Hello, I'm Victoria. New here but I picked up my player for a song. Initially, it started up. It was playing. But my wife just had to point out the CD door which I hadn't even noticed was a separate door. Our first machine by the way. So we started playing with that. In the process, must have overstressed the M Holder because we snapped a gear stem and this allowed a couple of the gears to come off. This was all done while mainly trying to get the CD tray unstuck from the main tray track. Lots of gear slippage and grinding. It was working but the damage was already done. When I had it open to assess what happened to the gears, I noticed the sled mounting hole of the M Holder was broken. No longer securing anything.
Anyway, If i can find this part, I'm confident to get this machine on it's feet.

Any help at all is appreciated.

Was the main tray having an issue opening?

The Pioneer part number was VNL1779. You can look up that number, or M-holder, on Ebay and you should find one or more sellers of newly-made replacements. (Do not look for or use an "old stock" one if you find one, it would not last too long in use at this point either.)

As ldfan mentioned, look for issues with either or both trays such as dirt or dried grease in the gear "tracks", and or course be very physically careful with the now-25-plus-year-old mechanisms. The M-holder is part of the laser assembly, not either of the disc trays, so its failure could be a coincidence unless you know that you damaged it by mistake or similar. Its two gears are not the same, so be careful when you do the reassembly. I wish you success, and welcome to the Laser Disc community!

We got the belt replaced and both trays working properly but all the grinding in between stressed the stem for the center gear and snapped. This also allowed the one to the right to come off. I tried to glue and honestly it worked. It is still glued and stable. But then I noticed the plastic of the M Holder where the mounting screw is was broken off. The point of the screw is moot. lol. So yeah, thanks. I will try to find the part with the number provided. If i find one, I will transfer the gears and motor, etc over and hopefully be back in action. It's a pretty awesome player.

We have 2 other machines as well. LD-V6010A working and a CLD-D501 on the way. (Looks like a belt replacement-stay tuned)

Thank you for the help and wish me luck!

Unfortunately, that is the wrong M Holder for my machine.

I did talk to Ethan at Laser Parts. Provided a lot of feedback and images. Mechanical instances. In process of hopefully developing an M Holder for my machine. There hasn't been an available replacement yet. He seems like a great guy.

If he's in here...Thanks Ethan!

The CLD-D503 does not have a Mholder. the 503 is the same laser design as the 703/704/79/99/S9/X9 etc. sometimes the gear that extends out the side of the laser assembly to move along the track breaks off. The fix is to replace the motor movement mechanism on the back of the laser assembly with a good one.

Only way to get these is from non-functioning lasers that you remove the motor mechanism. I have a few.

Pictures of exactly what failed would be great.

The middle gear, that contacts the track. The shaft and rod broke off as well as the stem for the second largest gear. The gears themselves are fine with no broken teeth. The plastic around the mounting screw is broken away so no way to reattach to the sled. I need the main assembly of the M Holder. The larger tray that the motor and gears mount to. Everything else can be reused.
I don't have an easy way to add a pic on my computer. Sorry.
But if you want to send a pic of what you have, I can point it out. If you can spare one, even better.
Thank you, krbahr.

Basically, everything started to fail in a position over the rear sled stop as it was maneuvering into the down position. This caused the M Holder to be in a crunch on top of the stop and what broke the mounting screw away. The stem had snapped just before this point in travel. I hope that describes it.

I don’t recall saying anything about this . Maybe it was part of a discussion regarding the CLD-3070 but this issue is essentially different.

Well…. As Kurtis said, a picture would still be more useful to see what the damage looks like.

Also, what exactly was the issue with the CD tray? I did ask that earlier and you did not elaborate. I only ask because unlike a CLD-D504 and other epsilon turn models, these have dedicated eject buttons for CD and LD. The CLD-D503 and other gamma turn models only have one eject button and the single CD tray only activates when “CD Direct” is turned on.

Thus, I’m thinking you did not know this and accidentally damaged your player because you didn’t think about it.

The cd tray was off track below the main tray. Not our damage. Main tray opened fine. Until the CD tray, already off track, shifted and wasn't letting any thing move. Got everything lined up and it was working great. But with all of this going on, there had already been a lot of gear grinding going on. The laser was trying to move and the tray was in the way. Anyway, if I get the M Holder, as I've been trying to track down, I can get everything going again.

Please don't discount my ability. I don't need diagnosis. I just need the correct M Holder. I appreciate the concern, but this girl can get the job done with the right part. I guarantee it.

As pointed by Kurtis, the CLD-503 does not have a M-Holder.

=> https://manuals.lddb.com/LD_Players/Pioneer/CLD/CLD-D503/

Assuming I'm looking at the right page (44/60), the Service Manual shows the Mechanism Assy without a M-Holder.

Julien

It most certainly does. I am looking at it. While it may not be described as one, it absolutely exists. You know the "M" means motor, right? And it is a separate assembly, though attached, that rides on the sled with the laser assembly. It is responsible for moving the sled.

I won't put up with "man-splaining". If the terminology differs, doesn't matter. It is essentially the type of component.

I don't see where the aggressiveness comes from.

You asked for an information, we provided it to you and you don't like the answer.

The fact that you are straight, gay, lesbian, or from another planet has ZERO meaning on this forum.
This is about LaserDisc and related hardware.

If you do not ask precise questions, you won't get precise answers.
Pictures would definitely help.

This is what a M-Holder looks like, is it the piece of gear you have in hand right now?



Julien

The members of this forum do the best they can to be helpful to “anyone” who has a question that they want answered. I find it insulting that you are turning this into some gender bias issue which has no place here on this forum.

Should have said that in the first place. How was I to know it came off?

Ethan at laser parts was able to pull up the correct part, no problem. The part pictured above is the right idea just not the correct one for my machine.
I explained a minor part of the story in my original post but stated I was looking for the part and any help would be appreciated. I did not ask for a diagnosis. Anyone here that has the CLD-D503 would be able to open it up and see exactly what I'm talking about...