Replace VPI TNT rubber belt with nylon thread

I have been using unwaxed dental floss for a few months and belive it sounds better. I do have to have it incredibly taught, thougg. Starts up w/o help, speed is dead on and no surface noise. I should go back to the belt to do an A/B but sounds sooo good and such a pain...

See dougdeacon's thread on mylar. There can't be any comparison between the two.
Don

Mylar tape (even without the special treatment I described on that thread) performs far better than rubbery belts, silk thread, dental floss, recording tape, vcr tape, spiderweb fibers or anything else we've tried.

BUT, the motor's capstan and the platter must be suitably sized and shaped. The tape we use is 1/2" wide. Most TT motor capstans won't accommodate that. The platter should have flat vertical sides, no grooves or other irregularities.

Additionally, the motor will need very precise levelling (paper shims work). This wide, dimensionally stable mylar tape is completely inelastic so it provides a direct mechanical linkage with no stretch and very little slippage - which is the whole point. However, this leaves very little room for deviations. If the sides of the motor capstan aren't precisely parallel with the sides of the platter, the tape will crawl right off the capstan in just a few revolutions. That usually destroys the tape (which takes an hour or more to make).

Superb motor/platter coupling, but not for the faint of heart or for those who aren't adept at twiddling! ;)

I've found that four drive belts improve sound quite a bit over the use of one. I use the VPI dual motor single flywheel drive station on most of my tables the 4 long belts fits nicely above the two belts from the motors to the fly wheel.

Good Listening

Peter

Alas, my VPI motor has a V shaped capstan, so silk thread is all I can upgrade to. No mylar for me. However, the silk thread is a substantial improvement over the original rubber belt.