Bent Cantilever - Thoughts

The cantilever on my Apheta 2 is bent… maybe about 10 degrees from ideal. I noticed this awhile ago, and the only thing that I can think of is that perhaps it happened one night when I fell asleep and the turntable was left on all night… when I woke up the next day the turntable arm was just going back and forth in the run out groove of the record. I just lifted it… thought oh oh… and shut it down… I didn’t do any kind of visual inspection.

Could this cause the cantilever to bend? I really can’t think of any other way it could have happened.

All that said… despite the bent cantilever, playback on the RP 10 sounds fine. I’m not hearing any anomalies. The cartridge was getting on anyway and it’s been on my radar to contemplate replacing it for some time… so I’m not too bent out of shape (haha) about replacing it. And given that it sounds just fine… I’m not feeling like I have to have to have to replace it immediately. I’ll probably get around to it sometime in the New Year.

Has anyone else seen a cantilever take a bend / permanent set from tracking for an extended period of time in a run out groove?

Can you post a picture Z?

Leaving a record playing in a runout groove will not directly cause a bent cantilever.

The faithful AT OC-9 on my LP12 suffered cantilever death one New Year’s Eve after a house party and too much rum - I think a charity shop Rolf Harris record slipped and sheared it off!

I have a newer less refined OC-9 on my LP12 now and the cantilever doesn’t look as ‘in line’ with the cartridge body as I think it ought to be, but really hard to judge visually - no idea if clumsy needle drops/cleaning/run out grooves have caused this or if it’s even real.

I would think there is the potential for damage to your records if the axis of the stylus is inclined from the ‘vertical’ plane.

Rega when I bought the Apheta 2 said they retipped for half the new price. I’m sure they probably replace the cantilever in the process.

Phil

…additonally if caused by run out groove forces mine is in the opposite direction to what I’d expect (closer to spindle than outer LP edge).

I would not play my records with a damaged cantilever. This is what I have a personal articles insurance policy for.

Trouble is determing exactly when it’s damaged - sheared off with no music coming from the LP12 wasn’t easy until I woke the next day and could examine it properly.

With my current one it looks a bit off but may not be - I need to get it looked at for sure, but I have a sneaky feeling a dealer might be more interested in a new sale…

20+ years ago I had a 17D2 do something similar, not bent, you can’t bend a diamond and you won’t bend boron but the cantilever ended up pointed to one side and it had rotated somewhat. At the time I had a RB300 and I’d been setting the bias using the scale on the arm to match the VTF. That scale is way off and over the years the side force had shifted the stylus out of line. The Hifi News test record also leads to too high a bias setting so if you’ve been using either of these methods to set your bias that is the likely reason.
The Apheta doesn’t have a tie wire so relies on an elastomer blob the cantilever passes through to hold it in alignment.
Since then I’ve set bias either by a section of ungrooved vinyl, by ear when I used an Aro and there was only a limited choice or lately by ear starting from the ungrooved setting which isn’t far off. I’ve had no repeat of misalignment developing.

The Rega bias correction doesn’t work as stated. Many just adjust it to stop the arm moving if raised at varying places across the LP.

If I were the OP would consider a guarantee claim if there was no accidental damage.

Phil

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