Turntable issue

Was this thing shipped in all original factory packaging? Because this is exactly the kind of damage I would expect if someone put the table in a box with the platter still in place in the table. Which is the very last thing anyone should ever do. But hard to think of any other way this happened.

Platter is massive, shipping damaged the bearing and/or plinth, now you have a real problem. Or a return. Because there’s just about no other way a perfectly operating turntable went into a box and came out like this. You take em apart, box each piece individually, put it back together. If there was damage you would notice it immediately while putting it together. You don’t mention anything like that. So I’m thinking it was packaged wrong. So how was it shipped? And how do the bearing, platter, and plinth look?

@millercarbon, it was shipped in the original box with all the original packing material. Platter was taken off. There was no visible damage to the box or compression of the packing material, it all looked reasonably good (in other words, as expected when USPS has handled the box across the country).

I've checked the ceramic ball and that is indeed still on the spindle. Next, I will check the angularity of the spindle to make sure it's perfectly vertical.

The platter does "sink" all the way down when you put it on the spindle, but not the entire bottom side is dragging, so maybe the magnets are doing what they are supposed to and this is unrelated to that.

I'll continue to investigate. I appreciate all the suggestions so far and please keep them coming. This should be a solvable problem.

My suggestion which I'm guessing you've already done is to check your horizontal levels.Is the platter perfectly level?

to examine the negative,

how do you personally know for sure it was working fine before shipping?

if fine there, but not now here, it was received 'damaged', the selller/shipper is responsible.

Is there a return/refund period?  I would be very firm, in writing, to seller about the fact that it was received damaged, and if not quickly solved a full refund will be needed,

shipping insurance? insurance purchased by whom? if it comes to that, it is best to return to seller, let seller give you a full refund, let seller deal with shipping insurance, very often un-successful.

best of luck,

sometimes we let keeping a supposedly 'great deal' influence our decisions, what would you do if it was new, or full price?

I've got the maglev in my sota.  If the table is totally level, the platter will spin dead silent and freely with the belt off.  These are very precise installations and any deviations will ruin this.  My platter actually floats and has a bit of spring when pushed down.
If you are getting any dragging or grinding sound I would first check for dirt and make sure the spindle is lubed.  My platter did have the tiniest bit of noise when I first got it.  A friend who is an engineer suggested cleaning the spindle and bearing, re-lubing and running for a couple hours.  The noise went away and never came back.  The factory hadn't put this through a break-in period before shipping.