Nothing In Particular

[steve s]

Got myself an ancient dynavector ultimo 20a homc cart from the seventies this week, paid the princely sum of 20 quid.
Seller said it was buggered, sold as spares or repair, but looking at the pics, the stylus was utterly filthy.
It's taken almost a week of cleaning it to get all the crap off it using an at637 stylus cleaner and cleaning fluid, convention say not to use stylus cleaning fluid these days, but nothing to lose but my 20 quid. but it was worth it.
It has a shibata stylus
Sounds absolutely lovely

I've got one somewhere, I know mine is the high output version I think that's the a, it sound very good, similar to my kiseki blue, but with a bit more body to the sound .

Edit.. just checked, mines the 30A.

[Ant]

30a is the spu-esque plug in one iirc? Think it has the same specs as this one but is a headshell type.
I've also got a (now) mint acos lustre gst1 that one of those would go lovely in.
That arm looked absolutely perfect but had a seized counterweight and non functional bias. Had to take the stub off completely and soak the stub and weight in petrol to get them apart! It was as if it had been glued in place, nothing else I tried would touch whatever it was that was sticking them together..... Then strip the arm down to get the bias working again. Took some doing, but was worth the effort too. those ultimo carts need a heavier arm as the compliance is fairly low, a figure of about 8, compared to 12 for my at150 and 24 for my other dynavector, the dv20a2. The acos is spot on for the ultimo, the AT1100 spot on for the 20a2
Bouyed by the ultimo success, I've bought a Hana sl as spares or repair too yesterday for 35 quid, seller reckons the stylus is worn out, if it will clean up like the ultimo has then I've got an absolute bargain, if it has had it, I can get it retipped and it's still a bargain

[Ant]

A jewellers loupe came I the post today, 20 and 60x magnification. Looked at the stylus on the 20a and it looked like a misshapen ice cube! With a very orange hue (a load of nicotine I presume) and loads of black gunk that the at607 stylus cleaning fluid hadn't touched. Looked OK at 10x magnification with a lens
So.
Wot I did, bearing in mind that this is a 20 quid cart, was get a vodka miniature, the little lid off the vinyl passion dust buster and a small cube of magic eraser sponge.
Magic eraser in the lid, a splash of vodka in there so it all wicked up into the sponge, and sat the stylus in it for about 30 minutes so that the stylus was sat in the vodka. Then dipped it back in and out of the magic eraser cube a couple of times which removed all the nasty black and orange crap completely
Looking at it now through the loupe, it's dissolved all the crap off it and left a nice shiny diamond.
It sounds significantly better again, cleaner, and more detailed.
Did the at150 aswell, the same improvement, that was not nearly as bad, 5 minutes and it was clean as a whistle.
Doing the dv20a2 now aswell.
I Probably wouldn't do this with something that's worth something, but with nothing to lose, why not...

[Ray P]

I Probably wouldn't do this with something that's worth something, but with nothing to lose, why not...

Result!

[Mike H]

Speaking of videos about making things out of metal...




See also the previous: How NOT To Cast A Historic Bronze Cannon Barrel

[Ant]

The Hana sl arrived today, subjected it to the vodka treatment too. This was a 35 quid cartridge, so, again, nothing to lose.
Turns out I seem to have won big with it, I can't fault it to be honest,. I'm not sure what the seller was hearing that made them think it was worn out, but after it's Russian bath, it does not mistrack at all that I can hear.
Stroke of luck for me this one, so was the ultimo.

[Ray P]

Just watching the mens road race of the Cycling World Championships - You Yorkshire folk know how to organise the weather!

[jack]

Just watching the mens road race of the Cycling World Championships - You Yorkshire folk know how to organise the weather!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/cycling/49813319

[Dave the bass]

My kinda Yorkshire dampness, Barnsley stylee. Yum.

[IslandPink]

Just watching the mens road race of the Cycling World Championships - You Yorkshire folk know how to organise the weather!

Indian Summer - my arse !

[jack]

My kinda Yorkshire dampness, Barnsley stylee. Yum.

You drinking chasers? Road to ruin, that

[Ant]

It never gets old

[Dave the bass]

You drinking chasers? Road to ruin, that

Ha, nah, JTS enjoys fine Ales too. We'd dropped off the last of her degree work to the Uni and stopped over for a couple of nights to explore Barnsley and the surrounds.

[Ant]

You explored Barnsley?
I'm surprised you got out alive

[IslandPink]

Good work on the cartridges, Ant. Been reading your postings with interest.