mreeter, I have a 40 year old Syrinx PU 3. It is as good as the day I bought it and I have never had to do anything to it but play records. Sharpening spikes? If the spike is hardened for durability, sanding it the way you mentioned will heat up the mental and potentially take the temper right out of it. Which means it will just wear out faster, much faster. Just buy a new spike.
There is everything wrong with unipivots. Show me one well known reviewer that uses one. There is just no getting away from the fact that they have too many degrees of freedom. It is just a cheap easy way to make an arm. You don't have to worry about tolerances at all. You don't have to worry about everything lining up perfectly. You don't have to worry about bearing preload, just plop the thing down on a bearing that is going to wear out quickly and away you go. Nobody even uses the Graham any more.Maybe he just doesn't charge enough for it. If he charged more than the SAT arm Michael Fremer might even buy one.
There is everything wrong with unipivots. Show me one well known reviewer that uses one. There is just no getting away from the fact that they have too many degrees of freedom. It is just a cheap easy way to make an arm. You don't have to worry about tolerances at all. You don't have to worry about everything lining up perfectly. You don't have to worry about bearing preload, just plop the thing down on a bearing that is going to wear out quickly and away you go. Nobody even uses the Graham any more.Maybe he just doesn't charge enough for it. If he charged more than the SAT arm Michael Fremer might even buy one.