Tray Warping and Scraping

[oldmachineguy]

So I've recently acquired a 1015 and a 780, both of which use the same record-handling mech.

Some of the trays touch or scrape adjacent trays when pivoting in and out.  I'm thinking I'm hearing them scrape a record surface but could just be my paranoid imagination.  The trays are slightly bent from years of service -- so do I need to spend the hours of time it would take (I've tried it and it's possible) to physically tweak each tray so it never touches another whilst in motion, and slides smoothly in and out of the stack?

Is there any conventional wisdom on this?

OldMachineGuy

[Startgroove]

The method you mention is the way I have done it for over forty years. Yes, it is time consuming, but worth the effort. Be sure to check the records and record discs too. Sometimes a record that is drooped, warped or even too thick, will cause the scraping. More often, the metal record discs are bent. They are a bit more difficult to straighten, but it can be done.
The record trays on the 1015 are made of die cast material that is easy to work with. The 780, if it is a very late one, may have pot metal trays, so attempts to straighten those may cause breakage.
There are two main things to correct on crooked trays. One be sure, as the tray comes out, that it does not scrape on the tray above. And two, be sure when the tray returns to the slot in the stack post, that the tab goes in aligned to the center of the opening. Too low or too high might prevent the tray from going in all the way.
Cheers, Russie

[jukeboxmarty]

Oh and.... Don't break them!