first attempt at re-felting a turntable

[Sansenoi]

For those who read my topic post about how to handle my abused old turntable felt I wish to thank you for giving suggestions.

Since it fell apart to a worse state while trying to clean it I had to re-felt.

Here is the results in the attached photo.before and after photo.

Since this is my first attempt, if anyone sees anything wrong with how it looks please let me know in case I ever have to do it again.

If the text in the picture is too small to read it says," The felt is called "Reets Relish" 20% wool from Jo-Ann Fabric (also online) for $8.99 a yard if you like it. It is a felt with darker color variations in it (with pattern like in money fiber) to give it an "antique" look."

This may be the felt spoken about in other posts that mention Jo-Ann fabric store felt so, if you're looking for it online you don't have to guess from a picture.

[EdisonPhonographGuy]

Looks good. Looks better than my first one. Where did you get your felt? The color is nice. I ended up getting a little darker green on my last one. I got it from Walt somers

[EdisonPhonographGuy]

duhh totally missed it. Jo-ann fabrics. Never thought of that. I don't know what I would do if I had to cut one myself. lol

[Sansenoi]

The reason I really didn't mind having to buy a whole yard of felt is that I figured since it being the first time, I had leeway of enough felt for at least three mistakes.

I learned a thing or two. The first attempt at cutting the felt didn't work. I thought if I measured exactly and cut it out there would be less problem trimming. It came up short in some spots on the edges(cutting a perfect circle is hard). My turntable measured 5 and 29/32 inches in radius. So, I used my large compass to draw a full 6 inch radius circle on the second attempt to give some extra felt at the edges.

I used an all purpose, white "Tacky Glue" from Jo Ann fabric that was around $2.99 and spread it with a $0.30 sponge brush I also got at the fabricf store. The glue was very thick and didn't run at all. The spray adhesive for auto headliners and the such was between $12 and $19 dollars a can.

I used an old fashioned straight razor to cut an X in the center of the felt just smaller than the spindle so that there would be no play in the fabric when centering on the TT.
Then I just applied the felt to the TT. Note that if you are not using a paper backing piece in the depressions on the TT you can do what I did which is, since the glue was very thick and tacky, I just streatched the felt out by grabbing opposite sides and pulling then applying pressure. The glue held it in place nice and taught.

Spread the glue on thick, the felt will absorb most of it and leave less for the metal. Also, lightly sand the TT metal top to give something for the glue to bite.

After the glue dried a bit, I held the TT on its side and carefully slid the straight razor through the felt down to the edge of the TT. I then slid the edge of the razor along the edge of the TT in a slice motion toward the bottom side of the TT so that the felt would not be pulled sideward or lifted from the TT while cutting.

I then put the felted TT on the spindle, cranked the machine up and carefully placed the tip of the razor with slight but increasing pressure where I wanted to trim around the spindle. A dull razor blade would not have worked, it needs to be very sharp.

All in all, it cost about $13 dollars in supplies for enough to do 4 or 5 turntables.

[HisMastersVoice]

I thought if I measured exactly and cut it out there would be less problem trimming. It came up short in some spots on the edges(cutting a perfect circle is hard).

That's why I always glue it down first, then cut it. I hate trying to center the felt.

[alang]

I always create the center hole first using a ¼" hole punch. Then center it with a wood dowel on the turntable when glueing it down. That way I only have to cut around the outside and get a perfect hole in the middle.
Andreas

[Sansenoi]

Indeed Brandon, but I did happen to think ahead of one thing though; that is since the glue that I used was thick and tacky, I trimmed after the glue had firmed but before it dried so if I messed up trimming I could peel it back off without having to scrape a lot and sand the felt off again.

I swear, I think they must have used hide glue on those old TTs, it was hard as a rock in some spots but gone in others. I tried softening it up with alcohol to get the old felt off with minimal scraping but it was only so-so of a help. If it was hide glue, perhaps I should have steamed it off with my steam devil, lol. May try that next time I have to re-felt.

Andreas, that is a good idea for a hole punch. I thought about how easy it would be if I had one while refelting but alas, I didn't want to buy any more items to re-felt just one turntable. For other projects, I still need to get a hole punch at harbor freight tools (I'm lucky enough to have one in my town) but as cheap as they are on tools, I am cheaper! lol

[Brad]

The trick I use to trim the felt is to take a length of flat aluminum stock (available at home cheapo). Drill a hole at one end that will fit over the center spindle. Then decide where you want to cut the felt at the edge and cut a small slot in the aluminum with a hack-saw. Place the bar over the spindle and place razor knife in the slot and trim the excess off. The bar keeps the razor blade at the exact radius you desire.

You can cut the bar a few inches longer and drill several spindle holes so you can use one tool for different diameter platters.

[fmblizz]

Maybe I'm way off base here but I've always had good results buy just spraying a contact cement or glue on a square piece of felt. Flip the turntable and stick it on top of the felt. After a few minutes it will be dry enough to take a straight razor (preferably new) and using the turntable edge as a guide, slowly, using a up and down sawing action, cut off the excess felt. I usually angle the blade a little toward the center to make a slight tapper on the felt edge. The cutting should always be on the down stroke.

Now take a felt pen and mark the center where the spindle hole indentation is.

Next I take a capenters nail set and heat it with a propane torch. It is tappered so it can accomodate different size spindle holes and it will self align. Stick the hot nail set through the mark you made with the felt pen and wa-la.

Total time 5 min. No muss or fuss. LOL

Your done...

Blizz

PS be sure to use vise grips or something similar to hold the hot nail set. You will only make that mistake once..

[Valecnik]

Please don't be offended but I think the old felt looked pretty good. I would not have taken it off.

If you want that "new look", another approach would be to cut a felt or better yet buy one of those pre-cut ones offered by Walt Sommers and others on eBAY. They are pretty think and perfectly round and you can lay them on top of your old felt which, in addition to looking new, protects the old, original felt from further wear.

That's what I did on my Victor V. The orignal felt looked a good bit worse than your original did but I kept it anyway and laid the new one on top.

Obviously though it's your machine and you have a right to do anything you want with it.