VPI TNT static problem, Why?

I bet VPI has an answer...

I had a similiar problem with my TNT III. You have to ground the turntable. There is a metal shaft you can see on the underside of the table. Loop bare wire around this shaft and pull it tight. Attach the other end of the wire to the ground on your preamp or some other ground. It solved my problem.

Zmrs13 are you talking about the bearing shaft base? - not a bad idea, I have the table grounded using the back side grounding knob, but you may be right as to grounding the shaft metal. as this then will contact the metal on the plater. i will try this latter tonight. If this works - Thanks

Stop using a carbon fibre brush,as well.

Why stop using a carbon fiber brush?

Hey Jsman, the carbon fibre brush is like using a broom without a dust pan, one can sweep the dirt around but difficult to really pick it up. Most folks slowly sweep it off the edge but that really just smears it over that area. Also,the static generating quality of rubbing your records with a dry brush is not something I'm not fond of. The Milty Pixall is the only dry cleaner that actually works, IMHO.

Why stop using a carbon fiber brush?

Well, it doesn't pick up dust very well and creates static.

I agree with Headsnappin. Dry brushing doesn't really do much to keep a record clean. Instead, it creates a static charge that causes dust to adhere even more to the record and cause static discharge problems. Go with a cheap wet/vacuum cleaning system (I actually prefer manual application of the fluid and manual turing of the record over motorized features).

To all: Zmrs13 had the solution. The issue is with the center bearing shaft along with the metal banding on the platter side. Dry brushing was never an issue as the HW 16.5 is a wet vac. By just using a plastic cable tie on the shaft and running a 22gage grounding wire that was compressed to the shaft, and then ground to my main amp - took care of all static buildup. I think what was happening is as follows: the platter being acrylic and metal is set in a total acrylic deck. All my other decks have some metal in the deck - be it a floating suspension or solid type. Here the TNT is all plastic - no metal other than the bearing shaft. Any time a plastic material ie: acrylic is spun as is the platter, a static charge will build up, usually this is taken care of by grounding the tables frame. So by grounding the shaft - all is good.

Again thanks to Zmrs13.