MoFi UltraDeck / StudioDeck Owners and those interested

My studio deck with Ultra cartridge arrived yesterday. While it sounds great and is a significant upgrade over my U-turn orbit, I think I have an issue with the platter/bearing. I notice a friction sound coming from it while spinning and the whole thing stopped spinning twice towards the middle/end of two different records. Any ideas?
 
rrmies said:
My studio deck with Ultra cartridge arrived yesterday. While it sounds great and is a significant upgrade over my U-turn orbit, I think I have an issue with the platter/bearing. I notice a friction sound coming from it while spinning and the whole thing stopped spinning twice towards the middle/end of two different records. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
I'm sure you did this already but assuming you checked to make sure there are no shipping safety locks/rings/discs that have been left on the shaft of the platter or on the motor that are restricting movement of either of them?

Have you taken the platter off the table to look at the spindle bearing? And have you removed the belt and just manually spun the platter to see if it spins freely?
 
Yeah, I’ve taken the platter off and reseated it a couple times. When I manually spin without belt, it spins freely, but i still hear the friction sound. The bearing looks ok to me and there is at least a little grease on it, as I can smell it.
 
rrmies said:
Yeah, I’ve taken the platter off and reseated it a couple times. When I manually spin without belt, it spins freely, but i still hear the friction sound. The bearing looks ok to me and there is at least a little grease on it, as I can smell it.
Click to expand...
The fact that it stopped is really odd if it spins freely. Yeah like you said it sounds to me like there's something in there with the bearings. So it can spin but if the foreign object moves around into the right spot it stops the bearings from turning. I'm not sure if the bearings are removable on this table but I'd assume so? Anyone else with this table know if you can easily get at them and the enclosure in order to clean it out and re grease?
 
rrmies said:
Thanks, yeah the light friction sound doesn‘t bother me, but the fact it stopped completely twice while listening is what’s concerning.
Click to expand...
I'm sure you have but I'm just running through any thing I can think of... have you cleaned off the spindle just to be sure there's nothing stuck to it with grease etc before putting it back into the bearing housing?
 
Yikes. Hard to tell from the short video. Only thing that looked strange was the belt moving towards the motor, for a second or so it wiggles then straightens out. Does the motor spin freely without the belt? Perhaps a bad bearing in the motor?
 
Sounds like the bearing shaft may be making contact with the bushing mount in the platter. If that was the case, it’s possible to be a manufacturing error - there should be a small clearance between the bearing and the bushing. The fact that the platter sometimes stops may indicate seizing against the bushing wall.

When you cleaned the platter bearing, what lubricant grease did you reapply to the top of the bearing?
 
Last edited:
When I got my StudioDeck I was told to put the platter on and leave it settle for a few hours to sink down on its bed. I of course feeling like a child at Christmas couldn't wait and started playing a record immediately. After listening to music for about 5 min. the platter totally stopped. That was scary. I took the platter off, placed it anew and left it overnight. The next day it was running fine at the correct speed. So I would suggest trying that. However, I did notice a few weeks/months later I had a platter wobble. I took my StudioDeck to my dealer, and he checked it, and said there was not enough Grease. After that, everything was up and running. I did find I had a similar scrapping sound when putting my ear close to the spindle. Reaching out to my dealer again, he didn't really want to get me the Mofi grease because it had to be ordered out of the US for a very high price. So I got myself some (Black) Lithium Grease and regreased the bearing, and now that sound is gone. It does bother me how expensive all that HiFi grease is. As an aside, after I had my dealer fix my wobble, it later on occurred to me that my cat sprang on the turntable while playing. The poor cat, got a fright and hid itself after my reaction. It may well be that my cat caused the wobble. Shortly after that, I noticed my cantilever was bent. Yes, I had to get a new cartridge. Pets can be expensive.
Anyway, I would think, check that it is greased, place the platter down again and wait a bit and spin. Recently I did have a short email exchange with a trusted turntable manufacturer, and I was told out of their experience, a lot of tables which haven't been greased in up to 20 years still run fine. So grease it and leave it. I don't know, that is what was told to me. But a thought.
 
Angsty said:
Sounds like the bearing shaft may be making contact with the bushing mount in the platter. If that was the case, it’s possible to be a manufacturing error - there should be a small clearance between the bearing and the bushing. The fact that the platter sometimes stops may indicate seizing against the bushing wall.

When you cleaned the platter bearing, what lubricant grease did you reapply to the top of the bearing?
Click to expand...
OP doesn’t specifically mention re-greasing. Sounds like that could be the issue?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top