[78-L] Belt for Edison Standard Phonograph

[Ron L'Herault]

I've also had some success thinning modern belts by running a very sharp old
block plane down the unfinished side of the leather belt.  You have to have
an extra long piece for this to work and the plane blade must be very sharp
and set fairly shallow.   Tapering both sides of the ends that you join is
still most important.    Contact cement seems to work quite well to join the
ends and you don't have to wait long to a) make the belt and b) use the
machine with the new belt.

Ron L

-----Original Message-----
From: 78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com
[mailto:78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com] On Behalf Of Michael Biel
Sent: Friday, September 04, 2009 1:56 AM
To: 78-L Mail List
Subject: Re: [78-L] Belt for Edison Standard Phonograph

When you mention that you have gotten belts from two vendors, were these
phonograph parts vendors, or just leather-craft vendors?  Fresh leather
will be stiffer than old oil-soaked leather that has been on the machine
for over 90 years.  Ron mentioned thinning the ends.  Are you doing
that?  This means using a razor blade and shaving away some of the
thickness of both ends that you overlap.  The two tips should be brought
down to a very thin edge.  You also need to use a very pliable glue, and
things like Elmers will NOT do.  

And yes, there are several phonograph lists like the 78-L.  Steve Ramm
is on one, something like phonolist.

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com  

 From: "Ron L'Herault" <lherault at bu.edu>

 
 Maybe you are not thinning out the ends of the belt enough before you
 overlap and glue them, Sammy. You could try a belt used for modern
 equipmient such as VCRs. I have a rubber belt that I tried on an
Amberola.
 It may be fine but didn't cure the problem I was chasing down and I
have not
 put it back on. You need to find a friendly Audio repair shop that
might
 let you try some odd ball belts, unless you can show them the size belt
you
 need.
 
 Ron L
 
 -----Original Message-----
 From: 78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com
 [mailto:78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com] On Behalf Of Sammy Jones
 Sent: Thursday, September 03, 2009 9:48 PM
 To: 78-L at klickitat.78online.com
 Subject: [78-L] Belt for Edison Standard Phonograph
 
 Gentlemen (and ladies) of the list,
 
 I posted a similar question to the list some time ago, but I don't
believe I
 had much response. 
 
 Does anybody have any tips on obtaining belts for Edison Standard
 Phonographs? Several months ago I broke my belt when I fitted a
4-minute
 converter onto my phonograph.
 
 The replacement material that I've obtained from two different vendors
is
 not the same as the belt I had (which was in very good condition until
I
 stupidly broke it!), and seems to me to be of inferior quality.
 
 In any case, the splice and glue method to put the belt material
together
 doesn't seem to work very well. Every time the splice passes over the
 mandrel it wows like crazy. 
 
 I can't see that my original belt was constructed that way; I would be
 interested to know other methods for building belts, or if it is
possible to
 purchase good quality belts that are already put together.
 
 I wonder if there is a cylinder phonograph listserv that is similar to
the
 78-L?
 
 Many thanks,
 Sammy Jones
 
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