Mint Tractor

Rodgen,

If the spindle diameter is the same, then the Mint tractor can be used for the same arm/cartridge combination. Yip takes the extra step of taking the spindle diameter into account to make sure that the overhand is spot on.

Oh, the spindle size. yes, forgot about that one. Well just measured it with a caliper and it's good news for me. Looks like I can use it for the other record decks.

Thanks to you guys , swampwalker and Isanchez.

Just finished alligning my cartridge with the tractor. Everything went pretty well, about 1 1/2 hours to do the job correctly.

First of all, I found proper lighting to be critical! The first time around setting overhang I thought I had it just right using the light from the magnifying glass (in a well lit area and using my littlite from a distance). On a second take I decided to lay the littlite right down on the tractor, I could now detect I was off the line by a fair margin.

Secondly, I think allignment could possibly be more exact if the thick parallel lines were printed slightly farther apart. My Dynavector 20XL's wider stylus covers those lines, a little open space between the stylus and thick parallel lines would perhaps make allignment a bit more exact.

My new allignment with the tractor exposed the flaws of the VPI and DB protractors I had previously used. Tonight's listening session will illuminate the sonic benefits.

I received my tractor this week and began the fun yesterday.

I had wanted to change my cartridge and was waiting for the tractor to arrive before doing so, but I first checked the overhang with the old cartridge and it was off by a few millimeters.

So I changed cartridge and adjusted the overhang as best I could; once I got the hang of using the loupe I was able to be accurate on the outside arc, but I can't seem to find an angle that allows me to see with the same accuracy for the arc near the spindle.

I briefly checked out part B. It took me a whlie to be able to 'see' the 'country road' the way I was supposed to, and I think I'm seeing it correctly, but it doesn't really look like the angle of the cantilever is off. I'm guessing from everyone else's comments that the chances of this must be mighty slim and that I need to concentrate more. I'm about to do that today, but thought I'd just throw this out there: did anyone find that they didn't need to do much in part B?

Small update: with fresh eyes I did see that the cantilever angle is a bit off. I find this part the hardest to determine because I have to use one angle to see if the lines are parallel and then tilt up a bit to see the angle of the cantilever... without shifting left or right.

Then it seems be very tricky to adjust the cartridge alignment without messing up overhang/distance.

I'm tring to walk away from the table every time I find myself thinking "Screw it - this has to be good enough and much better than how it was previously setup". I don't think I would have this discipline if it weren't for all the rave reviews here, so thanks guys.