an RIAA circuit, and run the head off of that.


Mark

[Angus McCarthy]

Can you power the turntable motor without turning on the amp? If so, there really isn't too much of an issue - it's the same state of affairs with my K8, bad amp but decent mechanics. Just drive the head (carefully) from an external amplifier.

[slant1332]

thanks guys,

Can you power the turntable motor without turning on the amp?
yes, turntable motor has a standard outlet plug.

Just drive the head (carefully)...?
this is where i get a little lost..
what "not" to do. & what is suitable power source? connecting cutterhead home stereo amp?


i have no prob doing what needs to be done..i'm not even sure if the cutterhead is/was in working order prior to the meltdown. :/ i just want to do less damage as possible.

i truly appreciate all or any help, advice....

[Angus McCarthy]

Well, assuming the head is wound for 8 or 16 ohms you can drive it with any decent home component amplifier, minimum 10 watts. Suggested practice is to wire a .5 or 1 amp fuse in the circuit to the head, to avoid popping the coil through sustained high voltages. IIRC, the maximum suggested voltage for a 16 ohm 1-D is 2.2 volts across the terminals. That probably holds true for most 8 or 16 ohm heads.

[slant1332]

thanks Angus...good info.

[ejemmons]

This isn't likely to help, but I believe the offending transformers can be sourced fairly easily, I'd be glad to help. Did the line fuse have the wrong value? In any event, accept my sympathy! I've had this exact experience a few times....

[slant1332]

.....well things just keep getting worse, .. the audax head smells like burnt toast. i removed it from the lathe , for a better whiff...smells like its been fryed. i went ahead and opened it up....yup b-b-q!...its been electrocuted to a crispy death. ....wonderfull. :/

....ugghhh i'm not going to give up.

any suggestions? on repair or replacing?
(can a diff head be used /retrofitted to work?)...if i cant get it repaired or find another audax r56 ?

[Angus McCarthy]

Sounds like it may have been damaged when the amp went up in smoke. Those heads are one of the semi-common ones to find out there, though. I can't open mine up yet (have to get it to a jeweler to remove the broken screw) but it may be a good starter to try to re-wind it yourself if you want to. Can you get us some pictures of the internals?

In the past, I would say send it off to West-Tech, but Gib seems to be slowly shutting down his repair business. I'm keeping an eagle eye on the "mono head repair" thread in Services.

[slant1332]

....head "well done"...

[Angus McCarthy]

Oh dear, you certainly weren't exaggerating!

Well, as long as the magnet was not damaged by the burn-up it should be possible to clean up the innards, wind a fresh coil, and get the head cutting again. That looks like some kind of torque bar at the back - is there any kind of rubber damping material in this model? Experts?

[slant1332]

hahah a wild party inside that head..huh. yes there were 2 square pieces of translucent rubber i left out of the picture. i got a hold of Gib at west-tech, most likely i will have him restore the cutter and amp section. if i can afford it that is .....just gonna play it by ear for now?

[opcode66]

I'm ordering a wire winding rig this week. I'm going to rewind one of my mono heads. If all goes well I'll let you know.

[Angus McCarthy]

Please do. I finally got around to completely stripping down my 5C and it's pretty obvious that Gib didn't touch a thing inside. Looks like I'm going to have to rig up a jig specifically for this flat, oblong coil if I want this head cutting again.

[slant1332]

that would be great opcode. i would like to try winding my own too, internals look simple enough to at least try. but then again what do i know? i have yet to cut one groove thusfar...ha