Idler Wheel Fix if Dry Rubber

[freqwood]

Well, I've gotten a bunch of helpful info off this site in the last few years (thanks!), and hadn't had anything I thought useful enough for a post until now so...

I have a Dual 1218 turntable that had an old dried out rubber idler wheel. Tried all the suggestions of soaking in to try to fix it, that didn't work so I tried sanding it and that didn't help either.

Because the diameter of the idler wheel doesn't affect the speed, achieving a precise original diameter match isn't critical - it can be just close enough and you'll be fine; like +/- 1/32"

Anyways, what I did was attach my idler wheel to my dremel (a drill or anything else where you can create a balanced rotation will work) and I etched a channel into the outer rim of the idler wheel in which I placed an o-ring from the plumbing section at the hardware store. Presto! Good as new, and replaceable! Hope this helps someone!

The only thing to watch for is when putting the platter back on, that the contact edge doesn't push the o-ring down and off while the platter is loaded back on.

Pics:

Original

W/channel

Installed w/o-ring

 

[Nashou66]

Awesome Idea!!!!

Thanks for posting!! Im having a speed issue with my 1019 and this might help if all other avenues don't.

nashou

 

[MickeySmile]

 

[GYMusic]

That's an admirable fix. How was the speed affected?

 

[freqwood]

That's an admirable fix. How was the speed affected?

Awesome Idea!!!!

Thanks for posting!! Im having a speed issue with my 1019 and this might help if all other avenues don't.

nashou

My issue was the dried rubber on the idler wheel not having enough friction to turn the platter at the right speed. It was constantly slipping, and it couldn't start the platter turning on its own. The o-ring gave all the friction it needed. On initial installation, because the thickness of the o-ring is thicker than the original thickness of the edge of the rubber wheel, the contact point on the drive spindle was slightly lower, thus making the speed increased slightly - a simple adjustment of the drive spindle solved this.

 

[Lo-Fidelity]

Awesome fix!

 

[Ranchman]

That's a great idea!

 

[Djcoolray]

Brilliant....

 

[tnsilver]

Interesting idea! I may give this a shot my self pretty soon. Thanks!

 

[lifer70]

Well done!

 

[likebike23]

Nice. Some details please as to what you used to create the channel and which O-ring size you used. I'm thinking an Emory board might work pretty well to make the channel?

 

[freqwood]

Nice. Some details please as to what you used to create the channel and which O-ring size you used. I'm thinking an Emory board might work pretty well to make the channel?

I used a Dremel bit that had a small spherical grinder bit at the end. You could probably also wrap some sandpaper around a small dowel - like a paper clip or small drill bit. The idea is to use a sanding unit that is roughly the same diameter of your o-ring - to which I would recommend sourcing before you modify the idler wheel. See below.

Th o-ring I sourced from a Danco Spout O-ring for delta or peerless - part # 80973 from Lowe’s. I used one of the slimmer o-rings from the pack. It was around $5. It did have to stretch it a good bit to fit but it isn’t “stressed” by any means.