Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Help again with potts platter

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Posted by Robert Carnino (Member # 5633) on 02-21-2010, 01:51 PM:

I did what was suggested with the potts platter and changed the middle shaft. It's nice and tight now. Another problem came up. The platter seems like it's running faster than normal or other ones. Is there a way to adjust the speed? Thanks Again for you help with the first issue.

Rob

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 02-21-2010, 05:05 PM:

Moving the motor up and down is the way to adjust the speeds. Loosen the two bolts that attach the motor to the platter column. Don't loosen them too much as you still want the motor to be able to stay in place, you just need to be able to slide it up and down. Pushing the motor upwards towards the platter deck will slow it down whereas moving it away will speed it up.

Now place a small piece of tape on each deck. Switch each deck to "Rewind" or whatever it is labeled on the Potts and slide the variac accumulator up and lock it into place with the pin. Give the decks a few rotations to get up to speed. Look at the tape as the decks spin, this is your guide as to which is spinning faster or slower than the others. Ideally there shouldn't be too much difference in speed between each deck. You'll never get them all exactly perfect, so some variance is fine. But if it drifts more than a quarter turn once every 6 rotations or so you should make a slight adjustment. In your case I would slide the motor upwards a bit to slow the platter rotation down. Once you are satisfied with the results, re-tighten the bolts on the motor that you loosened, stop the platter from spinning by dropping the accumulator and remove the tape. Then go eat a delicious cheeseburger (this step is important and will ensure your platter works great).