Columbia BI fiber gear

[scullylathe]

Does anyone know if new replacements are available for the fiber gear Columbia used in their motors? My BI makes a loud 'purring' sound when it runs and since the metal parts are in good shape and quiet I'm assuming that it's the fiber gear needing to be replaced. It's a steady repetitive sound, over and over as the turntable turns. If you use medium tone needles it plays OK, but loud needles cause the TT to slow on loud passages. (I only play acoustic records on this machine.) Springs were recently replaced as well as the governor springs and weights.

[Phonofreak]

Wyatt sells them. They are white nylon and they work great. If you need info on how to install them, let me know. They can be tricky.
Harvey Kravitz

[JohnM]

Phonofreak,
Am I assuming correctly that you mean Dwayne Wyatt, not Wyatt Marcus?

[Phonofreak]

My bad. It's Wyatt's Musical Americana. I should have been more clear.
Harvey Kravitz

[JohnM]

Are they the only company that sells such replacements?

As far as I am aware, yes. You could always take an existing gear to a machine shop, have them press half the gear from the shaft, remove the old fiber insert, replace it with a suitable nylon or Delrin blank of proper diameter and thickness, align and press the half-gear back on, and mill new teeth into the plastic. That's the way we had to do it back in the 'old days'. Expensive? Yes!!!