New guy with an idea.

[Squiffything]

Hello to everyone. I’m new on here and this is my first post but I have had an idea and just wanted to share it to gauge the opinion of the collective cleverness of the forum. It may be that some of you have already tried this and have come across problems and solutions to the same. Anyhoo here we go.
The Project:
Hand built, organic turntable




Ingredients:
Base board – 500mm x 600mm x 200mm American Black Walnut Hardwood £50



Plinth stand - Mopani Bogwood x 3 pieces £50


Plinth – Olive wood rustic boards x 3 £45


Plinth feet – cones and supports x 3 £60


Turntable:
Thorens td 160 around £100


Tonearm - SME 3009 Series II around £200




SME Tonearm spacer £20

Glass Platter £20

The plan of action:
Firstly this will be a long, long running thread! Not so much because I ramble on but because of the time it will take me to get the parts I will need to start, process and finally complete the project. This will mainly be due to the financial downturn in the world’s economy, the deprivation of the populous and, not to put it too succinctly, I’m normally skint.
My aim is to build an organic looking turntable along the lines of those produced by a company in the States – Audiowood (http://www.audiowood.com)
Having seen the work of Joel Scilley (see the pictures at the beginning of this post) I decided that I would like to have a try at producing my own version.
Starting with the base you will see from the parts list that I have chosen to use American black walnut hardwood. Now I’m not a carpenter or furniture maker, jeez I have no experience in woodwork whatsoever, but I do have an honorary degree in “having a go”. If I like the look of something, and I really want to try something out, then not having the knowledge of how to do it shouldn’t stop me from finding out, asking questions from those that do know and having a go at it to see what happens. So my choice of wood may be wrong but if it works out then damn it’ll look good. My choice was made following a good look at furniture made from the stuff:


I love the dark, almost black finish that can be obtained after oiling and polishing. It may be that an alternative cheaper option may present itself in which case I may change my mind but at this planning stage it’s the choice I have come up with.
I will require two long planks. These will be cut in half and then all four pieces will be clamped and glued to give me a sheet that will measure out to over 600mm x 500mm and be at least 20mm thick. This sheet will then be cut to a final shape for the base board. It will be on this that the rest of the project will be built. The shape will not be uniform, no squares or rectangle here, but it will be finished in a smooth, shiny, glossy finish. Erm again I’m not really sure how I will get that said finish but I will look into it and work it out.
Next will be the plinth stand. This will be the most organic looking item and I have chosen Mopani Bogwood as the material I want to use. In the pictures above I have shown two pieces I have found as examples of the raw material I will be looking for but, as before, it will all depend on what I find, and what I can get, that will dictate the final outcome and look of the finished project.
The plinth stand will be cut so that it will have a thickness to measure up with the motor housing. This thickness will also include the height of the cones and the cone mats although the latter will probably be sunk into the baseboard. A separate piece of bogwood to make the motor housing will also be sunk into the baseboard and fixed into place to give rigidity. Keeping this as a separate piece should remove some of the motor vibration from affecting the turntable by isolating the two from each other.
On the plinth stand will sit the plinth. Into this and the plinth stand will sit the bearing for the turntable itself. Obviously this is going to take some careful measuring and planning but the theory is pretty straight forward. Also sitting on the plinth stand will be a second plinth to house the Tonearm. Depending on what size pieces of bogwood I can find will dictate if this will be on a separate plinth stand but my intention is to have one plinth stand and two separate plinths. Into the second plinth will be the SME Tonearm spacer. By rigid fixing this into the plinth it will allow the Tonearm itself to be removable for future maintenance.
The turntable will have a glass platter. Partly to give a heavy stable base for the vinyl to sit and partly to allow the form of the whole project to be seen. Something looking this good should not be masked.
Wiring will be sent through the Plinths and stand and out the bottom of the baseboard so that it exits underneath or at the back of the plinth stand. I hope to be able to keep the speed selector and power switch from the TD 160 and these will be fixed to the baseboard somewhere at the front.
I am also considering having a further piece of bogwood positioned within the design which will have hidden inside an Apple iPod lead and will be shaped to allow an iPhone/iPod to connect and play through the amp. I know, I know but it’s a way I can charge me phone up while I listen to my LP’s
Well that’s my plan. Please wade in with your thoughts, suggestions, comments or just your hello to a newbie on here

[Eoin]

Looks like a great idea. Keep the regular updates coming on this, plenty of people will be very interested.

[cats squirrel]

well, it may look good, but will it sound good?

[Squiffything]

well, it may look good, but will it sound good?

Hopefully yes but that's the point of posting on here for comments suggestions and advice to give it every chance of coming out the otherside looking and sounding pretty good.

I think the Thorens and SME combination should produce a reasonably good sound if the setup is good.

[Rob998]

Looks interesting mate, keep us updated!

[Squiffything]

Looks interesting mate, keep us updated!

Rob is that you? Every forum I visit (OK all three of them ) and you're already here. Think Hypermotard

How have ya been and are you still riding the Duke?

[Rob998]

Aye, 'tis I! I thought it was you Squiffy! Still got the 998, just waiting for the rain to stop so I can go and play on it.

In the meantime, I'm playing records!

[mickb69]

now that, is s**t hot!

[mickb69]

*this is amazing, ned flanders is automatically editing swearwords

[Squiffything]

*this is amazing, ned flanders is automatically editing swearwords

Thank goodness for that Mick I thought you were dissing my plans

[Squiffything]

Well since my first embryonic post things have progressed slightly.

I GOT WOOD!!!!

Now although the project is exciting me it’s not that exciting, I have my wife for that sort of thing. What I mean is I got me some wood. Feast your eyes on these little beauties:









The picture showing the hand is to give some idea of the size of the pieces I bought. I’m thinking this piece resembles the pile of mash from Close Encounters so you can guess what the first piece of music will be that’s going to be played when it all comes together

I have also bought me this:



For now this is going to be the base that everything else will stand on (Minus the legs). I intend to shape it to fit and blend into the shape of the Mopani wood. The cost and work involved to get the American Black Walnut to the same state was going to be too much at this stage and it's something that I can come back to at a later date.

I've also revised my turntable and tonearm thoughts. Whilst the Thorens TD160 and SME3009 would work well for sound the fitting would be almost impossible in this style. I've revised my thinking to a Rega Planer 3 with a RB300 arm The SME is not out of the window nor are other possibilities at this stage but it's a case of what I can find within, what is, a tight project budget.

I did make a call to Rega direct to have a chat with them and spoke to one of their long standing engineers who showed some interest in the project. Unfortunately he was unable to send me over their top of the range motor and tonearm for me to fit . Maybe when it's done they might see the advertising potential and retro fit parts for me

So now it's a case of finding the right Planer 3 and arm for the right price on the Bay of Evil.

[Squiffything]

I wonder if a Systemdek IIX and a Linn Basik LV X would work, Hmmmm....

Hang on a minute I'm getting ahead of myself. You're all wondering why I'm possibly suggesting this combination, well let me enlighten you.

Whilst on the phone to the 65 year old Hippie the other night, telling him about the plan and trying to direct him to this thread, he told me that he had an old turntable in his loft that I could play with and use if it would be any good. I had no idea what would be coming my way and to be honest he couldn't remember either. 40 years of mind changing magic mushrooms, peace, love and rock music will do that to you I guess OK I may be doing him a dis-service re the mushrooms but seven boys and a girl with two wives and a record collection to die for leaves me in no doubt about the other. And he always has a mystical glint in his eye when mushies are plopped in the pan for a fry-up on a Sunday morning...but i digress.

I called in to see him one evening this week and he showed me this:









'You can have that if you think it'll be any good' Wow I think I might be able to give it a go and having read a few posts on here it may be suitable and comparable with the Planer 3. I'm not sure about the Basik competing with the RB300 or the SME 3009 but it'll give me something to work with to begin with.

He also asked if I would like to have a go at sorting out an old Turntable he had lying around. 'It needs a bit of a clean-up and could do with a service and need a new cartridge and head. The lid is knackered but I doubt if you can find a new one now it's a little old.'

'OK I'll have a look around and see if it's worth it, What you got for me?'

He took me into his back room and pulled out this heap of junk:







I took them both home and after an evening of scrubbing and cleaning with a pair of me old underkecks (for some reason the wife would not let me use her silky knickers which would have been much more appropriate - this is not the first time that her refusal on this has occurred or even one of her bestest cleaning cloths), swishing around the fairy liquid and half a bottle of toilet bleach and the initial result made it look a little more presentable:







The next step is to find a reputable Hifi specialist to give it a good service and to find a suitable head and cartridge for the tonearm. I think it may also need a bit of string and bluetack to get it working

Then it's finding a suitable white jumpsuit and a bowler hat for the Hippie propping open his eyelids and plugging him in and I can then give it back to him to play his LP's once more. (OK before the "to be absolutely correct" brigade jump on me I know it's a Saturn and not a Reference and Mr McDowell used the latter in the movie but I was using a bit of poetic licence to pad out the humour side to the story )

Anyhoo what's the collectives view on the Systemdek and Basik combination for the project? Any suggestions or comments on the potential problems I may be facing ahead of me?

[Squiffything]

A productive morning down in the shed, carefully taking apart and cleaning the Systemdek. Having opened her up and checking over all the components it appears that the workings will do nicely for what I have in mind.

The sub-platter is sprung and has come away in one ready to use section. Secured onto this is the mounting board for the tonearm.



I'm wanting to keep the tonearm separate from the sub-platter board so this will probably be removed. The Linn housing ring will be used as it will allow the adjustment of the arm when in situe.



I'm pleased the electronics have all come out in one section so this will be used and threaded into the final design.



The motor will be kept seperate from the sub-platter section and will be isolated to keep any vibration from affecting the sound.



Two screws and the locating lug will hold it in place.

The switch will be used and located in a position that will hide it from view but it's pretty plain and simple in design.



Finally the circuit board is small and thin so again should be easy to fit into the final design.



Just got to wait for the wood to arrive so that I can see how it will lay and how the innards will fit. Then it's the woodwork side to, hopefully, get beauty to come out of nature. I can't wait.

[Eoin]

You don't want the arm to be separate from a suspended sub platter. There needs to be a fixed relationship between the bearing/platter and the arm mount.