It is very common for the head of the tonearm to be snapped off on the 50H mkII and 770H. One more thing - make sure the cartridge carrier is present and that the head of the tonearm hasn't been snapped off and re-glued. You might be able to stack them with the inserts, I haven't tried it. To stack 45s you need the 45 stacker spindle - good luck finding one though. Often this plastic strobe ring is broken or missing, so if it's gone let the seller know that it was supposed to be there. This is the strobe ring, and when the squares appear to be standing still the pitch is right on. There is supposed to be a plastic ring on the outer rim of the platter with some squares printed on it. They also feature a muting switch to mute the cartridge output during the change cycle, and on the mk II version you can adjust the pitch. The spindle does not click into place, it just sits there freely so it isn't really an issue to remove it every time. Note that on all Miracord tables you must remove the stacker spindle before removing the record stack from the platter. They determine the last record in a stack via the stacker spindle prongs witch transmit down to the mechanism when the last record has dropped. The Miracords in general are much less problematic than the Duals and other changer-duty turntables and they come out of storage with much less fuss than any other turntable that I've ever come across. The 50H mkII is a very reliable turntable and despite the tonearm's crude and clunky appearance it is actually quite decent and tracks well even with higher compliance cartridges.