Mint Tractor

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.

Madfloyd,if you follow Audiogon's "Bad Boys",you must realize there is NO such thing as "Good Enough"!

Anything less than perfection will NOT be tolerated! -:)

Best

Madfloyd, as you say it is difficult to get good angle to see. This is exactly why I have my 'table turned so that the arm is in the back. For my setup this allows me to get to both alignment points easier but the one closest to the spindle still gives me the most trouble seeing.

AND, don't forget, perfection is not possible. Even with the Mint. The best we can do is work to eliminate as much error as we can. It is most definitely an interative process. The more error we can adjust out the more we are rewarded.

I brought another light into the equation this morning and realized that I wasn't as accurate with Step A as I thought... so I started over. Every time I think I had it, I walked away and came back fresh a half hour later. If it looked good I moved on, otherwise adjusted again.

Step B is a pain - I'd adjust alignment to find I screwed up overhang. And step B seems a little more 'subjective' than step A.

Anyhow, was finally satisfied with step B and declared myself finished. :-)