Philips Electronic 202 [22 GA 202/33T] turntable refurbishment underway

Hello,

Alright finally decided to start writing a blog, an archive of things that I have repaired, used, tested, destroyed or simply just bought and made it into an article.

This time lets start with a classic Philips Electronic 202 turntable.

Manufactured: 1970
Made by: Deutsche Philips-Ges
Power supply: In build 110, 127, 220, 240 Volt alternating current
In build preamp: N/A
Audio output: Stereo
Turntable speed: 33, 45, 78 rpm +- 2% pitch adjust
Special features: Speed alternation screws for fine tuning, auto stop,
Tracking force: 0.7g to 4.5g
Power: Max 3.5 Watts (based on label, probably means motor)
Dimensions: 390 x 330 x 120mm
Weight: 7.5 kg

Needle (not original)
ADC 10E Mk IV

Type: Induced magnet
Output: 4mv at 5.5 cms/sec. recorded velocity
Tracking force .7 gram
Frequency Response: 10 Hz to 20kHz +- 2 db
Channel Separation: 30 db from 50 Hz to 12 kHz
Compliance: 35 x 10^-6 cms/dyne
Elliptical Stylus Tip: Contact radius: .0003"; lateral radius .0007"
IM Distortion: Less than ½% - 400 & 4000Hz at 14.3 cms/sec. recorded velocity
Vertical Tracking Angle: 15 degrees
Recommended Load Impedance: 47,000 ohms nominal

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I got this unit from Kainuu Vocational College when our wing was moving to another wing. This baby had been sitting in a storage for over 20 years waiting to be repaired. It only had a paper on it saying: Broken.

It has scratches on plastic cover but otherwise in good condition outside. Power button doesn't have a cap. Inside was whole different story. In those 20 years many students had tried to fix this turntable but without any luck. I spent a week going trough electronics of this baby and finally tracking the problem to power switch which had deformed and always short circuited. After fixing the power switch and replacing other required parts and hopefully plugged into a power socket and to see first time light bulbs turn on.

After that started to assembling back all those mechanical components that were taken off (no idea why all of them, it has enough space for servicing all electronic parts... weirdos). Thankfully vinylengine.com had a service manual and I was able to assemble all those springs etc back into their own place.

I noticed belts were totally worn out and tried quickly the needle working just with hand spinning the disc plate to see does it work. Luckily no problems with it. After that took the turntable home because nobody knew anymore whose it originally was and it had been sitting there for over 20 years. Tried local dealers to find replacement belts but no luck so the project sat in my storage then 2 years (poor bastard). Now wanted to finish my A/V equipment completely to play most common audio sources mankind has produced within 50 years and just turntable missing and I have this wonderful item just waiting for new belts.

As you might have already guessed I have absolutely no knowledge about turntables, so all of my knowledge about them is based on manuals, internet threads and purely just testing and seeing how everything works. Now we have belts changed and I am waiting for RIAA-preamp to arrive to shop for me to pick up then I can finally hear this baby sing.

I still need to change all wiring inside because insulation is falling off and probably causes someday a short circuit and eventually burning down whole thing. I am just hesitating with audio cable because I want to keep 5 din audio jack for historic value but getting them with good quality is not easy task. Chinese ones exist but they are so crappy that I won't accept them. Bought one for test and I was totally disappointed in it. So might be I will be just shortening original cable to change start of the wiring and keeping original. Also need to an in depth analysis of electronics because I was thinking making this device fully working with earthed sockets (ATM: Do not earth yourself and touch this thing when it is on <3). So basically modifying this unit to be an earthed unit or making its metal case isolated from electronic connections.

To do list:
- Test with RIAA-amplifier
- Rewire
- Re-solder horrible repair attempts
- Modify unit to work safely with earthed devices (newer earthed SCHUKO sockets)
- Buy wine and a relax while listening classical music

I will post pictures outside and inside as soon as I can