How long does it take for a Stylus suspension to harden..

[goatbreath]

Indeed how long if the stylus has been sitting on a turntable or if it is NOS an has been sitting in a drawer,,I guess this is different for Shures than it is for Audio Technicas,I guess companies used different amounts of rubber etc...I have a 30 year old AT32e,,the stylus may be ok on it,,but the suspension sure as hell will be knackered..A re tip would probably be very pricey,,maybe one day..This was used by the way..

My HE stylus for my V15 I tried KY jelly on,,but it was used..It just sounded dead,,even after this treatment..

So say I had a spare unused needle for a M97xe in a drawer,,what life span would you folks give it..

What are your experiences.. ???

[missan]

I´m am mostly familiar with AT cartridges. I have bought through the latest years several NOS needles. I have not yet found any with hardened suspension, what I can see they are like new, and some might be up to 40 years old.
missan

[dlaloum]

KY Jelly - what exactly are you planning with that poor stylus!

I have had some success with Rubber Renew - best used on something that has started to get firmer than it should, but probably not for situations where the surface has already started to break up.

It did help with one sony stylus - it made no difference to my JVC TT feet (rubber suspension).

It is one of these things that if it helps it is all gain, if it doesn't no great loss.

The main risk is that Rubber Renew is quite a good solvent, get it in the wrong place and bits start falling appart... so a tiny drop on the tip of a toothpick is all I use.

Final alternative - send the cartridge off to one of the retippers who can replace the suspension rubber...

[goatbreath]

It is also me being interested in buying spare styli but how long will they last..Rather than going Jico SAS mad,,I already have a V15 III with a Jico stylus..I'm thinking of a few spare M97xe styli..Of course they will be thoroughly checked.....It seems Shure's suspension may go hard faster than the others..And of course when things get hard,,KY Jelly can come in handy.. lol

The AT32e may get attention one day....It will cost a lot to sort out though..Then the stylus will wear eventually,,I'm Scottish..Parting with 2 or 300 quid isn't easy you know...

[kelvinMunson]

I think KY Jelly is a water based lubricant, wouldn't expect it to do much for renewing your rubber?

[goatbreath]

It was advice I got on here when I first joined the site a couple of years ago..When I got my V15 III but the stylus assembly was shot..

[chosenhandle]

If I have a cartridge that I know is going into storage, I put it in a vacuum sealed bag along with a Dry-Pak. I just assumed that oxygen and moisture are the culprits to hardening the rubber, so why not try to limit both. I could be wasting time and energy, but it made sense to me.

[goatbreath]

I actually have some Audio Technica styli in airtight plastic tubs,,I have my fingers crossed as far as that is concerned.. ...I just keep reading Shure's develop these problems quicker..So say I buy 4 spare Shure styli,,by the time I get to number 4 will it be useless......I'm worried that in the future styli will cost crazy money because of limited demand..Plus it may even get to the point that the only thing that can happen is retipping in 20 years time...I'm 44 hopefully got another 20 years to go at least and have about 3000 lps..So I am wanting to be prepared...

[steve195527]

there are additives you can buy for car engine oil that softens hardened engine seals to fix oil leaks,that may re-soften the rubber?Strange how some folk think its temp/dampness/O2 that affects the rubber I thought it was UV light??:-speaker manufacturers used to advise using speakers with grills off as the UV would damage the cone surround,and not just the foam type

[goatbreath]

One of my main problems is what is the equivalent of rubber renew in the UK..I wouldn't know what to buy,,or what it would come under,,is it a DIY item from a DIY store..Is it more specialised..???

[dlaloum]

Technically it is Methyl Salicylate also known as Oil of Wintergreen

Do not breathe this stuff!

It is also used in printer rubber roller cleaning fluid (same stuff used to clean and rejuvenate printer rollers)

Automotive products like Armorall all have a substantial component of Oil of Wintergreen to rejuvenate soft plastics/rubber

You can get oil of wintergreen at aromatherapy vendors

Also pure Methyl Salicylate http://mistralni.co.uk/catalogue/produc ... cylate-min

I know that Rubber Renew is only 30% Methyl Salicylate... I think the rest may just be "carrier"...

Or order it online ?

[goatbreath]

interesting stuff Dlaloum,,oil of wintergreen should be easy to get..Thank you..

[Charlie S]

I recently posted this on another forum but may be pertinent to repeat here. I'm looking at a bottle of "Rubber Renue" which is made by M. G. Chemicals Ltd in Burlington, Ontario, Canada. Web address is www.mgchemicals.com. The bottle lists ingredients in the following order: xylene, acetone, methyl salicylate. I've yet to try Rubber Renue on any stylus, so have no experience to relate.

Re the original question, Shure has stated somewhere that it's ozone in the atmosphere which degrades stylus suspensions. So perhaps degradation depends on environment. I keep my spare Shure VN5MR styli in an airtight container.

The only Shure stylus suspension that has gone sour on me was for a V15 Type IV: that one has a two-part rubber suspension/vibration absorber construction quite different from other Shures.

I have some much older ADC styli that appear undegraded after many decades.

Charlie

[Dimal]

The bottle lists ingredients in the following order: xylene, acetone, methyl salicylate.

I once worked in an heavy engineering works that also produced Switchgear. Xylol (a xylene product) was used regularly to soak a PVC busbar insulation sleeving, in order to make it soft and pliable and thereafter easy to slip over complex busbar shapes. Terrible smelly stuff but worked really well softening the PVC so may have similar properties with various rubber/elastomer products too....

Mal.