DIY turntable

Thought you might be interested in my deck.It weighs 200 kilos and the chasis is made from lead,crushed granite and slate mixed into epoxy resin. The platter is steel and PVC laminated and bolted together.this weighs 38 kilos.The bearing is 40mm diameter and of inverted design.The motor is a 24v dc skewed armature design housed in a massive casing,this drives a 10 kilo flywheel at 600rpm which then drives the platter.The arm tube is made from a single piece of aluminium housed in a giant bearing housing.

Mike

[murray johnson]

Hi Mike,

This looks very serious and, I imagine, is quite reluctant to slow down! What did you do for materials where the weight of the platter acts down on the top of the shaft? I understand you have to have one hard material acting against a softer one or they'll chew each other up. I was looking at a big Kuzma TT recently where part of the bearing was a ruby.

Normally you'd expect 38 KG rotating to be enough. What does the flywheel add soundwise?

rgs

Murray

Hello Murray.

The point contact of the bearing was in fact my biggest headache with the design and 38kilos pressure was too much for many materials.I ended up using a tungsten carbide ball resting on a bronze pad.This may sound a strange combination,but it does in fact work very well.The fly wheel made a tremendous difference to the sound and was well worth the effort to make it.Sound wise,the deck has amazing detail retrieval,and the recording environment can easily be heard.The sound has power and authority, lacking in congestion. All the instruments are separated out,which gives a great sense of scale.The deck evolved over 42 months and the picture you see is the end result of making many,many parts and listening to them all.Nothing was taken for granted and if a part did not sound right I did not use it.

Regards. Mike

[purplepleaser]

Hi Mike

Welcome to the Wigwam.



Lee

[murray johnson]

I'm sure it sounds very impressive and would very much like to hear it one day. It reminds me of this Greek TT based on a high mass design called the AAS Gabriel which uses contra acting magnets to lift the heavy platter. I'm not sure about that idea (better for wear etc perhaps, Verdier also do it) but I do like the high speed flywheel principle. As long as you don't lean on it by accident!

http://aca.gr/paper37.htm

actually, looking at the weights & speeds involved yours makes his seem a bit weedy!

[earl of sodbury]

Holy Guacamole that is one serious piece of engineering, Mike.

Are you planning on marketing it?

And in a world of low-mass tonearms, yours certainly steps forward from the crowd - what are the pros and cons of such a design?

churz, eofs

Thanks for your comment.

I have spent many years designing tonearms.I originally designed the Zeta and Mission Mechanic during the mid 80's.This arm is the result of many hours of design and listening tests,and the mass does make a massive difference to the sound.The deck is not intended for marketing,just a one off made for myself.It would be very expensive to manufacture and could only be made in limited quantities.

Regards Mike

[earl of sodbury]

darkenergy777 wrote:

Thanks for your comment.

I have spent many years designing tonearms.I originally designed the Zeta and Mission Mechanic during the mid 80's.This arm is the result of many hours of design and listening tests,and the mass does make a massive difference to the sound.The deck is not intended for marketing,just a one off made for myself.It would be very expensive to manufacture and could only be made in limited quantities.

Regards Mike

Thanks,it's a damned impressive looking piece of kit, and I've no doubt its sonic ability is commensurate

churz, eofs

[murray johnson]

I remember the Zeta well. In the days before the SMEV the Zeta or perhaps the Helius Orion were the arms to have. What happened to GB Tools? Did you just retire?

[Ant]

One of the hifi mags atated that the Mechanic was the best tonearm they'd ever heard

I am not sure what happened to G&B,but they made them for a long time after I left.

Mike

[Dave W]

I saw this turntable in this thread here :- http://www.pixalo.com/community/gene...hifi-8348.html which in turn had refs to this site

Must say not only is Mike an excellent engineer, but also takes a mean Mono photograph ....I'm not jealous...I'm not jealous ;)

darkenergy777 wrote:

Thought you might be interested in my deck.It weighs 200 kilos and the chasis is made from lead,crushed granite and slate mixed into epoxy resin. The platter is steel and PVC laminated and bolted together.this weighs 38 kilos.The bearing is 40mm diameter and of inverted design.The motor is a 24v dc skewed armature design housed in a massive casing,this drives a 10 kilo flywheel at 600rpm which then drives the platter.The arm tube is made from a single piece of aluminium housed in a giant bearing housing.

Mike

amazing :shocked:

[thrunobulax]

Hi Mike, superb work.

I believe in mass in t/t`s, just wish i a lathe big enough to spin 12", been wanting to make a s/steel platter for a while now.

[audioorigami]

hi darkenergy



looks fantastic well done

wish we could have somebigger pics



arm looks very nice was that cast?

the stylis looks as thou its under the vertical bearing axis quite a lot?...is this the case...does this add any problems?



best wishes of the new year

j7

[GJO]

That must have taken quite a few hours to make,very impressive engineering and no I don't want one,honest !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[i_should_coco]

That is just awesome - fabulous engineering.

[Kiang]

awesome work

[thrunobulax]

darkenergy777 wrote:

this drives a 10 kilo flywheel at 600rpm which then drives the platter.
Mike

Hi, would you mind telling me what your flywheel is constructed from to give it a 10k weight ? and what kind of bearing it spins on ?

[Captain Beardy]

BLOODY STUPENDOUS WORK !!!

It looks the muts nuts ,Mike,.. but I'd love to hear it in action !

Did you do the machine work on all of it ?

I thought I was doing well with a turntable that is still in progress,( well sort-of anyway ),..It weighs four stones and is about 65 % finished and is constructed
mainly from scrap metal ( Pics below ),.. But I can't compete with 200Kgs !!!