Incompetent turntable fettling

[ReggieB]

A few months ago I bought an AT1010 from Phonomac and after lots of faffing over the last couple of weeks I've finally started work on fitting it to my Linn LP12. As well as the arm, I also invested in a Vinyl Adventure Corvette tonearm cable. Though things were progressing slowly, they were going well .... until I got to drilling holes in the arm board.

I bought a beam compass to help with the marking out, and that worked a treat.


But then I foolishly decided to drill the armboard without first drilling a pilot hole. The result was a snapped arm board



Vinyl Passion were great in supplying the blank arm board - but I didn't trust myself to try drilling another. So after a bit of a search, I found a supplier that would supply a board pre-cut for the AT-1010 (Konne). It arrived today.



I was all set to fit it .... until I realised I didn't have the right screws to attach the arm collar to the board. I was hoping Screwfix would have something suitable, but no. Back to ebay for some counter sunk stainless bolts - they should arrive Wednesday.

I was hoping to get the arm fitted this weekend, but it's going to be next weekend. It's slow progress, but I have to admit that I'm enjoying myself, and I'm so looking forward to hearing the end results.

[Ian7633]

I feel your pain, my other name is Sausage Fingers

[karma67]

these things happen,at least your not frightened to have a go,its the best way to learn imo,all be it sometimes expensive.
ive got a PMAT-1010 coming so i will be interested in how you like it.

[Jimbo]

Love the title of the post. I would be just as inept!

[YNWaN]

It looks like the first armboard was acrylic which is more brittle than people often appreciate. It’s not so much that you needed a pilot hole as you need a sharp drill (or forstner bit), not a spade bit as you may use for wood) and a gentle drilling pressure with the acrylic backed by a bit of waste wood to stop cracking as the drill goes through the last bit. The second armboard looks like an acrylic/stone mix like Corian or Hi-Macs. This is significantly heavier than acrylic, but is also a lot stronger and less likely to crack.

Edit: it could be Staron too but all these silica/acrylic composites are very similar.

More editing: looking at the two armboard the position of the arm mounting hole appear to be in very different positions with the new one being much more toward the edge....?

[ReggieB]

Yes it is Corian. And yes, the positions are different. In fact I think off centre will be better as it will keep the arm connection away from the cross piece in the corner of the base.

[Fiddlefye]

It looks like the first armboard was acrylic which is more brittle than people often appreciate. It’s not so much that you needed a pilot hole as you need a sharp drill (or forstner bit), not a spade bit as you may use for wood) and a gentle drilling pressure with the acrylic backed by a bit of waste wood to stop cracking as the drill goes through the last bit. The second armboard looks like an acrylic/stone mix like Corian or Hi-Macs. This is significantly heavier than acrylic, but is also a lot stronger and less likely to crack.

Edit: it could be Staron too but all these silica/acrylic composites are very similar.

More editing: looking at the two armboard the position of the arm mounting hole appear to be in very different positions with the new one being much more toward the edge....?

For drilling these materials I like to clamp a bit of sacrificial plywood or something underneath to give support. Better safe than sorry!

[ReggieB]

For drilling these materials I like to clamp a bit of sacrificial plywood or something underneath to give support. Better safe than sorry!

I think there are many better ways of doing it, than the way I tried. Clamping would have been good. A pilot hole would have been better.

For those interested in this on going saga:

I've been working more on the amplifier side of things recently. I've struggled with a hum that would go for a while and then reappear. I tried a different cartridge (OC9ML/II), playing around with cable and PSU placement, and finally an alternative phono amp. The latter has fixed it, so it looks like the Firebottle phono amp is to go.

I think the Firebottle has a sweeter sound than the Emotiva XPS-1 (brought from Struth of these precincts) I have in place now, but the hum is just too draining. I've come to the conclusion that the Firebottle just doesn't suit my system. Alan's had the amp back and could find no fault in it, so it must just be a compatibility issue.

Also I've recently, added a Audio Technica AT630 (from that Sherwood sold here) and am very pleased with the result. So I think the next step is probably a better SUT. I'll also get the Hana SL back in for a while to see how that works with the Emotiva/AT630 combination.

I still want to replace the plinth, but I will probably wait until I've finished my experiments on the amp side of thing.

So still fettling .... incompetently ... it's the only way I know.

[Bigman80]

A few months ago I bought an AT1010 from Phonomac and after lots of faffing over the last couple of weeks I've finally started work on fitting it to my Linn LP12. As well as the arm, I also invested in a Vinyl Adventure Corvette tonearm cable. Though things were progressing slowly, they were going well .... until I got to drilling holes in the arm board.

I bought a beam compass to help with the marking out, and that worked a treat.


But then I foolishly decided to drill the armboard without first drilling a pilot hole. The result was a snapped arm board



Vinyl Passion were great in supplying the blank arm board - but I didn't trust myself to try drilling another. So after a bit of a search, I found a supplier that would supply a board pre-cut for the AT-1010 (Konne). It arrived today.



I was all set to fit it .... until I realised I didn't have the right screws to attach the arm collar to the board. I was hoping Screwfix would have something suitable, but no. Back to ebay for some counter sunk stainless bolts - they should arrive Wednesday.

I was hoping to get the arm fitted this weekend, but it's going to be next weekend. It's slow progress, but I have to admit that I'm enjoying myself, and I'm so looking forward to hearing the end results.

Did you go for a Phonomac fettled one or is it standard?



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[ReggieB]

Phonomac fettled