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Turntable lost its counterweight... help
Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 3:08 pm
by tobo
I've recently bought a second hand pair of turntables very cheap off gumtree. They work fine, except i've recently noticed one of the arms is missing its counterweight.
There is no way i can get in contact with the seller again, and i've searched the internet for replacement counter weights and all i can find is this:
http://www.chemical-records.co.uk/sc/se ... FPWG17201K
I have no idea if it will fit my turntables, they're a very old KAM model.
What should I do?
Is making a counterweight an option?
Are turntable arms made with a fixed diameter (ie. will the technics counterweight fit my turntable?)
thanks.
Re: Turntable lost its counterweight... help
Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 3:17 pm
by morigami
I don't know about whether or not there is a standard diameter for the tone arm, but you could always e-mail chemical and ask them what the internal diameter of the counterweight is and compare it to your KAM tonearm. Making your own one would be a tricky business indeed, seeing as it can be hard enough to get the setting just right even with the proper counterweight.
Re: Turntable lost its counterweight... help
Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 4:26 pm
by FSTZ
Re: Turntable lost its counterweight... help
Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 4:46 pm
by ninjadog
I suppose it is possible to do a half assed fix yourself. If you can get the arm to balance level your almost there, just need to move it forward a hair or add another small weight and you should be able to at least use it.
Re: Turntable lost its counterweight... help
Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 5:31 pm
by FSTZ
the replacement weight is $20
the risk of destroying hundreds of dollars in vinyl is worth avoiding
Re: Turntable lost its counterweight... help
Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 6:18 pm
by tobo
Been here, can't find any replacement counter weights, and it only ships to the US. I'm in the UK
FSTZ wrote:the replacement weight is $20
the risk of destroying hundreds of dollars in vinyl is worth avoiding
Who sells a replacement?
Obviously i wouldn't destroy hundreds of dollars in vinyl, because if it ruined one vinyl, i'd stop using it...
Re: Turntable lost its counterweight... help
Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 6:53 pm
by FSTZ
Re: Turntable lost its counterweight... help
Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 7:04 pm
by tobo
Yeah, i don't think you read my original post at all. I don't have a technics counter-weight, so i have no way of knowing if that counter-weight will fit my turntables arm.
Do all arms have the same diameter? If so i can buy it, but if not, £20 is a lot to spend on a guess.
Re: Turntable lost its counterweight... help
Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 7:09 pm
by FSTZ
my bad
I didn't know what KAM meant and I was under the assumption that most DJ's use 1200's
Re: Turntable lost its counterweight... help
Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 7:20 pm
by rbnc
FSTZ wrote:my bad
I didn't know what KAM meant and I was under the assumption that most DJ's use 1200's
I was under the assumption most people who knew shit knew who KAM were.
Re: Turntable lost its counterweight... help
Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 7:32 pm
by tobo
so, making a makeshift one seems to be the only option?
Or, could someone with a technics counter-weight measure the diameter of the centre hole? i can compared and see if it fits.
Re: Turntable lost its counterweight... help
Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 7:36 pm
by FSTZ
sorry man
good luck
Re: Turntable lost its counterweight... help
Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 8:43 pm
by tobo
tobo wrote:Or, could someone with a technics counter-weight measure the diameter of the centre hole? i can compared and see if it fits.
Re: Turntable lost its counterweight... help
Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 10:16 pm
by morigami
Apologies, I didn't even think to measure my Technic counterweights. It's 20mm diameter.
Re: Turntable lost its counterweight... help
Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 3:42 pm
by tobo
morigami wrote:Apologies, I didn't even think to measure my Technic counterweights. It's 20mm diameter.
Are you sure about this? The hole in the counterweight is 2cm in diameter? That's far too big.
mine is 9mm...
Re: Turntable lost its counterweight... help
Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 3:48 pm
by morigami
Jesus I was stoned last night, it's turns out it is actually 15mm. I read my crappy measuring tape wrong

Not that it does you any good if it's 9mm. One solution could be to wrap a lot of of duct-tape around it until you get a 15mm diameter. It would look a bit messy, but at least it would work plus you could adjust the counterweight due to the friction with the tape.