Turntables question

If this is in the wrong section, my bad

I have really bad turntables, TT1625's going into a Numark DM950 mixer. I know, i was young and didn have the funds. Anyways, if I touch them to scratch, the needle skips, i have the weight all the way to the front, now is there a way to get this to work w/o getting technics? simply cuz funds are low. I still have the stock cartridge and slipmats, so that might be it, but jus seeing if these are hopeless and if there are any tricks, thanks guys

I saw those turntables today,and people were talikn about how awful they were,you should of got the tt 200,which are not that much than those you have.

LaidBack wrote:i have the weight all the way to the front

That means your table isn't balanced right.
To balance the tone arm you have to:
1. Put up the lever which holds it in the up position.
2. Turn the weight back until the arm is weightless, that is it doesnt want to float up or down really, its just bounces lightly.
3. Without moving the weight back or forward, set the numbered dial on the weight to 0.
4. Turn the weight without moving the numbers to the weight you want (1.0=1g) anywhere from 1 - 3 grams should be good for scratching.
Now the needle is balanced along the up and down axis.
To keep it from skipping left to right, like towards the center of the record or off the edge of the platter, some turntables have a feature called anti-skate, which is usually scaled from 0-3.
1. Put the anti skate at 0 and put the needle down on a record.
2. Pull the record back and forth vigorously until it skips, try to figure out which way it wants to skip (towards the center or edge of the platter).
3. Anti-skate will make the needle want to travel outwards (i.e. an anti-skate level of 3 will make it want to go out to the edge more than level 1 would)
If your table doesn't have anti-skate there may be a lock function which allows you to controll how much play the tone arm has. Locked down fully and it will be more rigid, unlocked and it will have more freedom to move.
Other than balancing the arm correctly (all the way forward is not correct) you may want to look into your slipmats. Some people have told me to cut out a circle from the inside sleeve of a record (the slippery plastic kind) but I find this is much to slippery. I use a standard slipmat with some plasticy shit on one side for grip, and under that slipmap I put a walmart brand swiffer sweeper cloth. They come in boxes of 20 or something, and they are usefull to have around just for cleaning records.

P.S. Save up for some techs!

Ya, that needle helped a lot, i thought it needed more force... but tapparantly i was wrong. Now, when I put the needle on the table, an abnoxious hums comes out. usually i jus make beats, so hence the dumb questions, but one of my artists wants me to get into DJing for his shows. And yes, im working on saving for the technics, this is jus a temporary thing, until i get the dough up. Any crazy informative sites on dj-ing by the way?