need Teres platter diameter

[directdriver]

You are not hijacking the thread at all, it's a great discussion and I appreciate your open-mindedness. Hijack away! :-)

I bought a tension arm from eBay that was originally from a tape machine but unfortunately the bearing has cogging and does not rotate smoothly. I intend to keep looking for a good one. Friends also suggested buying an old VCR from a good will or thrift store and scavenge the parts. Not a bad idea. I am having very good result just using VHS tape and I look forward to improving it further by adding a tension arm.

VHS or magnetic tape makes sense to me as they are design to wrap around metal (like a platter) and rotating mass all the time and once engage, they grip the platter very well and the lack of compliance make speed very stable, well, provided you have a good motor to begin with. I dislike all existing motors except my direct-drive turntables. They take up a lot of space but it's the best motor out there and they are cheap. I am not gonna pay over a grand for a motor-pod of certain turntable companies that use wimpy toy motors. Everything I need is inside a well built DD turntable, pitch control, stable slow speed, low noise, and high torque, all for the princely sum of $100 or less. Once hear using a DD turntable tape driving a platter, it's hard to go back to rubber belts.