Diy Tt

The AT/TT1 is off the drawing board

I started the idea a while back whilst looking for a decent TT, i realised that a lot of the major TT manufacturers use the same principle ie seperate motor and plinth.
So my project will be made as a proto-type useing my Linn Basik as a donor.
I have made the plinth and motor pod. The motor pod is made from 5 circular pieces of 18mm MDF to creat a tube. The motor will sit under the top plate with the pulley protruding.
The plinth is made from 3 pieces of MDF and 1 piece of ply. It is in a 'Y' shape, the arm will be at the extremety of the lony 'Y' leg and the bearing will sit at the join of the 3 legs.
The arm and bearing will be fitted to another piece of MDF that will sit along the top of the long 'Y' leg. The reason for the seperate arm/bearing plinth is to allow the use of different bearings and arms.
the motor pod will sit between the 2 shorter legs of the 'Y' and drive the sub-platter from there.
The middle 2 pieces of MDF in the lower plinth have had the majority of material removed by gratuitous use of a blunt hole saw, this is so the can be loaded with lead shot for damping, the motor pod will also have lead shot in the bottom.
All things being fair i am expecting this to be a reasonable improvement over the standard Basik configuration, if this proves to be the case then i shall start to source higher quality components to build a better TT. Im currently considering the Teres bearing, The Origin Live motor/controller and sourceing some 2 3/4 or 3 inch acrylic to have machined for a platter.

Any comments/ideas or general input welcome

PS, ill get some pics when i remember where i put my digi cam

 

Nice one .

Looking forwards to the pics.

 

well its no work of art, just a rough proto at the mo

 

It sounds good, although this is one DIY project I would most certainly get wrong! It sounds like you know what you're doing though.

Good luck.

 

squeezed 4 Kilo's of lead shot into the base last night, glued the bottom on and left it all clamped together.
Also got around 3/4 Kilo of lead into the motor pod.
As my wood work has to be done in the garden untill i get a new shed im hopeing the rain stops before tonight, i can then sort the arm/bearing board.
One slight cock-up, i was going to drill right through the lower plinth to bolt the arm/bearing board to it, kinda forgot that and hollowed out where the bolt needed to go and filled it with lead, so ill be working on an alternative mounting method
Also i wont be able to complete it fully as yet, i have no set-up scales or protracter for the arm, well not since i lent it to a workmate 5 years ago, and i havent seen him for 4.5 years

 

You can get a number of free protractors off the web just search for Free Protrator.

Most good hifi shops should be able to lend a balance or a fellow local to you. I'm just that bit to far away to make it !

Fiddled with the tuner yet ?

 

Hi Pete

I managed to find one of the free protracters, ill probably buy a force gauge as i forsee playing with TT a lot.
Not had chance with tuner yet, untill my new shed is delivered i have to do my wood work in the garden, so ive been makeing the most of the dry weather this week.
Got a week off next week so im hopeing to do it then, and also get a decent arial for it.
Thats inbetween decorateing the living room, finishing my flexy rack, building the valve phono stage and completeing the TT.
One day ill learn to tackle one project at a time

 

You'll have plenty of time to listen to music then ? [sic].

 

LoL
i guess thats why im doing it all (aprt from the decorating)

 

well the TT is finished, and probably the ugliest TT youll ever see.
Initially it was fairly pants, but some large blobs of blue-tak under neath and it came together.
Sonically it has more impact, space, presence, well more of all the good things, than the Linn Basik donor.
But its not brilliant, certainly better but no great move forward.
I feel that what is holding it back is the use of the motor and platter/bearing from the Linn, these are hardly quality components. I tried damping the platter (it rings like a cowbell!) with blue-tak, but the poor lil motor seems only capable of moving the standard wieght and no more.
So nest i need to source a decent platter/bearing and motor assembly, although first look shows this not to be cheap at all
I also think that it would be relativly easy to make a DIY clearaudio replica (cant remember the model, but the one with 2 plinths). But again this depends on the cost of material - namely 1" thick acrylic sheet.