Scratch build turntable

[Audio Al]

Hi

Over the next 6 / 12 months I am going to build a turntable ( Project )

I want to be able to build a quality TT from the ground up , so am looking for Ideas on what s best to use ( I am on a budget )

I will also be looking to accumulate related items, like 33 1/3 rpm motor , best type of bearing to use , compatible platter type and materiel ,

Best recommended stand / mount / plinth design / materials to use ?

Also want to make my own arm as well :D

Any wild design ideas would be great , I have a lathe , pillar drill , woodworking tolls etc so the construction should be OK

I have a few ideas floating around in the gray matter :mental:

So any thoughts from the forum members would be most welcome

[shane]

Belt drive, direct drive or idler?

If you want an off-the-wall idea for the arm, how about a nicely engineered re-creation of the Garrard Zero-100 idea?

[rusty bearing]

:popcorn:

[Audio Al]

Belt drive, direct drive or idler?

Whatever is the best and most affordable , any suggestions ?

Thanks :)

[The Grand Wazoo]

It's a pretty fundamental question really, as it will define your choice of motor, will it not? Have you cast your eye around to see what's available?

[Audio Al]

Have you cast your eye around to see what's available?

Hi Chris , I am relatively new to Hi Fi ,
I am aware of direct drive as I have a Technics 1200 ,
also aware of belt drive have a old AKAI ,
Not aware of idler drive ? or is that the Garrard 301 drive type ?

Is one far superior to the others or is it personal choice ?

Thanks for the reply

[The Grand Wazoo]

Is one far superior to the others or is it personal choice ?

I think you'll find mixed opinions on that score, though the majority of members of this forum are perhaps liable to lean one particular way (actually....there's no perhaps about it!)


Not aware of idler drive ? or is that the Garrard 301 drive type ?

Yes, the Garrard is an idler.

[Audio Al]

the majority of members of this forum are perhaps liable to lean one particular way

So is it , left , right, forward, or backwards ? :)

" Direct drive ? "

[Dingdong]

I think direct drive would be difficult to make from new unless you steal a motor and drive circuit from somewhere else (tech 1210 for example).
If I wanted to make all the bits of a turntable from scratch I'd go with a high mass platter belt drive and experiment with belt materials. From rubber to nylon thread and maybe even 1/4" tape. Balancing the platter and getting the bearing right are going to be very important.
Motors are easily available. You'll just need to get the gubbins (can't think of name, maybe pulley wheel) at the right diameter. Although using a dc motor might give you a bit of leeway on the diameter. You'd just need an accurate controller, sort of like the origin live stuff.
Making a unipivot arm should be simple and will probably work well.

[YNWaN]

Is one far superior to the others or is it personal choice ?

I have studied all the turntable drive methods and (despite what others may like to believe) it is very much swings and roundabouts, there are positive and negative aspects to all the drive solutions (even DC or AC motor choice is one of balancing contrasting strengths and issues). The fact is that all drive methods can be made to work well - equally, all can be easily compromised. With turntables, a great deal depends on the specific implementation rather than just global theory.

[sq225917]

What that man said. it's not what you use it's how you use it.

[Reid Malenfant]

What that man said. it's not what you use it's how you use it.
Well Mark is your friend after all...

Actually I'd say it's not what you use, it's what you power it with that matters ;)

While a direct drive can always be pretty good as it is fed off of a regulated DC supply, an idler drive (which tend to have fairly high mass) would or at least should sound better fed from an accurate 50HZ source, rather than the mains, which is all over the place frequency wise in all honesty.


As for belt drives, some are powered by AC motors, others by DC motors :rolleyes:

At the end of the day, you pays your money & takes your choice.


I must admit to believing that a high mass platter should lead to better speed stability all things being equal.

But they often aren't :doh: Speed stability is only a bit of the story....

[Marco]

I have studied all the turntable drive methods and (despite what others may like to believe) it is very much swings and roundabouts, there are positive and negative aspects to all the drive solutions (even DC or AC motor choice is one of balancing contrasting strengths and issues). The fact is that all drive methods can be made to work well - equally, all can be easily compromised. With turntables, a great deal depends on the specific implementation rather than just global theory.

Agreed (with bells on) :)

Al, my advice is simply to follow your heart!

Marco.

[shane]

If you can get hold of a direct drive motor such as the one used in the Dual 701, then your motor and bearing are in one lump, all you have to do is mount it on something. That of course means that you're stuck with the bearing fitted. In the case of the Dual, no bad thing, but there aren't many of them around.

I had a couple of goes at building idler drive turntables using an old Akai 4000DS motor and the platter and bearing from a Heybrook TT2. They sounded brilliant, way better than my stock TT2, but without any good machining facilities I couldn't get rid of the rumble from the cobbled-up idler wheel and it's bearing, so I modified the slate one to accept a Dual motor. It lost some of the magic of the idler, but it's wonderfully quiet. If you're interested, I did a write-up om each on the WD forum:

http://www.world-designs.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=646&highlight=homebrew

http://www.world-designs.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=1894


Belt drive probably gives you the most scope for exploring your own ideas, but it's hard to get the same sort of performance in terms of getting the slam and imaging out of your records.

Have fun. I've been fooling around with vinyl for 35 years and haven't got fed up with it yet.

[YNWaN]

High mass platters (or any kind of platter mass), must be balanced (no pun intended), against bearing drag, belt compliance, motor torque and the motors torque delivery curve etc. - high mass, in itself, is no guarantee of performance.

[YNWaN]

Actually I'd say it's not what you use, it's what you power it with that matters ;)

It is indeed one of the factors that matter, but is not THE factor that matters; there is no individual factor that matters above all others. All aspects of design are important - any system is only as strong as its weakest link.

Any way, it's not 'what' you power it with that matters, but how that power supply interacts with the other elements of the circuit, be it the control circuitry, bearing drag, losses in the drive system, friction, voltage and current variations etc.

[Tarzan]

Hi

Over the next 6 / 12 months I am going to build a turntable ( Project )

I want to be able to build a quality TT from the ground up , so am looking for Ideas on what s best to use ( I am on a budget )

I will also be looking to accumulate related items, like 33 1/3 rpm motor , best type of bearing to use , compatible platter type and materiel ,

Best recommended stand / mount / plinth design / materials to use ?

Also want to make my own arm as well :D

Any wild design ideas would be great , I have a lathe , pillar drill , woodworking tolls etc so the construction should be OK






I have a few ideas floating around in the gray matter :mental:

So any thoughts from the forum members would be most welcome


How about using Brussel Sprouts for the Turntable Plinth Al?

[synsei]

How about using Brussel Sprouts for the Turntable Plinth Al?

The damping should be good although the resulting wind might blow the arm about a little... :eyebrows:

[RobbieGong]

The damping should be good although the resulting wind might blow the arm about a little... :eyebrows:

:lol: And 'cause a fair amount of 'hum' :lol: