Vinyl Audio

Equipment => Turntables => Topic started by: lshin80 on February 29, 2012, 01:16:37 PM

Title: Belt maintenance
Post by: lshin80 on February 29, 2012, 01:16:37 PM
I was wondering what kind of maintenance the belt of my Project RPM 5.1 could need. I've bought this TT one year ago, and I haven't touched the belt ever since (thought the TT has not been through heavy usage.) Should I clean it or anything else? It's a black rubber, flat type belt. You can see a picture here:
http://www.vinylaudio.net/forum/index.php/topic,71.0.html (http://www.vinylaudio.net/forum/index.php/topic,71.0.html)
Title: Re: Belt maintenance
Post by: migkiller1971 on February 29, 2012, 02:35:01 PM
I was wondering what kind of maintenance the belt of my Project RPM 5.1 could need. I've bought this TT one year ago, and I haven't touched the belt ever since (thought the TT has not been through heavy usage.) Should I clean it or anything else? It's a black rubber, flat type belt. You can see a picture here:
http://www.vinylaudio.net/forum/index.php/topic,71.0.html (http://www.vinylaudio.net/forum/index.php/topic,71.0.html)

If I know i'm not going to use my tt for awhile ie. vacation,  than I take the belt off. My first belt had a pear shape because I always left it on sitting.
Title: Re: Belt maintenance
Post by: BSD2000 on February 29, 2012, 08:22:17 PM
I also remove the belt if I plan on letting my turntable sit idle for a length of time.

To clean my belt, I remove it and wash it in a cup of hot water with a mild soap, like Ivory or a dish soap like Dawn. After that, I thoroughly rise the belt and pat it dry with a paper towel. Some people go as far as using rubber gloves when they handle the rubber belt, but I don't.

Never use rubbing alcohol - it can dry out a rubber belt.

I also have a bottle of rubber conditioner that I sometimes use on the belt of my Technics turntable. I bought it mainly to clean the rubber pinch roller on my Revox A77 reel to reel. It's a mild cleaner and it supposed to preserve and condition the rubber so it lasts longer, but I never tried it on my Rega belt.

[attach=1]
Before I put the belt back on, I used a cleaner like 'Cinch' (made by Spic and Span) to clean the sub platter, just to get any grease or belt residue off. Cinch evaporates quickly and doesn't leave a film behind. It also works great for cleaning audio equipment too. I used a microfiber cloth and Cinch to clean my turntable (but not the outer wood trim). It keeps my equipment perfectly clean with no residue, film or buildup.
Title: Re: Belt maintenance
Post by: lshin80 on March 01, 2012, 10:19:56 AM
Thanks everybody.
To clean my belt, I remove it and wash it in a cup of hot water with a mild soap
How much time between each cleaning? After one year my belt looks still clean.
Title: Re: Belt maintenance
Post by: BSD2000 on March 02, 2012, 08:35:24 PM
Thanks everybody.
To clean my belt, I remove it and wash it in a cup of hot water with a mild soap
How much time between each cleaning? After one year my belt looks still clean.

If it looks clean, I would leave it alone. My Rega P25 is about 11 years old, so it has seen a few thousand hours of use in its lifetime. I did replaced the belt about two years ago with an upgraded Rega white belt. I pulled it off and cleaned it about a month ago and it was a little dirty.