Make a BSR changer a single disc manual player - with new tonearm?

[Fmarco64]

Hello all
first of all I hope you're all safe and in case of being locked in house - like me in Italy now - I wish you can spend some good time enjoying your passions even in this difficult times.
I wanted to ask, did anyone ever try to transform a BSR changer to an all-manual, single disc player with a new tonearm?
I have such BSR machine sitting around in my garage and thought I'd keep all the motor/platter movement part and fit a new tonearm, all in a custom plinth.
I'd like to get rid of all the mechanisms, cams and leverages related to any automatic function and just keep the on-off switch and speed change stuff. It' playing 78's, too, so worth a try?
The underside of the BSR is a fairly complex assembly of moving parts and my impression is that it's not easy task to simply isolate the power and transmission lines alone without making some troubles.

The idea came after reading generally good things about how these idlers run, nothing compared to heavy platter Lencos but still a good motor and pulley assy thing.

So every bit of advice is welcome, also a "leave it as-is..."

cheers and stay safe
Marco

[Colin_EJJ]

Which BSR is it? There's a good blog here on servicing the old MP60 which may share some of the mechanism:

http://www.maritimevinyl.ca/2014/09/bsr-turntable-maintenance.html

[Fmarco64]

thanks for the link.
I think mine is a macdonald of some sort, tonearm with adjustable weight, antiskating and lifter. Fixed headshell with a screw hole on the top.
it plays 16, 33, 45 and 78 that's why I'd like to keep just the motor and mechanics for speed selector and get rid of all the rest, putting another tonearm.
I have a spare Lenco L75S tonearm around and would like to use it if I can fit it properly.
My doubt is, the complex leverages interact all together so I hardly understand if those assemblies can be isolated and removed without affecting all the rest.
Anyway there's time to think in these days... and this table needs a super cleaning work as it's stuck from old sticky grease.

[Paul]

   I'm interested to see what model it is.

[Fmarco64]

Yes correct. i wanted to do so with the first post but... Well here they come, in the meantime I think I spotted the model as a McDonald 600 based on the arm type. But there are no labels anywhere on the deck.


The gear is stuck, the heat gun is on its way delivery expected by Fri. Found some service manuals from other BSR's not this exact model.

[vinylrayk]

I did this to a Dual 1228 that I bought with a smashed tonearm for $10. Removing the auto mechanism was easy enough. I built an add-on armboard and mounted an SME-3009. This was an experimental second turntable for me, so I didn't care whether it looked pretty. I had to relocate one of the suspension springs to re-balance the modified weight distribution. The tricky part was modifying the Start/Stop control to retain the mechanism that disengages the idler wheel when you turn the turntable off. This is important so you don't develop flat spots on the idler rubber. You need to decide what level of aesthetics you are willing to live with and what are you expecting with the final result. If you expect to find another tonearm that will be an exact drop-in replacement then lots of luck with that. If you are willing to kit-bash something together as I did, then the possibilities are as unlimited as your imagination.

Ray K

[Fmarco64]

Great job and great arm indeed, I'd wish to have one around! I'm also cleaning a 1219 at the same time. Will make another 3d on that later. I'll keep the Dual 100% original.
Rotating the plate 90 degrees is a good move and worked also in another project of mine which is almost finished (L75s rotated 90 deg. on a new plinth with Linn Basik, it's a popular project here and I took it for my first try, now at paint job refinement... I hate to paint and I suck at that, I don't know which reason came first like the egg and chicken story).
Back to the BSR - cleaned and regreased all and fitted a new mains cable, it spins and works at least with regard to speed consistency. Now I need to fit RCAs and a cart on it to understand how it really plays.
Pics coming...

[Fmarco64]

Pics


Before cleaning


Cam wheel with all grease stuck


Bearing parts cleaned


Final speed test, pretty spot on

[Fmarco64]

Fitted signal cable and mains.
It does play indeed, fed through an '80 Sony receiver and some different pairs of old speakers. I mounted a cheap Audio Technica manually adapted as the sled is missing.
It's not at all bad, I am tempted to restore the multiplay feature and mount a second arm for single play.

[rfgumby]

I have such BSR machine sitting around in my garage and thought I'd keep all the motor/platter movement part and fit a new tonearm, all in a custom plinth.
I'd like to get rid of all the mechanisms, cams and leverages related to any automatic function and just keep the on-off switch and speed change stuff. It' playing 78's, too, so worth a try?
The underside of the BSR is a fairly complex assembly of moving parts and my impression is that it's not easy task to simply isolate the power and transmission lines alone without making some troubles.

So every bit of advice is welcome, also a "leave it as-is..."

cheers and stay safe
Marco

Hi Marco-

    I've been exactly where you are at the moment, with an old BSR laying around.   I thought to do the exact same thing, remove anything that wasn't absolutely necessary, and make a better more simple machine.  I spent a bunch of time disassembling and reassembling it, over and over.   Turned out that by the time you figured it all out, almost every parts was required to make it function.  Worse it was all needlessly complicated (although it did what it was required to do well at the time and was a pretty good piece of engineering).  Unlike a Lenco, however, there was just too much weird junk there to improve it much further than it already was/is.

I'd suggest leaving it alone, as almost every piece only works well in it's own environment.  Maaaaybe the platter could be made into something useful in a stacked platter arrangement.  Otherwise, save it for a gift to some younger people or as a record machine in the garage where you found it!

Hope this doesn't dampen your dreams, I've just walked that path before.  Member Gene here would say you should leave it as is and use it.

[Fmarco64]

Very good point Scott.
I'm also the type of guy that loves to keep things as original as possible so when they start coming back to work as meant to, I start liking them as is.
Still the plinth needs lot of work - since the amp was scraped out and this left a raw front side filled with holes and a rear cracked side.
So there's still time to finish out this one and complete the other, long project - the L75 with Linn arm.
Thanks for the advice
Marco

[rfgumby]

Oh, gosh, adding a better plinth to it would be absolutely a good idea.  You're making a useful machine again with it.   

[GP49]

With idler drives, BSRs and Autoslim-chassis Garrards respond quite well to being direct coupled, bypassing their spring suspensions, to a heavy plinth on a sturdy substrate..if you don't have problems with footfalls.  Their rumble decreases and what remains seems to go lower and is less audible.  I have a BSR McDonald 610 that was abandoned by its owner at the repair shop.  I kept it when The shop closed, and tried it at home.  It responded surprisingly well to simply supporting it on its corners, on wooden blocks, on the original BSR USA base.  Same with my years-running restoration-from-junkbox Garrard AT6.

[rfgumby]

Yay!  Gene stopped by, he has more experience and is probably our finest Jedi Master when it comes to changers.

[Fmarco64]

Thanks for your comments, it's great to be assisted by experienced people like you.
I came to the idea of leaving it as a changer and fix the plinth. It works correctly at all speeds and all record sizes.
It sits on 4 springs alone (no rubber inserts, why? there should be a damping component together with the elastic response) that make it very soft.
What's your suggestion after getting rid of the springs? Make use of the transport screw holes (2) and drill a couple of others on the base plate?
I hear also a sort of echo when playing, it may be the hollow plinth but if I fix it, it should vanish.

Marco