Is there a spin doctor in the house?

July 20, 2008 10:12 PM

I need a turntable to spin. That's it.

I bought the turntable part of an old record player on eBay. It needs a base, and it has some wires trailing from it. I don't need it to do anything except spin. Any ideas how I can get this puppy spinning from the mains power?

Photos.

posted by evil holiday magic to Media & Arts (3 answers total)

Best answer: This is the motor. That thing at the top with the cloth tape over it is the motor coil. You should find two wires coming out of the coil. If you apply mains voltage to those, the motor will spin. I expect that if you trace those wires, you will find that one of them leads to a switch; that's the one you should connect the hot side to (or connect to the far side of the switch from the motor coil wire, if you want the switch to work). The wire that doesn't go to the switch will be you neutral wire, and your earth should connect to the chassis.

Don't apply mains voltage to the wires that connect to the tonearm, as you may well set fire to the cartridge.
posted by flabdablet at 10:36 PM on July 20, 2008

Response by poster: Thanks flabdablet. I will report back with the results.
posted by evil holiday magic at 10:17 AM on July 21, 2008

Response by poster: OK, results, yes. I clipped the wires leading to the motor coil from whatever they were connected to, and attached a power cord with some wire nuts. It worked. The end.
posted by evil holiday magic at 6:17 PM on August 25, 2008