arm rewire diy.

[the engine]

Just how difficult us rewiring a tonearm ?
And where to get the bits ?
And any reccomendations for a soldering kit ?
And what solder ?

That's it really. I fancy having a go.

Cheers in advance.

[chelsea]

Depends.
Did a helius last year(well my friend did).
Took us 4 hours.

Was using fairy wire off ebay to connect to AN/s cable.

Will be sending it to J7 soon.

[DSJR]

If you need to ask then please DON'T!

Some arms are easy to get into, butothers have hidden internal bits that can get dislodged. Any bearing dismantling can be a disaster if you're in the tiniest bit clumsy in the re-setting up. I've been there and done it so speak from experience.

Still, it's your call and you're going to do it regardless. At least get Johnnie's details (Audio Origami) so you can send the arm to him for a proper going over after the event :)

[YNWaN]

To be honest Ivor (nice avatar), your questions suggest that you are new to soldering and work of this type; if this is the case then re-wiring an arm is probably not the best place to start.

However, if you are determined then soldering irons can be bought from Maplins (among others) and Cardas (among others) sell suitable wire - all the bits you need can be found on eBay. One thing worth considering is that many people dismantle the bearing when changing cabling, but this is rarely necessary. With care, the old cable can be used to pull through the new. There is some distinctly fiddly soldering to do.

[walpurgis]

Never had a problem re-wiring arms myself.

Just needs a practical nature and common sense. Good silver solder, cartridge tags, litz OFC wiring, braid sleeving, screening and nice phono plugs, etc. are all available on eBay.

There are plenty of arm re-wiring/re-building guides on the net, just Google!

If you take an arm apart, do it over a tray as you may be surprised what bits fall out, Connoisseur arms drop little ball bearings for instance!

[synsei]

A steady hand is a must too which rules me out... :lol:

[prestonchipfryer]

and good eyesight (which excludes me).

[northwest]

and good eyesight (which excludes me).

Going to be a bit philosophic now, please excuse me.
I too have very poor eyesight nowadays. If anyone were to ask me what is the best thing I ever bought I would have to say "my glasses"! They are by far the most valuable thing I own. If you even suspect your eyesight is going, get your eyes checked.
They have given me a new lease of life. And I have been wearing glasses for a long while now!

sorry about the hijack.

[walpurgis]

Going to be a bit philosophic now, please excuse me.
I too have very poor eyesight nowadays. If anyone were to ask me what is the best thing I ever bought I would have to say "my glasses"! They are by far the most valuable thing I own. If you even suspect your eyesight is going, get your eyes checked.
They have given me a new lease of life. And I have been wearing glasses for a long while now!

sorry about the hijack.

My eyesight is terrible too these days. It was fine until I reached 40, since then its been downhill. I'm getting more longsighted, without specs this screen is a blur. (it is with glasses if I've had a couple of beers)

Good tip! I found a great way to improve my sight for driving. I ordered a pair of very weak 0.5 strength reading glasses from a chinese eBay seller. They work, I can see really well at distance and still read the sat-nav.

[Dingdong]

Just how difficult us rewiring a tonearm ?
And where to get the bits ?
And any reccomendations for a soldering kit ?
And what solder ?

That's it really. I fancy having a go.

Cheers in advance.

Which arm is it?

Have you any soldering experience?

How much are you wanting to spend?

You can go for some cheap stuff off ebay to Cardas or vdH up to Kondo depending on the money you want to spend.

[the engine]

Alphason xenon...no soldering experience...don't mind if it costs a bit.
Johnny ar origami is a star. But I would be so chuffed if I could acheive it.
He might well end up with it after my assault haha.

[synsei]

I like your philosophy Ivor. Even if you cock it up you will at least have learnt something from the experience ;)

[Dingdong]

Have a look were the wiring goes. If it's simple to thread through then it's a possibility.
Then maybe get yourself a soldering iron and some solder from Maplins. I'm sure they can advise you. Have a practice taking the cartridge tags off the existing wire and see if you do a neat job of putting them back on.

If that all goes well then find whichever wire you fancy and give it a go.

[Tony2112]

You can do it

I built my phono pre and amp from WAD kits and I loved it. The guys reckoned they did a build in a day..Took me over 30 hours, I've no idea how they could do it in so much less time or was it what they do? I rewired my RB250 and it was a brilliant Christmas present to me. Sounds great.

So I hope it works for you and you can pass on the positives to us all

[the engine]

Thanks for the encouragement.
It' got to be attempted then. A good soldering kit required then

[gthang]

If you decided to get inquisitive and take a small allen key to the Xenon's bearings, proceed with great care. Each of the 4 pivot points contain 5 of the smallest ball bearings you'll ever see.

[Pete The Cat]

If you want to practice soldering, and have children, you can make paper-clip people and animals for them.

Pete

[YNWaN]

My advice, learn to solder first. My first hand experience is that it's pretty easy, but many seem to find it a black art and I've seen a lot of genuinely awful soldering!

[DSJR]

I've seen a lot of genuinely awful soldering!

+1, and sometimes my own from yesteryear :rolleyes: I soon learned though and after years of inactivity with a soldering iron :eyebrows: I soon picked it up again...