I'm about to embark on a quest for belts. I do notice on some videos that people seem to have a collection of belts in a box, and are able to pick one out of a case of thickness, length, etc. Should I shop for belts on ebay by walkman model, or is there a more intelligent way of going about it please?
Hi Michelle, I cannot be sure but we did have a wizard of belts on our forum by the name of DocP. I haven't seen him in a while but it may be possible to send him a PM. Good Luck!
Many thanks! I'll see if I can look him up. I just sent an e-mail to DigiKey for caps. There was actually someone there on live tech chat !!! Amazing.
Perfect Michelle! I hope they can sort you out! I was fortunate to have DocP's wisdom at my fingertips and he shipped me the exact belts and I've never looked back. Nothing like getting these old walkmans moving again!
I've sent DocP a PM, so we'll see. He does seem to have been on recently, but who knows. Love the avitar, by the way !!! That's what I call real retro It was my first ever analogue turntable.
I bought all my Aiwa belts from @mihokm , they are excellent!!! Those belt kits off eBay (sold for $1-$10 and shipped from China) were a waste of my time. Someone suggested a seller from Puerto Rico with quality belt kits, but I could not find him. Since I fix Walkmans for my own collection, not resale, @mihokm is my only supplier. For thicker belts (for CD drawers, cassette decks, bboxes) I go to studiosoundelectronics or MarrsCommunications. The only place which has a small thick belt needed for Sony D50 Discman is here: TurntableNeedles
I have bought a few things from Mihokm recently, but searched the ebay shop for p505 and failed to find any belts. I did order a PX-303 belt... that was before the offer came to have two walkmans to repair. So I thought I'd find a supplier who can handle the px303 and p505 belts at once.
It's worth reaching out to @mihokm, he may have a belt that fits even if it's not listed on eBay. I got my PX303 belt from him and it works perfectly.
I heard back from DocP and he needs dimensions. Unfortunately as I don't have much room here, I was hoping to take the units apart once only. To take one apart, do the measurements and wait for an order to arrive, would not be easy. So I have reached out to Mihokm. We'll see what happens. I might just have to work out a way of storing things safely while I get measurements to DocP. Only time will tell now. I will begin a new threat sometime next week, as an examination of the P505 that I currently have, shows that a small rivet in the door mechanism is missing. The door is still functional, but the hinge is sloppy. But I figure I'll get the caps and belts sorted first, before I turn my attention to anything else.
These guys seem to have a huge inventory including belts, rollers and a ton more. I haven't used them yet but I did call the number, after hours,and it's still in service. I had to hit a few different spots to get the full line catalog with the belts, the link in the pop-up doesn't seem to work. I downloaded the PRB_Belt_XRef.PDF and it lists a million players and their belt sizes but I can't find it on the website right now. I do have a PDF copy if needed but it didn't list either model (I'm assuming they're both AIWA's). http://russellind.com/site_map.htm Here's a discussion on Russel Industries on tapeheads.net http://www.tapeheads.net/showthread.php?t=32494 I got lucky and bought a bunch of NOS belts on ebay for low-dough, it looks like an old service center stock but there's no cross-reference chart.
