Rowe R-87 Tonearm won't advance

[partytime-excellent]

Hi,
Sorry if this issue was previously posted, but I searched and couldn't find anything...

I have a Rowe R-87 that has been sitting in a garage for a few years in perfect working condition, upon moving it the unit tipped over a bit and now I'm having some issues:

The tonearm lands on the record fine but only seems to make one full revolution before getting stuck and skipping in that specific spot. Even when I manually move the tonearm and drop it anywhere on the record, the same thing occurs. The tonearm doesn't seem to advance at all, though it does engage and drop on the vinyl when summoned and go back to it's resting spot once the selection is cancelled.

Any thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated- I am completely inexperienced with jukeboxes, though I am fairly handy with electronics...
Thanks in advance!

Ardy

[ami-man]

Hello Ardy,

Welcome to the forum.

Your issue with the tone arm could be down to a few things,

Check that the tone arm is pushed down on its shaft into the bearingassembly(2-10708-02).

Check that the two pins on the guide plate assembly (2-18142-01 it is on the end of the tone arm) are intact and are both over the tone arm cam.

Check that the tone arm cable is not catching on anything it should be free moving at all times.

Check that the tone arm cam is not boken or damaged (the cam has a tab on its moulding where it goes on the shaft this tab is a location tab and they can break off) remove the fixing circlip and revove for inspection.

Please let us know how you get on.

Regards
Alan

[partytime-excellent]

Thank you so much Alan! I purchased an original manual that should be arriving in the next few days, that'll help guide me through these suggestions. I'll let you know
Thanks Again!
Ardy

[partytime-excellent]

Hi Alan,
So I received my manual this afternoon to help guide me through these steps and this is what I found:

-the tone arm and the bearing assembly seem to be properly connected and engaged when activated

-both the pins on the guide plate assembly are intact and over the cam as they seemingly should be. (When I first began this project the screw attaching the guide plate assembly to the base of the tone arm was a little loose and the needle wasn't dropping in the right spot. I made that adjustment and it works fine now, but I wonder if that has any correlation with my main problem?)

-no cables or wires caught on anything

-the tone arm cam didn't appear to be seriously damaged though the cam spring felt a bit flimsy and even had rust coloration. I don't have the proper tools to fully dismantle the cam, nor did the mechanism assembly guide show where the location tab would be, so I could't find the location tab to properly inspect it. But upon a visual inspection I noticed two things (pictures below) 1: a plastic fitting around the base of the tone arm drive shaft where it passes through the metal base plate and through the cam collar is cracked. And also, a piece seems to have broken off the back of the cam (location tab?) These both seem nominal, but what do I know?
Anyway, I attached those two picture and I've also uploaded two videos on youtube showing everything at work (or lack there of) to the attempted tune of David Lee Roth's "Jump"





Again, thank you so much for helping out!
Ardy

[ami-man]

Hello Ardy,

I can not tell much from the pictures or video's other than you have a turntable with a slightly bent shaft (it needs replacement it isout of true and could give you some wow & flutter)
In the start of video one the tone arm jumps up, this may be that it is catching the gripper bow. You need to check the manual for the adjustments. Start on page 19 of the manual III, tone arm adjustments, the tone arm lifting pin is the main adjustment for timing of the operation. The two pins on the guide plate assembly 2-18142-01 9 see page 122 figure 13) go over the tone arm cam, if this assembly has had a knock, the bracket could be slightly bent and it could be this that is slightly putting the timing out , the result is always clipping the gripper bow and possible tone arm cam damage.

Regards
Alan