How tight should the belt on my Scout be? I've never seen anything about tension on the belt antwhere. There's nothing in the manual about it, just how to install it. I can't even find anything about it anywhere online.
Any strobe disc that is not made from a solid machined aluminum plate with have back and forth motion because the center hole is not exactly in the center, that is what you are seeing. Keep the belt tension low enough to not stress the motor and tight enough to reach speed in about 2 seconds.
Most users tension the belt too much, thus creating a lateral load onto the motor bushing thus creating a potential noise source which can transfer to the platter. Tension the belt every so lightly so that it creates an adhesion zone on the pulley. Slippage or a squeak at start up is normal as the initial motor torque will prevent the belt from creating an "immedite" adhesion zone (similar to clutch slippage). Also, when powering down, don't worry if the pulley stops and the platter continues to drive the belt...that's normal. If you motor is taking a lot time to get the platter up to speed, apply a touch more tension.
That's how I've got mine set up. Just enough tension to turn the platter without much slipping or binding the motor's pulley. I was checking the speed with my KAB strobe kit last night and the numbers on the mat weren't completely steady, they were wavering a tiny bit. I was wondering why it would do that. Thought it might be a little belt slippage. My belt's 7 or 8 years old so it could be time to replace it.
Hey Sam, as long as you have tension on your belt you are in good shape. There are a lot of thoughts and different approaches people have used over the years. I can't say they are all the best or the worse but all different ways of getting the platter spinning.
Any strobe disc that is not made from a solid machined aluminum plate with have back and forth motion because the center hole is not exactly in the center, that is what you are seeing. Keep the belt tension low enough to not stress the motor and tight enough to reach speed in about 2 seconds.
Most users tension the belt too much, thus creating a lateral load onto the motor bushing thus creating a potential noise source which can transfer to the platter. Tension the belt every so lightly so that it creates an adhesion zone on the pulley. Slippage or a squeak at start up is normal as the initial motor torque will prevent the belt from creating an "immedite" adhesion zone (similar to clutch slippage). Also, when powering down, don't worry if the pulley stops and the platter continues to drive the belt...that's normal. If you motor is taking a lot time to get the platter up to speed, apply a touch more tension.
Hey Sam, as long as you have tension on your belt you are in good shape. There are a lot of thoughts and different approaches people have used over the years. I can't say they are all the best or the worse but all different ways of getting the platter spinning.