The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I have found a good trick that always seems to work when gluing on Leather belts. Glue the belt as tight as possible with Crazy Glue Gel, and I use a medical hemostat to hold the two belt ends together while drying. In about 30 minutes later, I come back to it, and just stretch the belt slowly by pulling it to the correct tension...and it works every time. The belt stays tight, yet has enough slack to operate well. Once glued togethet, You can literally stretch the leather belts with your hands.. Just stretch it to the correct tension, and you're done. Go slow, and keep trying the phonograph until it operates correctly. Try not to overstretch, otherwise, You'll have to re-glue the belt and repeat the procedure. It works great, I've been using this method for years with 1000% success rate!

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Tony K.

alang wrote: On mine I removed the tensioner arm with the wheel and soaked it in lacquer thinner until all the dirt was gone and it moved freely. Then lubricated the axle with a drop of oil and re-installed. Fixed the problem on my Standard.

Good luck!
Andreas

I just fixed a tensioner wheel on a Standard using a drop or 2 of penetrating oil. I didn't even need to remove the arm to do it!

I had a similar problem on an Edison Home phonograph. The belt tension was good, but the wheel had a bit of oil on it and the belt was slipping on that. I cleaned the pulley wheel with isopropyl alcohol, it now works fine.