how to clean and lubricate older turntable

Is there is good thread on this somewhere? Maybe one that would be worthy of getting stickied? There's a sticky on polishing the acrylic cover, but nothing on the rest of the turntable.
I just picked up a Technics SL-3200. The platter and tonearm appear in decent shape, and the cover has no cracks and only minor scuffing. However, the controls are outside the cover and have become fairly grotty over the last thirty years. The previous owner was a smoker and there is no shortage of yuck jammed in most of the crevices. What's a good way to clean up this turntable? I'm expecting it will involve lots of toothpicks and Q-tips and many hours of labor. What kind of cleaning fluid works well? Windex? Everclear? Zippo fluid?

The pitch controls will get a shot of De-Oxit. I'll probably put some De-Oxit on the RCA plugs and on the little wires in the headshell, too. I've ordered a new cartridge since I know nothing about the condition of the stylus on the AudioTechnica that is in there now. Are there any lubrication points I should visit? Are there bearings on the platter? How about the tonearm gimbals?

Does anyone have a copy of the owner's and/or service manual for the SL-3200?

Please register to disable this ad.
The manual for the SL 3300 is at the Vinyl Engine. It's the full automatic version of your table, so it's almost identical.
http://www.vinylengine.com/library/technics/sl-3300.shtml
Here's the description of your table at Vintage Technics.
http://www.vintagetechnics.info/turntables/sl3200.htm
Sounds like you have the idea down. In addition to qtips and toothpicks,etc, use an old toothbrush and a combo of regular cleaner (Windex, Fantastic, Orange Clean) and a pass or two of some solvent like WD40. WD40 does remove a lot of gunk.
The only thing I advise against lately is Sprayaway Crazy Cleaner, which is amazingly great for say the deck and dust cover for totally dissolving cigarette tar. All that stinky yellow gunk from a decade of Lucky Strikes is gone in nothing flat. It is gross to actually watch the fluid turn brown as it dissolves that crap. But it can actually eat the lettering paint and top lacquer coat on something older like a Dual. Probably fine for a Technics. It is a great but risky short cut. Best to spend an extra time with regular cleaner and a tootbrush.

Zippo fluid is Naptha. You can buy a lot of naptha at a hardware store for less than one small thing of Zippo. It is a great cleaner for dissolving glue stuff from stickers, and it is great for cleaning spindles or the belt path. Dries fast and no residue.

I like having a can of Radio shack contact cleaner lube which is good for getting a pitch pot or cue switch slot clean and loose to boot.

Good luck!
Sounds like you've got it pretty much covered.
That contact cleaner/lubricant is great stuff for both switches and pots, but also for moving parts. I just went through an Akai AP-207 turntable. Besides just the pitch pots, you might want to hit the speed switch with contact cleaner as they can become intermitent as well. I like to use 409 for a cosmetic cleaner. It is great on smoke residue. If the dust cover is scratched, you can clean it with Windex, then apply Armour All to it. The Armour All has a way of making dust cover scratches look much less severe. On my Akai, the tonearm had oxidation on it's crome finish. I didn't think that it would come off. I've used this product called "Flitz Polish" on metal parts in the past. This stuff works like magic. It made the tone-arm look like brand new.
Please register to disable this ad.
danj modern primitive

Some cleaners or solvents may damage the plastic base so before you use it test it on a a part of the plastic - say under the platter or on the back panel - that won't harm visible cosmetics if it happens to cause damage.
Yeah, cleaning one that's been in a smoker's house can be an unpleasant task. Ugh!

Rather than using Armour-All or similar product on the dustcover, why not use a fine auto polish to spiff it up and remove minor scratches and scuffs and follow that with a nice waxing? One can buy Lexan (plexiglas) cleaners and polishes at most auto parts stores. It's more work but worth the effort.
Cartridge Database
The cartridge model should be printed on the top of the cartridge. I found a few that look like it on this site:

http://www.cartridgedb.com/main.asp

You'll see that this site has a ton of different cartridge models. In the search options, you just need to select Audio Technica, then search and it will bring up all of the Audio Technica cartridges with photos and specs. The AT-52W2 and the AT-53W3 look very much like yours.

The nice thing about the removable headshell is that it is very convenient if you want to keep a few different cartridges on hand. The headshells are very inexpensive. You may also find that it may be as easy to replace the cartridge. I have two Audio Technicas. A AT-440MLa and a AT-92ECD. The 440MLa is a higher priced cartridge, but the AT-92ECD sounds very good to me also and can be had new for about $25 on eBay if you don't want to spend much money. If you change the cartridge, it should be aligned. This is one site that you can print out free protracters: http://www.vinylengine.com/cartridge-alignment-protractors.shtml
To clean it, I highly suggest using Windex.
And is it really all grimy with niccotene?! holy crap, I'm a smoker, and I smoke inside the house, and none of my stuff is grimy with niccotene at all. I clean regularly with Windex, so it's never been a problem for me.

Why can't people clean their stuff?
If I were selling something, I'd at least clean it all up first. It's a nice thing to do for the buyer, and I wouldn't want people to think I'm a pig. Besides, the item would look like it's worth more when it's clean.
Anyway, cool turntable.
Well, I got a stylus for the original cartridge from a local store. It's a cheap (?) ATS10, something to play with until the new cartridge I ordered shows up. I put it on and decided to see if it will play.
This stylus recommends a tracking force of 2.5 to 4.0 grams. I found it difficult to get this much force. Even with the counterweight all the way forward, it reads 2.4. I did reset the zero marker by floating the arm before I started adjusting. Is this where I need to tape a dime to the headshell?

The auto-stop/auto-return function worked a few times, but now it seems it has given up. The arm no longer returns when you slide the stop switch, nor when it reaches the leadout of the album. Is this the problem where I need to find a little rubber band to use as a replacement belt inside somewhere? Or is the auto-return on this table gear driven?

I presume I'll need to flip the whole turntable upside down and take out screws on the bottom to get inside. What's the proper way to do this without damaging things? I expect I'll remove the platter, headshell, and counterweight. Then I prop it up on it's original dustcover? Or would it be safer to use wood blocks or something for support?

Thanks for any advice you can give... :scratch2:

Please register to disable this ad.
Very Nice Condition, should sound Great! once you have it all cleaned up.
Enjoy the Music!
Thanks,
John.
Setting it upside down on the dustcover will be ok. Shouldn't be any belts inside. I have repaired many turntables, though not this model, but should be very similar. You probably have dried lube somewhere. The problem with the old lubricant is that it breaks down and loses it's lubricating properties and turns into a sticky goo which causes mechanisms to no longer be able to move freely. If you can find the problem area, spraying some contact cleaner/lube on the problem part should dilute the old lube and cause the part to move freely again. This is a very common problem on equipment of this age. There should be a large gear inside. There should be some sort of lever of some kind to trip the gear when the record reaches it's end or the cut function is activated. The gear should then rotate 360 degrees causing the mechanism to return the tonearm to it's resting place. Could be that the gear is not moving freely. It will be interesting to see what you find.
That seems really high for tracking force, although some cartridges like DJ cartridges recommend this much. I usually set my tracking force between 1 and 2 grams. The less the better in my opinion.
I could believe the lube is dried and sticky. It almost seems like sometimes if I hit the stop, it'll finally get in the mood ten minutes later and do it. I'll open it up and see if I can find anything.
The stylus is a conical tip. From what I've read, it is normal for them to run higher TF than an elliptical. The contact area of the conical is much larger than the elliptical, so force per square inch works out about the same.
I took the cartridge out tonight. It is a TR440SX. Does anyone know anything about it? Is it any good?

Please register to disable this ad.
Blue Shadow Waiting for Vintage Gear from this century Subscriber

A google search shows a hit that someone contacted AT and found out the AT TR440SX is the same as an AT 12Sa, a pretty decent cartridge.