Belt for vintage Sony Walkman - best source?

[tooki]

<preamble>Nostalgia hit, and so for my birthday I got a NOS cassette deck (a TC-KB920S with Dolby S) and a like-new MiniDisc deck (an MDS-JB930). I'll pick up all my old tapes and MiniDiscs from my mom's the next time I'm there.

Anyway, I also pulled my old Walkman (a WM-EX508) out of storage, with the intent of cleaning out some battery leakage corrision (which luckily has proven to be purely cosmetic). What I discovered is that the belt stretched over the years, so it can't run any more. This thing uses a very odd belt -- about 60mm diameter, but 0.6mm square profile. </preamble>

There are two eBay sellers advertising the belt, one in Portugal, one in Slovakia. The Portuguese seller gives no info on the source, the Slovak vendor seems to specialize in Walkmans and says they're custom-manufactured for them. These are about $8 including shipping.

There are also a few non-eBay websites selling belts, but at outrageous prices ($12 for a belt and $30 priority international shipping, for something that can be mailed in a padded envelope for $3? Gimme a break!)

Does anyone here have any recommendations or warnings about any suppliers?

Thanks!

P.S. I emailed the official Sony parts distributor for Switzerland last week and still haven't heard back...

[Alex Nikitin]

I would go with the Slovakian source, he is a respected member of TapeHeads.net forum, very meticulous in his work and his belts (and other rubber parts for tape recorders he offers) are good.

Cheers

Alex

[tooki]

Cool, thanks Alex. I think I'll order from him, then. (And I'll check out that forum, too!)

[hayatepilot]

I've ordered some belts on this website before:
https://www.elektro-ersatzteile.eu/detail/index/sArticle/3001

Is this the belt you are looking for?

Greetings

[tooki]

I've ordered some belts on this website before:
https://www.elektro-ersatzteile.eu/detail/index/sArticle/3001

Is this the belt you are looking for?

Greetings

No. That looks like a regular 1-1.5mm square profile belt, not the thin 0.6mm one needed by the WM-EX508.

[hayatepilot]

It says it's for WM-EX50... maybe the picture is wrong.

https://www.elektro-ersatzteile.eu/detail/index/sArticle/13039

This one would fit your measurements of 60mm diameter and 0.6mm square.

[tooki]

Yeah it could be a generic picture.

Not sure why you keep coming back to the WM-EX50; I don't own that model.

The service manuals for the EX50 and my EX508 list different part numbers for the belts. But since they don't list dimensions, I can't tell whether they are interchangeable.

The 60x0.6x0.6 you listed looks promising, though.

[oldway]

We repair all kinds of K7 and walkman players in repair cafes and we generally find the right belts in this assortment.
These belts are of excellent quality.

https://repaircafe.org/en/

http://www.ebay.de/itm/80-Stuck-Rundriemen-Riemen-Sortiment-Riemensortiment-Riemenset-Industrie-Qualit-/222396232332?hash=item33c7d9328c:g:VHwAAOSwNnRYklUw

[tooki]

That belt assortment says the cross section of the included belts is 1.0-1.5mm; that's far too big. My Walkman uses 0.6mm square belt.

[BMack]

It's too bad you don't live in the US, you can probably get them from MCM and I might have one in stock. You can search for VCR belts to broaden the range a bit, I wish I was more familiar with retailers in Europe.

[tooki]

It's too bad you don't live in the US, you can probably get them from MCM and I might have one in stock. You can search for VCR belts to broaden the range a bit, I wish I was more familiar with retailers in Europe.

MCM? (Googling "MCM belts" just brought up fancy belts, the kind to hold trousers in place! )

The problem is that it's such a thin belt that the typical places simply do not have anything like them. I think I'm just gonna order from the Slovak guy on eBay, since he specializes in Walkmans and thus understands why it's got to be such a hair-thin belt!

[oldway]

That belt assortment says the cross section of the included belts is 1.0-1.5mm; that's far too big. My Walkman uses 0.6mm square belt.

I measured 0.95mm but extended, it is more or less 0.7
If there is room enough, that could fit....but I am not sure for your walkman.
Whe try and sometimes it works