My 14 yr old daughter has just bought herself a some 'records' (remember them) from a boot sale and of couse we don't have anything set-up to play them on (some Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Quo and ZZ Top btw !)
I dug out an old Hitachi turntable but the belt had turned into liquorice ??? I tried a couple of different elastic bands but all I could find was either too tight (short) or narrow (this deck needs summat about 24" (61cm) long (circumference), 3/16" (5mm) wide and about .5mm thick)?
I'm not sure I want to shell out £5.99 + p&p or so for a replacement that may be only used for a few tracks so wondered if there were any DIY alternatives out there please?
If you can find a belt that is bigger than you need, then it can be cut to size and super-glued. We used to do that years ago in a workshop, and it worked a treat.
I've never had any success either. They join fails fairly quickly or, as the stiffness varies across the joint, it affects the speed/stabilty of the turntable and may even produce an audible thump.
A slanted rather than a straight 90deg join might be better. Gives more area for the glue and a less violent transition in the belts flexabilty.
Thanks to all that replied and the advice warnings re a diy belt. ;-)
The Maplin solution (not the same as the stuff for disolving intestines PeterS) looks pretty good but with the diameter of the drive flange (I can say 'flange'' here can't I?) at about 200mm I don't know if a 195 or 210 diameter one would be best (the drive spindle is about 15mm away from the flange (there, I said it again)) ;-)
However, even with the p&p doubling the cost it still might just be cheaper than driving to my *local* HiFi shop if I knew where that was (but thanks for that Geoff) and being ripped off for one (£5.99 against £2.99 at Maplin if I one was near?). Either way it still seems a lot of money for a rubber band?
Ok, I could borrow a decent deck (T.N.P.) if ....
1) I knew anyone that had one ...
2) Was likely to get them to lend it to me .. "Fred, your Linn Sondek LP12 turntable, how easy is it to get it off that concrete plinth .. " ?
The retired couple across the road have offered the use of their radiogram but I'm not sure how well it would cope with Quo or how well the album will cope with a stylus that has re-treaded a good few 78's in it's time ?? ;-)
So, it's off to "Elastic bands R us" tomorrow to see what I can find .. and yes I'm (currently) too tight (I call it 'carefull' Geoff ) to spend a fiver on *anything* if I don't need to and for what could be a short lived experiment. When I was working in the City, a whim like this would have me off to Richer Sounds in my lunch hour and no need to explain what was in the box when I got home .. ;-(
All the best to all ..
T i m
p.s. .. now where is my puncture repair outfit so I can cycle to the shops tomorrow ... ;-(
p.p.s. I bought some 'special 'Superglue' at the Model Engineering Exp this year that is very good for bonding rubber. The guy demos it by cutting through a large 'O' ring, dabing a drop of the stuff on the end (butt) joint and 3 seconds later playing tug-of-war with the biggest bloke standing nearby .. nearly pulled me over!
it would work, and in most cases not damage, but the worst ones do eventually trash records, grinding noise and distortion into them. Might improve the sound of the bands chosen. Its crystal pickups and broken needles that are the problems. Ceramics are more popular than xtal, but anything that looks 50s or earlier is better avoided if you want to keep the records long term.
BTW dirty records can be cleaned with water and washing liquid, but it takes repeated wiping along the grooves to dislodge the deep crud.
It would be an education for her to hear just how totally sh1te those grams sound, but would no doubt put her right off records. 8 tracks next, or wire recorders?
78s are a lot more flexible, so to speak, in that you can play them with a plastic cup, a thorn and a huge card horn. Sadly the almost non existence of anything worth listening to is a problem. But you can record your own on ali sheet blanks.
You can always make your own pickup and feed it thru the hifi. I had good results (ok, delete the 'good') with earpieces, copper wire and assorted needles.
if you must make your own belt, use flat knicker elastic and sew the ends together with thread. You'll want to use pliers to force the needle through, it grips like a grippy thing. If the elastic is wo weak you cant butt sew it, make the overlap lump curved to avoid a thump as it crosses the motor spindle. Avoid cotton covered elastic if poss, it can work, but not well.
If you keep the belt tension low you wont notice any thump, even with a bad join. Thats assuming its an ali platter, not a 5g plastic one, which create their own noise and amplify it as a sort of ongoing perennial winge about being made of plastic. Those can at least be tamed a bit with a thick rubber mat, or lots of plasticine underneath.
Tension needed is minimal, it has to turn a tt on a central bearing and deal with the friction off a massive 2g of stylus.
You can explain that wow and flutter is a good 1000x what it is on computerised systems, and with one of those strobe speed cards watch the lines go backwards and forwards as the speed goes up and down each revolution. And watch the pickup geometry as it progressively twists relative to the grooves. And explain why it howls when you turn the volume up, and where all the snap crackle and pop comes from. And if her IQ is in single figures, why no-one uses them any more. Yes you can make top quality decks, but not at sensible prices.
Not wholly true. I'd say £200 CD vs. £400 turntable/cartridge for a shoot out. The question is does the information coded on CD's outperform the information pressed on LP's? I've got identical albums on both CD and Vinyl which not all the time sound better on CD. Blame the recording companies for that one....
Yes, but we aren't comparing CD's to LPs but cd players to turntables.
Asssuming they are accurately timed and have decent D to A converters - (1 bit 4 x oversampling with maybe interploation) and decent fliters, then they are going to be free of all wow flutter and resonance, and have a razor flat respionse from DC to the Nyquist cutoff minus the necessary guard band, and be as high S/N ratio as the recording methodology allows. 50 quid
To do that with a turntable means mounting it on a huge slab of conceret, possibluy ins a soundproof casing. using a hiuege electromecahniacl system to spin it at exactly teh right RPM, probabluyy air beraiungs to stop teh rumble, and a very very well set up arm and cartridge accurately matched to a very carefully designed low noise pre-amp. 5000 quid.
You may LIKE all those subtle rumbles and resonances - lots of people do
- but they are in no way a sign of technical excellece.
You are very kind .. ( I'm not *near* wast suffolk but have been known to go that way sometimes .. used to go to USAF Mildenhall quite a bit). I also had a vertical tracking Sharp system. The record had to be pushed onto the hub like a laptop CD drive. There were little in the way of tracking errors (being parallel) and being vertical there was no heavy arm to counterbalance and therefore low inerita? From memory it worked fairly well but not the sort of thing you would find on an audiophiles shopping list!
I won't mention her first concerts have been Rammstein and Megadeth then? ;-)
Its crystal pickups and
Ok ..
Now you mention it I remember doing so as a lad ;-)
Well you have touched on part of the 'goal' here .. and that's her education. We have 'talked' to her about stuff from a babe, and have played / demonstrated with stuff as well. I had her soldering at 5 years old and angle grinding / pillar drilling and MIG welding at 8. She also raced 12th scale cars and was winning ballroom dancing awards. I believe exposing her to all this stuff, old or futuristic is all part of what helps round her as a person. Some of her mates are more intelligent but come across as naive re worldly things in comparison?
The couple across the road have some ... maybe we can 'play' over there .. ;-)
Sounds like fun .. the the first sounds from your first Xtal set .. ;-)
I knew someone would think of just the right ready made section .. and I bet it's 2d / mile (and we actually have a local haberdashers and Woolworths) ;-)
You'll want to use pliers to force the
Gotcha .. or maybe my Supa Supaglue ..
No, a reasonable weight and thickish rim ally one ..
Loads of inertia ;-)
Indeed ..
But hey .. that's part of the character?
and with one of those strobe speed cards watch
And so doing learn a bit about strobes ..
And watch the pickup geometry as it progressively twists
Yep and that any compensation has to work with those effects?
And explain why it howls when you turn the
I even 'resolved' that one for my nephew recently on the CD system they were about to throw away ... I lifted it up off the same shelf as the speakers ...
and where all the snap crackle and pop comes from.
Breakfast?
And if
I think her IQ is reasonable (she's been offered a place at one of those "Gifted and Talented Childeren" orgs but "I don't want to play chess with geeks thanks" was her reply ) and is genuinley entertained by the stuff her and her old dad play with (mostly) ;-)
Yes you can
We don't want to invent the wheel do we .. just play with it ;-)
All the best fella ..
T i m
We were talking this morning about the new Hitchhikers film and she said she didn't want to see it as it looked from the clips like it didn't follow the image of the key characters like Marvin and Zaphod from the book and TV shows very well. I said "well they aren't trying to .. they are trying to follow the spirit of it whilst putting a more modern slant on it ..?" She replied "like it needs more slant .. any more slant and it would be horizontial!" (well it made me chuckle anyway) ;-)
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