Turntable speed accuracy

Thanks Halcro, was just wondering by chance. Dang Lew that was fast, look forward to future comments you may have.

Have our monthly club meeting this week, have to ask the guys if anyone has a timeline. If not might have to break down just for kicks since I am love tools of the trad :).

I would love to know the results of using a Timeline on a massive platter, belt driven turntable like the Walker. Maybe it's a touch fast or a touch slow (which will show up as "cumulative error"), but I find it hard to believe that a 70 pound platter will be affected by even the greatest amount of stylus drag. Of course you would have to set the timeline on top or the Walker record clamp to compare apples to apples.

This makes me think. When testing your tables with the Timeline with the stylus in the groove, and you see what appears to be a slightly slow speed, how in the world do you know that it's not just the LP slipping on the platter? It seems like you would need to make sure that the record is mechanically clamped to the platter for the results to mean anything. And I'm not just talking about a little record weight. I'm talking about a several pound weight or a clamp that threads or clamps onto the platter spindle.

To put it another way... You test your TT with the Timeline on the platter with no LP and it maintains perfect speed. You then test your TT with an LP and the stylus in the groove and the Timeline says that your TT is slow, which makes you think it's due to stylus drag. That seemingly "slow" result could simply be because of the LP slipping on the platter, not the platter slowing down due to the stylus drag.

Ketchup: " That seemingly "slow" result could simply be because of the LP slipping on the platter, not the platter slowing down due to the stylus drag."

That's easy to figure out. Simply stick a piece of tape with, say, a pencil mark on the edge of the record line up with another mark on the platter and then check their alignment after the speed test to see for any drift or slippage. This was proposed by a smart forum member (Dertonarm) before.

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TIMELINE
Here is the video with the Timeline on the Transrotor Fat Bob which has a massive platter.
Watch how the Timeline immediately slows when the stylus is lowered?

The Timeline is also sold as a 'record weight'....although on the light side.
It is fairly easy to see if slippage is causing a problem by using the Timeline without a stylus playing firstly, then with a stylus playing on the mat and then without the mat or a different mat. It's not rocket science but this mentality of assuming the Timeline is somehow wrong and the turntable correct.......is the real problem here?

Regardless of what the speed inaccuracy is due to.......one must find it and correct it as it is distortion of the analogue sine wave...pure and simple.
The Timeline will show it....and you must correct it. Not look for excuses :^)