i bought a Pro-Ject Debut III used. the seller told me it was brand new but after i complained i discovered it was bought from a record store bankruptcy sale.
i set up the unit i and turned it on and the platter didn't spin. when i removed the platter the hub turned but i could hear friction, most likely between the hub and the deck.
there could be several things wrong with the unit. first, perhaps i was sent the wrong hub and it rests on the deck instead of on the post or perhaps the hub is warped. or perhaps the bearings are ruined. what i'm really afraid of is that the motor is burned out and no longer strong enough to turn the platter.
any advice? and just to be clear, when i set the platter on the bug the plastic hub meets directly with the metal platter.
I'm trying to figure out your terminology, so please forgive me...
The subplatter is the round plastic part that the belt wraps around. It has a metal piece that goes down into a hole, and up through the record. The metal platter sits directly on top of this with nothing between them.
When you turned the motor on, was the friction sound coming from the motor or the subplatter?
If it was coming from the subplatter, it can be several causes. Their should be some oil in the hole where the bearing sits. If its dry, this may be the cause. The bearing may also have been ruined by not being lubricated. If there is oil, it may be the bearing.
Is the metal piece (spindle) on the subplatter straight? If its bent or angled, it could cause problems.
BY friction between the hub and deck, do you mean between the subplatter and the deck (table itself)? If this is where the friction is, it may be caused by either the subplatter being warped, or by the spindle being bent/angled.
Does the motor spin when the belt is taken off? If not, the motor may have burnt out by trying to overcome the friction.
Hopefully this helps and is a good jumping off point.
It doesn't matter what's wrong with it. It was sold to you as new and is not.
If you bought it through eBay or PayPal, they have an official complaints procedure which works. The fact is the thing doesn't work and was sold to you under a different guise (new) so you can expect to receive all monies paid out by you (including return postage).
If you didn't buy it through eBay or Paypal, you have a problem!
Stu, thank you. last night, i did a few more experiments. when i remove the belt, the motor spins silently so thankfully that's not a problem.
however, when i remove the belt and try and spin the platter on top of the sub-platter by hand, it doesn't make even one full rotation and i can hear friction the entire time. i believe the friction is between the sub-platter and the deck when the platter is removed, but between the platter and sub-platter when the platter is in place. with my naked eye i can't tell if the sub-platter is warped or if the spindle is crooked. my gut would guess that the sub-platter is warped because of the uneven friction sounds. when i remove the sub-platter there is a small bit of grease on the spindle.
i did buy it through eBay and the seller has been helpful. however, is there anything i can do to fix this turntable, or more importantly, once i have one problem like this is it even worth trying?