1950 Recordon renovation part 2 - Turntable drive idler wheel restoration

The turntable idler wheel or roller rubber surface was very hard, with a glazed and cracked appearance.

This video shows a test of the material with "RRR" rubber roller restorer, which had no noticeable effect on the glaze at that stage.

I sanded off the glaze using a technique I found in some online articles, making a spindle to drive the idler wheel then spinning it against extremely fine abrasive on a hard backing surface.

That seemed to have the desired effect and the new surface felt like rubber, though still very hard.

After recording the video, I sprayed the roller with RRR again, using the plastic box lid to contain as I did early in the video. I kept it covered to minimise evaporation and re-sprayed it a few times over a couple of hours, turning it over so it got similar exposure at both sides.

I then dried it off and left it for a day so the restorer could penetrate evenly through the bulk of the rubber.

It worked - the idler wheel has a much better surface, and as you can see in the "Reassembly" video, it now works perfectly with a very positive drive to the turntable.

RRR Spray is available from Electrolube, CPC, Amazon etc.