My First "Techie" - well part of it!

[Qwin]

Bought my first piece of a sl-1200 mkII today - The Top Plate.
Guess I'm building it like Johnny Cash "One Piece at a time".

Its in the post, a grubby but intact top plate off eBay. I will be taking the angle grinder to it shortly!

My plan is to build a custom plynth using the basic alloy die casting and back it up with a mix of sand and fibreglass resin. I used this technique on a mkI Dual 505 many years ago, filling the hollow plastic suround this way.
Afterwords it was very heavy, rigid and had all of the plasticy ring taken out of it, sound from the deck improved greatly. I used a lot of sand and only enough resin to bind the granuales - it sets like stone. Too much resin and the sand sinks to the bottom leaving pure resin on the top. Bit like over wet over tampped concrete in that respect. The damping properties are not as good with too much resin added either.

I'm looking for a complete working deck and will be bidding on several as they come up, may get lucky with one. I will transfer components over to the customised job when it is ready.

It will have an external PSU and no buttons, slidders or lights whatsoever on the deck. The pocket for the Tranny will be cut off as it protrudes quite deep. I will reduce the width of the deck cutting up through the pitch fader. this will reduce some of the weight at the right hand side, removing the tranny pocket will add weight to the rear left. The heavy sand/resin mix needs a better distribution of weight or any complient feet used will see huge differences in load and subsiquent compression - It will lean badly.

The tone arm hole will be filled and 3 female threaded inserts set into the cast base, ready to take a "Terminator" linear arm when I can afford one.
My sketch pad is full of ideas ready to try out on the sacrificial toplate, I can't wait to get stuck in.
I will document progress and post it as I go, with the full story available on my website.

[Qwin]

Well I made a start on the top plate. Here it is, as purchased off fleabay.
The brown stains are Curry!



I also fell lucky for a complete deck, quite local to me. Ex DJ so a lot of use/abuse but the Bearing seems ok, platter runs true and it had a recent new arm.



I'm enjoying listening to the deck for the time being, till the Modded top is ready at least. Its nice to be able to swap headshells and adjust VTA and Anti skate on the fly, I've never had that luxury. My first impretions of the Techie are that the presentation is a bit bright, I replaced the DJ slip mat with a cork mat and things improved slightly. I set it up initially with an Ortofon 2m Red, I changed this to my trusted Goldring 1042 and the presentation improved. I changed the cartridge alignment from Lofgren "A" to the Technics specific Baerwald alignment found on Vinyl Engine. This made a big difference. A bit of tuning by ear of the VTA and anti skate and it is now sounding very nice indeed.

Ah well, back to the angle grinder!

[jostber]

Sounds like an interesting modding project where many things can be tested and discovered. Keep us posted.

[Tarzan]

Very interesting post Ken- do keep us posted with piccies of course

[Qwin]

Here is an update shot, you can see how the Top Plate is shaping up.



I've also been playing around with some ideas on bearing mods.



More to come on this, but I will post the bearing related stuff into the existing thread on DIY Bearing Mods. I'll post the whole thing there when done, keeps it all tidy and easy to find.

By the way Marco I also found the cork mat sapped all the energy and went to a felt mat, much better.

[Tarzan]

Top work there Ken, keep 'em coming.

[Wakefield Turntables]

Ken,

Do you intend to add any internal regulation mods? If so some of the mods you have made to the chassis are going to prohibit this modification.

Andy

[Qwin]

Andy - Yes, I realized there would be an issue as some of the regulators make use of the Transformer well etc. I plan on using the KAB external PSU and internal regulator which sits in the same spot as the standard item. I removed the cable entry point features to increase clearance, as I noticed the underside of the KAB circuit board runs pretty close to these (Photo on his site). I can't really afford some of the more exotic PSU/Regulator options available and with my very basic electrical knowledge, decideded this ready made soloution and its price point fitted the bill. I think you also have to consider just how much you want to spend on this modest little deck?
The laws of deminishing returns etc. So I am balancing price/improvements with a keen eye. I hope to improve the deck substantially over standard but know from the start, I will not be going for the ultimate that is achievable for every component. Hopefully I will achieve a good balance of performance levels with no one area recieving to much attention and drain on the overall budget.

I have also fixed the type of arm to be used. This deck will only accomodate a Trans-Fi "Terminator" linear tracking arm, no other.

Thanks for spotting and raising that issue, this is my first Technics and I don't want to make an obvious blunder, so any guidence is well received.

[Wakefield Turntables]

No worries mate I can understand your development cycle. How are you modifying the rubber plinth? I only ask because I have been planning an alternate plinth for ages and still not got round to doing anything about it

[jagdesign]

Looking good Ken, look forward to seeing more on your bearing mod!