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help with clearance between sme 3009 arm's tube and arms lifter assembly

Hello guys,
I’m writing to ask for your support to correctly couple a Thorens TD160B mk 2 with a a SME 3009 improved seried 2 removable headshell arm. The cartridge I use is a Benz ACE L.

I bought the arm’s base and mounted the arm, verified its null points with the protractor, regulated the pickup orientation and put the cartridge shell parallel to the LP surface with an LP on the mat.

So far so good.

The point with me is that the clearance between the arm lifter assembly and the arm tube: it is too short. When putting the cartridge on the LP the arm tube touches the arm lifter (the semi-arc on top of the lifter case) and so it the stylus does not touch the LP at all.

I know (or at least I think I know) all about the exagonal 1/16’’ screw to be unscrewed to rise/lower the arm’s pillar and the other to untighten and rotate the arm lifter ring. So, I screwed the hex screw to rotate the arm lifter ring to the lowest point of the thread which below the arm’s yoke, on top of the arm’s pillar, but the clearance between the arm’s tube and the lifter is still too small to any avoid contact between these two parts.

With that said, now I run out of ideas.

Images at: 
https://imgur.com/zNxfC1p
https://imgur.com/qx0x6TG
https://imgur.com/GVeJjj4
https://imgur.com/KcAhhLG

Please, is there anybody out there ( ) who already run into this problem and who is so kind to help me ?

An additional info: in order to correctly set the arm pillar height (it affect the VTA...) I put a small inclinometer on the top of the cartridge shell and adjusted the height of the pillar until the cartridge shell was parallel to the disc surface. Is it correct ? I think so, but prefer to ask.

Many thanks
Luca
lsfarzo
dekay's avatar
dekay
5,348 posts
 
I'm confused by your diagram.

Does your lifter have a thin/raised/curved rubber ridge mounted in the middle?

If so it's much closer to the pivot point.

Is the arm hitting the rubber, or the metal base of the lifter.

DeKay
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cleeds
5,642 posts
 
It seems to me that the best solution here is to use an armboard between the turntable plinth and the arm mount. That will allow you to lower the arm pillar itself and yet still maintain a range of proper VTA adjustment.
dekay's avatar
dekay
5,348 posts
 
OK:

Missed the pics in your original post (the arm height/adjustment looks weird).

Here are a few pics of what it should (more) look like...


https://vintage-turntables.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/thorens-td-160-super-with-sme-3009-6.jpg

https://vintage-turntables.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/thorens-td-160-super-with-sme-3009-7-950x6...

And...

Here is the website...

https://vintage-turntables.com/product/thorens-td-160-super-sme-3009-tonearm/

DeKay



xaak
43 posts
 
The base is sitting too high off the plinth.  Lower it if you can, raise the arm pillar to compensate, and you'll have your clearance.
geof3
1,124 posts
 
Ok, so the arm and lifter move as one? Isn’t there a screw in the back of the lifter plate/clamp to adjust the lifter up, down and rotationally relative to the arm? And, yes, I did misspeak. You need to lower the arm so that when the stylus is on the record there is clearance of the adjuster. But, there should be adjustment ability of that assembly based on the screw on the back of the clamp around the main pillar.
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