JRC wrote:mosin wrote:Currently playing Rek-O-Kut... $75 US
Hi mosin, thats a new one on me (Rek-o-kut), thought i had seen them all
Just googled it though, and it looks very interesting, which model ? would it be the one with the onyx motor stand ?
JRC and Blue,
The one JRC saw must be some new one made by the company that now owns the name. Mine is a clunky looking old model from the late 1950's called the N-33H. It was generally sold without a plinth at all. Some of them were even sold as kits, but with a different model number. In any event, mine is a single speed, and I am running it with a thread, rather than a belt. It is rugged in that it has an oil bearing with a ½" shaft, roughly 14 mm in world-speak.
The platter is adequate, as well.The Rek-O-Kut turntable was produced by the US maker of cutting lathes many years ago. First, they made a lot of idler types, and later they made some belt driven ones. Those were like the US built Empire turntable, but less glitzy looking. Along with a few of their idler models, those models used the Papst Ausenlaufer motor, also known as the "Electric Flywheel" motor. Some Thorens models used the same motor. Anyway, this wonderful German motor from 195? is a true eddy current three phase design, but all the makers employed a large capacitor in their designs, so that the motor would run on single phase power. Although it was still a very good implementation, it fell considerably short of the possibilities.
Jump to the present day...
Mark Kelly, an Australian engineer, is currently working on circuitry to generate new three phase power for the Papst with three small Tripath chip based stereo amplifiers. This regenerated power will be controlled by a precision frequency oscillator called an OXCO. It has an onboard heater to prevent variance, so it is commonly referred to as an oven controlled oscillator. Anyway, it is the key component of a PCB that feeds the amps which in turn power the motor. The OCXO can be GPS regulated, and the end result will be a motor speed accuracy of one part per trillion. All this will be user maintained on an LCD screen that is to be run by a microprocessor programmed specifically for the application. The user will be able to select speeds, fine tune pitch, etc. Even the possibility of running the turntable on batteries is within reach. It promises to be the tightest controlled power supply for a turntable ever made. My part in the project, along with raygunn's, is to help with the R&D funds by providing money for parts, and by building a pair of turntables that use the circuitry. They will be string driven, or tape driven, although an idler one would be a possibility.
mosin
Replacement belt came from spares...
Makes it a real nice bargin though