I have a DUAL 505.2 with strobe markings on the platter however no strobe light. I put a mini fluorescent bulb in a trouble light and shone it on the platter but wasn't able to make out the markings on the platter. Is there another type of light that should be used??? :scratch2:

I can use the regular 40 watt shop light hanging from my ceiling I believe the flouresent has to be the type with a real transformer. it helps to hold a slot cut in a piece of card stock over the markings so you have soemthing to referance their movement against.

Yeah, make sure it's not a CFL. An old school flourescent light is illuminated at line frequency. The strobe makings for the Dual are 'cut' to that. It should work as long as the speed isn't too wacky.

P.s. Not a DC powered 'trouble light'. Make sure it's powered off of the AC line.

A little neon lamp will work best.

Yep.
The venerable NE-2 or NE-2H will do fine.

A little neon lamp will work best.

:thmbsp:

Enjoy,
Rich P

actually you can usually see the pattern adequately when a normal (AC) incandescent bulb is used to light the stroboscope.

A neon or fluorescent light is better because they'll go totally dark as the AC waveform passes through 0V... but an incandescent filament will work.

When I was working on mother's Dual 1237 at my house, I replaced my CFL with a standard AC incandescent bulb, and had no problems seeing the strobe markings on the platter.

regular light bulb will work,just got to look close..it'll be faint,but you'll see if it is steady..

A neon lamp will work best.

If all else fails can't you print out a little strobe disk off the web?

I used to have one you could just pop on the turntable to check the speed.

http://www.vinylengine.com/strobe-discs.shtml

I can confirm that a normal mains-operated incandescent light bulb works OK. However, if you are able to solder, there is an article describing how to build a 9V battery operated strobe to check turntable speed in the articles at vinylengine.com.

-Don

Gee and I spend 3 minutes each time counting 100 revs with a stopwatch in hand :) . Just kidding but I have done that once when I didn't have strobe markings handy. Like others mentioned an old style florescent desk lamp flicker will do in a pinch.

Yep.
The venerable NE-2 or NE-2H will do fine.

I killed mine on my SL-1700 while painting it, the only places that I can find on the net that have them have a huge minimum order, know of any sources?

Gee and I spend 3 minutes each time counting 100 revs with a stopwatch in hand :) . Just kidding but I have done that once when I didn't have strobe markings handy. Like others mentioned an old style florescent desk lamp flicker will do in a pinch.

Heck, that's what I do!:D I found out with a quartz locked JVC that the 100 revolution- 3 minutes method was accurate and have been using it ever since with other decks (Dual 1219, 1019, Rega P3, Lenco) that don't have strobe markings on the platter. Benefit is that its totally independent of line frequency. I think I remember reading somewhere that utilities generally keep line frequency within 1% of the 60HZ nominal. Think about it 1% of 33 1/3 means you are playing records at 33 rpm or 33 2/3 :thumbsdn:

I think the utilities keep the line frequency much tighter than that, because they must synchronize the power grid.

Not only that, in the "old days" AC clocks ran off of synchronous motors--not quartz drives--yet were still much more than 1% accurate (that would equal to almost a minute off EVERY HOUR if they were 1% off, and I'd guess my clocks were within a minute or two a month).

According to Wikipedia, CFL bulbs operate at ".....high frequency, around 40 kHz or higher....."

I second (or third or fourth by now) the use of a cheap neon night light.

I tried it with an old fashioned fluorescent bulb and there was no problem seeing the pattern in the strobe markings, so speed should be bang on now. :banana:

Thanks to everyone for their helpful comments! :tresbon: