I have my grandmother's old Arvin stereo and cabinet. It is a wonderful piece of furniture. It has been a while since the turntable has been used. To my disappointment, it has quite working.
The table is not turning. I have referenced the manual to make sure everything has been adjusted. When the needle is placed over a record it nothing happens.
I would dearly love to listen to my grandmother's Bing Crosby Christmas records this year.
Please let me know if there is any hope.
Melissa

The motor may need lubricating, and probably should be lubricated anyway. This is difficult for the novice. You must saturate the felt of each bearing, which is often done through a small hole in the bearing support. This requires removing the entire phonograph assembly and rotating it this way and that to obtain proper angles for oiling. 3 in 1 oil is the best, because it is thin, and won't slow down the phonograph so much when it is turned on cold. You must not get any on the motor shaft driving surfaces (where the rubber drive wheel contacts). If you do, remove all traces of oil with an alcohol soaked cloth, and then a dry cloth. You also must not get any oil on the rubber drive wheel. Remove the C clip from the rubber drive wheel's shaft. Remove the wheel and do not loose any of the washers. They must go back to where they came from. Moisten a tissue with oil and rub a thin film of this oil onto the drive wheel's shaft. Clean drive wheel in soap and water, and clean your hands as well. Put drive wheel back on and secure it with a C clip.

Place a few drops of oil or some vaseline onto the turntable's center spindle bearing. Place a drop or two of oil onto the shaft itself, where the turntable rides. Rub some vaseline into the gear teeth of the automation mechanism. You can also sparingly lubricate the underside of the automation mechanism at all of its contact/hinge points. However, there is one device, the velocity trip device, that must never be oiled, or else your records will not automate. If you do not know where this device is, don't oil any of the automation devices. This device is underneath, and you'll notice that there'll be one lever pushed by the tone arm as the tone arm is brought to the center of the turntable. This lever will be brought into friction by a spring, with another lever, both hinging from a common point. This point is the point you must never oil. A lack of friction here will prevent transfer of motion from one lever to the other.

It is very important to oil the tone arm's pivot points. Lubricate both the horizontal and vertical pivot points. If the tone arm doesn't move properly in the horizontal plane, it won't track the record properly. This will cause unnecessary wear of the record and/or skipping. Lack of freedom of movement in the vertical plane will also cause premature record wear, especially with warped records.

All lubrication should be done with 3 in 1 oil except where vaseline is suggested.

It is possible that the rubber drive wheel has turned hard, and/or has fallen apart. If so, it must be rebuilt at www.west-techservices.com. I have rebuilt these myself with some success, but it can be a difficult or impossible job to do on your own if the design is awkward. Two part drive wheels (big section and small section, stacked on top of one another) are picky with regard to size (singe part drive wheels, where there's only one drive wheel, are not picky to size, and can be slightly larger or smaller than original with no change in turntable speed). If you make the big one too small, the turntable will spin faster. Too big, and it'll spin slower. The opposite is true for the top smaller wheel. However, it is a simple matter to shave off rubber on a grinding wheel, if you mount the drive wheel on a shaft and allow it to rotate while rubber is being removed. This keeps the rubber equal all around. Only very slight traces of rubber should be removed, and then it should be checked again. If too much rubber is removed from one wheel, then it is necessary to remove rubber from the other wheel to send the speed in the other direction. The wheel should then be tested for at least a half hour, because the speed of the phonograph will increase as it warms up. It must then be determined if the speed is correct once the phonograph is fully warmed up.

If the drive wheel is not hard or deteriorated in any way, but the turntable won't spin, and it is obvious that the motor is spinning, again be sure that all drive surfaces are free from oil. The tension spring on the drive wheel may be disconnected, or a mechanism that engages the drive wheel may be broken or out of alignment.

Thomas