I’ve recently bought a few LP’s that have had an undersized spindle hole.
I noticed Clearaudio had a special tool for resizing such problem holes but baulked at the £40 asking price. A quick trip to the Bezos Bazaar and for under £7 I sourced the drill bit (7.3mm as per Clearaudio LP Drill specs) and the wooden tool handle. Works a treat!
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I’ve been buying records for over forty years, and have never encountered an undersized spindle hole. Either I’m very lucky, or you’re very unlucky if you need one.
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Same here. First LP bought in 1977. Have had 3 LP’s this year where the spindle wouldn’t come through the hole. I can only think of one other in the previous 43 years …
It will depend on the turntable. Some have spindles that are very slightly oversized and so the odd LP with a slightly smaller hole roll cause problems.
As an example I have found the spindle on some Garrard 401s can be quite a tight fit with some LPs.
The way this discussion is opening I wonder how many will wonder if the record sounds better on a tight or loose spindle.? 
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Don’t be sceptical
Well, my Xerxes has a sprindle that can be removed once the LP is placed on the platter - it said to sound better this way, so I’d keep an open mind on this.
I do tend to agree with the looser fitting too.
As the record is supported by the mat to decouple it from the platter then I imagine a tight spindle might be a shortcut to the bearing.
Yeah, but only if you have a way of keeping the record centered. Any benefits from a loose fitting would be minor compared to the wow you’d get.
Many LPs are pressed very slightly off centre, so enlarging the spindle hole enables you to try to correct this. You then just mark the point on the circumference of the hole that should be closest to the spindle and an unplayable LP can become playable again. A fiddly and time consuming job though, but once it’s done it’s done.
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Interesting you find it an issue on your Xerxes @Richard.Dane as I use a Xerxes 20plus. When I tried to put the offending albums on the platter they refused to slide down and the removable spindle came away with the LP.
I believe decoupling the record from the centre spindle is a principle Touraj employs on the Vertere decks too.
I wouldn’t be using a drill to enlarge the hole in a record. It probably won’t be round, 7.3mm dia or concentric with the original hole.
I’d be using a reamer.
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I just use a small penknife for those rare new records with a tight fit (didn’t seem to occur with my older records) - insert, then one or two light turns of the blade, job done.
Seems to be a solution in search of a problem, lol.
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When in a branch of Asda recently I came across in their gardening dept a little wooden stick about 20mm diameter reducing to a point.
Ideal to ream out any small centre holes in LP records.
The things we do for our hobby!
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Likewise. If it’s a tight fit it’s usually only a thin piece left over where the two halves mould/stamper joins and a small sharp knife cleans it out nicely.
Actually, out of thousands of records, I have had 3 or 4 that had undersized holes, but certainly not enough to require a specialized tool. Perhaps your problem is you have a fat spindle. :hear_no_evi:scream:
One of the offending LP’s was the recent Rhino re-issue of “Heaven Up Here”. It literally took one rotation with the tool to get a snug fit and allow the removable spindle to come away.
What size should the hole in a record be? I’d be surprised if the size was metric, expecting it to be imperial. Quick Google suggests the spindle shaft is 9/32 of an inch.
I don’t know tbh. The blurb on the Clearaudio LP Drill states 7.3mm so I got a bit that size.
As I say, one revolution was all that was needed for a perfect fit.