Just got a D501 that may have suffered some shipping tweaking of the front facing.

The tray hatch which is part of the facing and not part of the tray, seems to be a little off kilter. In other words, it won't drop down completely horizontal to allow the tray easy sliding in and out. The tray will move in and out, but scuffs on the hatch since the hatch is angled slightly upward rather than in a horizontal postition.

I see a gear on the right side of the hatch and a spring lever on the left side to pull the hatch back to certical position, but can't see exactly how the gear operates in conjunction with the tray opening. Also, the hatch is sluggish when moving back to closed position.

It is possible this wasn't in shipping as the player was sent with a disc still inside so maybe the sender couldn't open the tray properly but didn't want to say so. It did seem to stick when I first tried it, but a little pull got it to move out.

Ideas?

Thanks for the help, Duncan.

Turns out you are right about the hatch opening with a plastic lever. The lever was fine.

It turned out to be a metal flange next to the lever had gotten bent and was binding upon the lever. Once bent back to correct position, it all works fine.

Now a different problem with a different 501:

Won't flip to side B. The two plastic guide pins are fine. The assembly turns properly to all the way turned over and then back slightly at an angle like locking in place, just as it does in the good 501, but then it won't straighten up and move out onto the track, as the good 501 does.

Is there some sort of latch not catching or spring stuck or missing maybe?

Well, what can you say about somebody not seeing the forest for the trees?

Here's one of the first things to do when your player won't flip to side B, which I didn't do:

Check to see if the disc spins up to speed counter clockwise!!

Rather than spending wasted time looking for a mechanical issue with the turn assembly, the easiest things should be checked first.

#1 - Is the track assembly raising up all the way? If not, the laser won't go to side B, and you change the load belt.

#2 - Is the disc slipping upon reversing spin? Maybe you need to clean the clamp.

In my case, the disc wasn't spinning up, just slipping in the clamp. So cleaning the clamp well did the job. Or at least it will now work intermittently. I still need to replace the rubber grip in the bottom clamp to get it up to proper order.

Lesson learned, rule out the simplest causes first.