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Sota Star Sapphire suspension question

Hey all; I picked up a beautiful Sota that has all the upgrades I would want. I'm coming from a VPI Scout and setup for the Sota is quite different. It has a ET 2 Arm. I have 2 questions, but if you have any comments please share. Initially I had the rubber feet screwed all the way up "locking" the sub chassis. I figured out I had to let the chassis go free. The arm board/arm side is lighter then the left motor side, is the where I load it up with lead to balance? Also, I tried my Benz SL and no matter what tracking force, the angle/weight are too heavy and distort my needle so I went back to a Dyn 20. Any thoughts on that. Also, I get no vacuum from the vac unit, I looked inside and it's clean but nada. Any thoughts. Thanks in advance. Jack
fz1jmp
tonywinsc
583 posts
 
You might need to disassemble the platter bearing and check that the vacuum ports are not blocked. It wouldn't hurt to clean and re-lube the bearing since you may not know when it was done last- if you haven't done that already. I use a synthetic grease and get good results with that. I clean out the bearing hole with a cotton swab and then blow it out to make sure no fibers are left behind.
manitunc
795 posts
 
If you put your finger over the inlet to the pump, with no hoses connected, you should be able to feel some suction. It's not a lot, but it should be there. If so, then the pump is working. What makes you think it's not? There isn't a lot of suction, to protect yor records. Do you have the spindle cap? It works much better with it.
fz1jmp OP
33 posts
 
Manitunc; When I put my finger over the hole, with no hoses connected and the unit on and the vac set all the way to the right, the highest suction, I don't feel anything. I even tried cotton threads and no movement from them either. I opened up the vac and its very clean, all the hoses look good, I hear something happening, but no suction. I do have the rubberish spindle cap, do you know if this would use the reflex cap as well? Regards Jack
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
If you can't feel any vacuum at the pump inlet then you've got a problem at the pump.
manitunc
795 posts
 
both caps will work, but if you cant feel the suction, then the pump is not working. It could have a hole in the diaphram. Check with Sota to see about fixing or upgrading to the new pump/power supply which is quite a bit better.
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