Source for belts?

I call BS on this.

Let me know the easy steps to replace the rubber on this part with an O-ring from the hardware store.

Pretty common part back in the day.

I find it unlikely anything MCM has in stock hasn't already turned brown next to the rubber.

If you have the parker EZ reference wall poster cross reference for VCR or turntable belts be sure to share.

Even VCR makers started to drop all the belts towards the end. You started to see lots of gears instead.

O-ring of correct diameter & circumference. Replace idler. Done. Usually no need to glue, either. Flat idler get flat rings if necessary, or soft hem ispherical rings. Note that perfect roundness is also achieved by this proc ess.

YIKES!!

That one is easy. Remove the rubber altogether and replace it. If the OEM r ubber is very old, it should crumble off pretty easily. Otherwise, removal with a solvent that does not attack the white plastic should be a pretty ba sic technique - acetone comes to mind not knowing exactly what that white p lastic might be, but likely nylon or delrin.

Then, replace it with a flat O-ring out of a catalog, McMaster-Carr and/or any of a dozen other sources. Don't forget to re-lubricate the bearing...

That being just one. You will have your choice of materials, some of them w ith far more longevity than the OEM part.

My lathe technique is pointed towards the Oilite Bearing type idlers very c ommon back in the day - such as on very vintage Dual turntables and more. T hese tend to be quite thin, so a bit of machining will usually allow a soli d new edge for the applied O-ring "spare tire".

My hobby activities include electronics back as far as 1919, and as recent as the 1990s (but few of those). I tend to avoid vintage moving parts as th ere are so many things that go wrong after 80 or more years - pot-metal dec ay, rust, and such - that cannot be fixed. But I have never failed to fix s omething worthwhile albeit over some considerable time in some cases. Right now, a bit back in the queue is an Edison Home 2-minute machine that needs the drive spring redone. I have a source for a new spring, but I will firs t try to salvage the existing spring if possible. If the break is at the 'h ook' as is typical, I will anneal the end, cut and bend a new hook, then re

-harden the end - and cross my fingers.

Look for solutions, not impediments.

Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

But do they say whether they are new belts or old stock (so half perished already)? The total absence of any supplier stating they had new belts made me move over to cutting my own belts , flat and square , from silicone rubber kitchen products, no returns yet from broken examples.

Can you remind us what these products are?

I remember some conical shaped thing, and I think this is actually quite a good idea.

Cheers,

Gareth.

The main one is collapsible silicone funnels, ridiculous idea I know so I grapped 12 or so before the importers would come to their senses, 6 black and 6 dull red unlike the usual "neon" kitchen silicone . You also need some razor blades set up in a holder to split the thickness and some mandrels to stretch over, to then cut around in a sort of lathe fashion, then making finishing cuts by eye and hand , because the rubber always moves a bit in the cutting process, so end of cut will never exactly meet the start. Luckily I've never come across a situation where you need a fair face on both sides of a band, even then perhaps a 180 deg axial twist in such a band, and back on the other side, could work there. For walkman size bands, I set up a sort of grinding machine with "Dremmel" and "diamond" disc to "grind" back imperfections of such cut bands.

This is an extreme nitpick but maybe somebody would like to know.

To the general population an O-ring is any washer or gasket with a round cross section. I'm not so sure anybody thinks a flat gasket is actually an O-ring, but most people think any round one is.

Not so. Mechanical engineers have a technical definition of the O-ring, and it is not shape but function.

See here:

If the gasket of circular cross section is sized so that it can rotate inside that groove, then and only then is it an O-ring.

Okay, nobody cares. But now you know.

(just try confusing a magazine and a clip on a firearms forum, and you'll see what abuse you get)

All true. But, and however, go into an industrial supply house and ask for a gasket... you will likely get something hard and made of a fibrous material, but also flat.

Ask for a flat O-ring, and you are far more likely to get what you want. Search in McMaster Carr - get roughly the same results.

Further to this, and in the specific application given, a true O-ring of the correct diameter would serve just as well as a flat "gasket".

Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

Farnell !

I am not a net nazi and I will not correct anybody. But if I use the word O-ring, it probably means the mechanical engineering definition. Your points are well taken.

For anyone in the UK, go to Aldi , before easter.

3GB , so for less than the price of one flat belt from Farnell, plus VAT etc. Better than those funnels for cutting up into bands.

"exploded view" chocolate easter egg moulds. As close to ideal as possible for supplying flat drive belts as concentric flat rings complete range from 10mm diameter to 87mm diameter. When split would give 50 bands 1.5mm thick, from 1 to 5mm wide, as they are then 5mm wide. Plus 12 thin cylinders that may well stretch to cover failed cassette tape pinch rollers. To go to .5mm thick , I'll try stretching over various cylinders as mandrels plus washers. Cut all the putative bands off the sheet, by cutting through the main plane of the sheet mould so they will evenly lay-up against each other on the mandrel with washer spacers and apply some pressure to keep the rubber from squirming when cutting and set a razor blade in the toolpost and razor through , turning the lathe chuck by hand. Then if non-parallel faces , then "grind" down with "diamond" disc in dremmel ablating back to widest sections. With all such bands then at least one fair face for going against balluster drive pinions.

++++++++++ Crap commercialism, google cached only it would seem not for viewing directly from Aldi site,by any potential customers "3D Chocolate Egg Mould Product Ref: 068604020813200

and family. They'll love making delicious chocolate treats with this egg mould - plus it's a great way to get the creative juices flowing.

Design: 3D Egg Dimensions: 30.5 x 30.5 x 1.5cm Material: LFGB Silicone Mould Product Type: Chocolate Moulds

" supposed URL of

so no pic available to my browser anyway. If anyone else finds a valid URL, please post here

China has the right idea, pics available from the primary source

something to do tomorrow, generate a lifetime supply of flat belts hopefully.

This is SO much *WORK* when, with only minimal searching from any number of active and current sources selling belts of recent manufacture one can find about any belt in about any dimension one needs. Really! Typical cost: Less than US$0.50 per belt.

Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

About 3 hours to render down one sheet to all these bands, not all sliced down as can do to required thickness when required. Went out and bought another sheet , as a seasonal product, and the idea worked so well.

The blow hole plug plus cylinders shown , with one stretched over a pinch wheel. As long as the increased diameter does not rub on the carrier, AFAIR always enough clearance. So those plus standard O Orings , one or 3 layed in periphery for pulley tyres(flat edges are not required for tyres in tape decks), completes the universal rubber tool kit. Plus remnants in pic. minimum I've "bean sliced" down to without breaking is about 0.3mm thick.

half price Aldi , remaindered after easter now