Strange belt deterioration

[turnip]

I replaced the belts on my SONY CDP CX450 ( a monster 400 CD player). It's only about 15 years old.

The two belts that drove the carousel had turned into soft licorice which stuck to everything. The door belt was fine...a bit dry bit working ok.

I've replaced belts on a few much older tape players and never seen a belt disintegrate like these two. Has anyone seen this?

My concern is that they have been contaminated by something, particularly as the other belt was fine.

 

[Jorge]

Search for "licorice" here and you will find that its a common way for some belts! Thats how I learned that this goo is called "licorice"... On my RC550 it turned rock-hard, paint thinner dissolved it!!!

 

[toshik]

Many of Philips, Pioneer, etc. suffer from this issue - from what I've heard real rubber does not turn into this goo - only rubber+some plastic combination.

 

[turnip]

Ok thanks. It is strange that only 2/3 were affected.

The other one was as expected for its age, a bit dry and brittle, but still in the form of solid.

Thanks again.

 

[turnip]

Now its working but there is a fault. I have loaded 300 cd;s but it keeps playing the 6 Billy Bragg ones.

Please help

 

[Northerner]

Seen loads of belts go like this, normally a lot older than 15 tho.

As for the Billy Bragg issue...depends how much you like Billy Bragg lol

 

[metalhandbag]

Seen loads of belts go like this, normally a lot older than 15 tho.
As for the Billy Bragg issue...depends how much you like Billy Bragg lol

Agreed

 

[toshik]

I've never seen pinch rollers or idler tires turning into goo, so they used good rubber for those.

 

[MyOhMy]

Now its working but there is a fault. I have loaded 300 cd;s but it keeps playing the 6 Billy Bragg ones.

Please help

Dump Billy Bragg and the problem's solved, I've never tried to play Billy Bragg CD's and never encountered the problem you've identified!

 

[turnip]

I don't mind Mr Bragg, but in small doses only these days.

You'd think that with 300 Cd's on random he'd rarely pop up, yet after 3 songs this morning he's whining away again.

Better load in another 100 and drown him out some more.

 

[caution]

I've never seen pinch rollers or idler tires turning into goo, so they used good rubber for those.

I'm not sure it's a quality issue. Pinch rollers require the stiffness of conventional rubber, but sometimes tape transports are finicky and need belts with very specific requirements for rubber composition and elasticity to achieve optimum specifications.

I'm not even sure these belts turning to goo are made of rubber. If they are, they may have intentionally did a partial cure to achieve different elasticity, or it's a completely different material like a polymer with plasticizers that gets its properties from a chemical reaction that naturally breaks down into a tarry mess over time, no matter the storage conditions. Normal rubber dries out and gets harder over time, not gooier.

 

[turnip]

Normal rubber dries out and gets harder over time, not gooier.

The strange thing was that the two belts driving the Cd carousel turned to goo...but the belt that opened the door was dry and hard-ish as expected. You'd think they would use the same type of belts.

 

[Jorge]

One of those funny statements which makes you wonder: when MoFi sold their overpriced Gold CDR "guaranteed for 200 years", how did they figure? As with those infamous crumbling gears in Philips/Magnavox bboxes: they must have made them from softer plastic (PE?) to reduce vibration transfer but could not have checked that in 30+ years they will go bad. Same with belts: they could have gone overboard overthinking it. Just check Linn forum for Sondek belt: which side is The Side, how often you should change it, etc etc...The thing about rubber'n'stuff is, when I bought Sondek springs or belts off eBay, they did Not work!

 

[Hajidub]

Excessive heat within the unit could be the culprit. Might have a bigger issue internally.

 

[Jorge]

That too, or maybe some minor Gremlins at work: for some reason I have to change CD drawer belt on my Wadia 781i every year, it just insists on going bad!!! Being the last "real Wadia" they did manage to overlook a lot of things, heat being one of them... Extra venting slots in its tank-certified case help, but I am trying not to leave SACDs/CDs inside between plays. Dumping VRDS mechanism while keeping error-correction at min also must have generated a lot of upset customers! And they got busted for a while... So, to correct myself: sometimes it must be overthinking, other-times it is an attempt to save a few bucks which breaks a great machine. More ramblings about my fav SACD player at square-2.com: mighty player but IMHO on SACDs it sounds just about as good as Naim Audio CD players from my collection.