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Possible Cure for Collapsed Stylus Suspension

A-T styli with this screw effectively give you adjustable compliance by letting you pull the cantilever more or less tightly to the rubber disc at the base. I myself have not had an A-T stylus that needed chemical rubber treatment and can't think offhand of anyone who's reported experiencing such a thing, which shows us that rubber can be formulated-- engineered-- many very different ways for different uses, and implies that a chemical treatment that works on a given phono cartridge may do little or nothing on another. Likewise, what works on phono cartridges may not work on a car's door seal. Ortofon has a division devoted to engineered/technical rubber, so if you're curious about this, you might peer into Ortofon Microtech. It may send you down the Rubber Rabbit Hole. Recent Veritasium video on rubber. Probably won't help a V15VMR, but still interesting.
 
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i forgot all about this thread, but i see it's still going strong. heh, i just mixed up 20oz of wintergreen oil & isopropyl alcohol in a 1:3 ratio attempting to revive a hardened technics sl-ql1 mat. ultimately, my efforts failed due to my own inexperience, but i have an abundance of solution left over. i might just have to put it back to work on some cracking suspensions...
 
Which Aerospace 303 did you use? White bottle, blue label? White bottle dark blue label? What was your method?
 
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wualta said:
Which Aerospace 303 did you use? White bottle, blue label? White bottle dark blue label? What was your method?
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Ultimate UV Protectant, white bottle with blue label. I wash with dawn water and a scrub, let dry, spray and let it sit for a few minutes, then wipe it off. The protectant soaks into the rubber and tends to sweat back out for about a week, so I wipe it down several times before placing a record on it.

I looked up the datasheet on the product and it is 7% alcohol. Otherwise I'd use it on suspensions. My experience with a failed adhesive "crumb" resulting in a mushy suspension gives me hesitation now.
 
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stanwebber said:
what was the initial condition of the mat? was it rock hard & stiff?
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Stiff, but not terrible. I've treated 5 different rubber mats and had outstanding results every time. They all look brand new and stayed looking that way. As I mentioned in the last post, the stuff does sweat back out so be careful not to get any residue on your records.
 
For grins, here's Project Farm's recent test of 303 and a bunch of other protectants. Not saying this is in any way applicable to this thread.
 
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