Why? Its a crap design. Turntables are really simple, but nobody can be bothered to try and understand even simple things any more, so there's a profit to be made separating fools from their money. That's why.
Bearings are simple enough and been around long enough you'd think they'd know better. Heck Chris Brady and a few others developed the Teres turntable bearing and mine's been running over 16 years perfectly trouble free. Cost about $250, and every new table I look and so far only the Onkk Cue strikes me as being definitely better. Probably. But that's a $30k turntable. Tables under a grand the individual parts costs drop dramatically to disturbingly near zero. Have to. Economics. Just one reason why the idea of diminishing returns in audio is nuts.
In the Teres design the ball bearing fits snug in a spherical cavity cut into the spindle and rides on a thrust bearing, basically just a flat piece of metal at the bottom of the bearing well.
Yours seems to be the reverse, with the spindle end serving as the thrust bearing and the ball bearing just sitting in the bottom free to move around. What moron came up with that? The moron designed your turntable. These things are simple but every little detail matters. A lot. There's reasons expensive tables are expensive. Live and learn.
So yes, remove the bearing. Take it apart. Clean. Study. Sounds like you just need something to keep the ball in place. Also need something to center the ball. If it was in front of me where I could see it the solution would be apparent, believe me. Only thing makes it hard is guessing. My guess is, just the right size blob of Blue Tack goes down in the well. Just the right size being just big enough to fill all the space around the bearing, not so big it stops the bearing from seating all the way at the bottom. Drop the ball in.
Take a piece of paper, roll it up into a tube, just the right size and thickness to slide down the tube, center the ball, and press it securely into the Blue Tack.
Reassemble. Hand test. Modify and repeat until satisfied.
Bearings are simple enough and been around long enough you'd think they'd know better. Heck Chris Brady and a few others developed the Teres turntable bearing and mine's been running over 16 years perfectly trouble free. Cost about $250, and every new table I look and so far only the Onkk Cue strikes me as being definitely better. Probably. But that's a $30k turntable. Tables under a grand the individual parts costs drop dramatically to disturbingly near zero. Have to. Economics. Just one reason why the idea of diminishing returns in audio is nuts.
In the Teres design the ball bearing fits snug in a spherical cavity cut into the spindle and rides on a thrust bearing, basically just a flat piece of metal at the bottom of the bearing well.
Yours seems to be the reverse, with the spindle end serving as the thrust bearing and the ball bearing just sitting in the bottom free to move around. What moron came up with that? The moron designed your turntable. These things are simple but every little detail matters. A lot. There's reasons expensive tables are expensive. Live and learn.
So yes, remove the bearing. Take it apart. Clean. Study. Sounds like you just need something to keep the ball in place. Also need something to center the ball. If it was in front of me where I could see it the solution would be apparent, believe me. Only thing makes it hard is guessing. My guess is, just the right size blob of Blue Tack goes down in the well. Just the right size being just big enough to fill all the space around the bearing, not so big it stops the bearing from seating all the way at the bottom. Drop the ball in.
Take a piece of paper, roll it up into a tube, just the right size and thickness to slide down the tube, center the ball, and press it securely into the Blue Tack.
Reassemble. Hand test. Modify and repeat until satisfied.