Came back home last night after a month of travels to find a package (with postage stamps!) waiting for me on the hall table – the plastic idler rebuild for my Bogen/Presto Lenco-L-61. It was performed by a semi-retired gentleman in Mississippi named Ed Crockett to whom I have no affiliation other than being a very satisfied customer. The rubber rebuild is identical in both plane profiles as the original. (Note: Always save as much of the original rubber as possible to send into any rebuild service) The tire is supple, yet firm. It takes about three weeks and costs $25, which includes return shipping. Anybody interested in this service can e-mail me for details.
My next step is to rethink the material for dampening the wheel. Unlike Lenco metal wheels, the plastic ones have (4) 90-degree pie wedge recesses on one side that just beg for some kind of treatment. Initially, I applied a self-adhering rubber butyl called “Kool Patch”, but I think this may have added a little too much mass to the wheel. Lately I’ve been thinking of using the roofing product called “Ice Guard” (kind of a poor man’s Dynamat) – a thin matt that is rolled on roofs in place of felt over eaves (under shingles) to prevent ice damning. It has an adhesive on one side and can be cut with scissors. The big drawback with this product is that it has a tendency to spew out tiny bits of mica, asphalt and fiberglass – hardly the stuff you want dropping into a Lenco motor. So I’m thinking of sealing it once in place on the plastic idler wheel. Any suggestion for a sealant? An enamel lacquer?
After my older brother’s jaw was retrieved from the floor while listening to the humble little analog system that I set him up with a few days ago (headed by a Garrard Zero-100 rim drive), I could almost swear that there were tears welling up in his eyes as he grooved to his old beloved Stan Getz LP. Reaching around his back, I grasped his far shoulder and intoned, “I know… I know. It’s the long lost sound of analog that’s come back like an old friend”.
My next step is to rethink the material for dampening the wheel. Unlike Lenco metal wheels, the plastic ones have (4) 90-degree pie wedge recesses on one side that just beg for some kind of treatment. Initially, I applied a self-adhering rubber butyl called “Kool Patch”, but I think this may have added a little too much mass to the wheel. Lately I’ve been thinking of using the roofing product called “Ice Guard” (kind of a poor man’s Dynamat) – a thin matt that is rolled on roofs in place of felt over eaves (under shingles) to prevent ice damning. It has an adhesive on one side and can be cut with scissors. The big drawback with this product is that it has a tendency to spew out tiny bits of mica, asphalt and fiberglass – hardly the stuff you want dropping into a Lenco motor. So I’m thinking of sealing it once in place on the plastic idler wheel. Any suggestion for a sealant? An enamel lacquer?
After my older brother’s jaw was retrieved from the floor while listening to the humble little analog system that I set him up with a few days ago (headed by a Garrard Zero-100 rim drive), I could almost swear that there were tears welling up in his eyes as he grooved to his old beloved Stan Getz LP. Reaching around his back, I grasped his far shoulder and intoned, “I know… I know. It’s the long lost sound of analog that’s come back like an old friend”.