Feickert analogue protractor....Owners impressions

I'm in the process of orderring a best tractor from mintlp for my 10.5i arms. The time difference is delaying comunication somewhat but I look forward to trying it. Thanks to all for your input on this thread. I would never have thought to try this without the comments I've read here.

As a side note, my measured pivot to spindle distance for the 10.5i on the SSM table agrees well with VPI's published value of 256 mm. I'm not sure why the value was off for the Aries 3 but my guess is that the rest of the values for overhang can be assumed to be accurate.

I have a Dennesen Electrostatic Protractor that I bought in the 80's. I haven't used it in 25 years as I haven't used a pivot arm until now, but it looks alot like the Feickert contraption. Mount it over the spindle, locate the arms pivot point, and then adjust the cartridge to one point on the jig. Its easy to use as long as you can find the arm pivot point which isn't always easy. After reading this thread, though, I'm not sure how accurate it would be for all arms. I may try a Mint. the price is right.

My MintLp arc protractor arrived acouple of days ago....

Within the next few days I'll find sometime, some uninterrupted time that is, to check it out.

My first impression upon unpacking the protractor is that it looks to be a precision tool of the highest degree and more so then the Freikert tractor.

Fine etched detail to the extreme.

Reading through the owners manual of the MintLp, I give the step by step instructions accompanied by helpful tips and explanation highest marks.

Its not your typical manual,I find it well written and thoroughly thought out.

Good job! Yip.

Today I finally got around to using the MintLp Protractor.

Following each and every step of the manual to the letter, the results ended with the stylus being short of the inner null point...

Before I made any cartridge readjustments, I pulled the tape of the Mint and removed the erasers securing the platter in place.

Again, I carefully repeated the steps which ended with the same results.

I then made adjustments to the cartridge.

The stylus now traverses the entire arc with absolute precision.

What I experienced this afternoon I have to believe an arc protractor to be the tool of choice if you are looking for high precision in set up.

The Feikert protractor manual briefly mentions tangential stylus position in the groove at two points.

However, how can this be accomplished with accuracy?

Unlike the MintLp tractor ,the platter and disk of the Freikert are not secured from moving.

Hitting the null target points is easy. If your short or long just gently nudge the platter and or head shell to where you need to go.

By all means, correct me if I'm wrong about the Feickert design, and designs like it.

Because right now I believe I just dialed in my cartridge beyond what the Feickert could ever do.