Building high-end 'tables cheap at Home Despot II

Problem # 2 may be that your lift mechanism is interfering with the tonearm. Check to see if the flat part that supports your arm is not bent upward. I am not sure if this is the case for number 1 but the notches that set the speeds i.e the 33 45 78 and 16 on mine can be shifted slightly by loosening the screws that hold them in place.
Harry

Lewn, I am using a LOMC, a Denon DL304 with an stated ouput of 0.18 mv on my L78. It feeds into an Denon SUT and I hear no rumble. My plinth is a layered one but not super heavy. I have not direct coupled but have damped the metal. I have greased the bottom and lightly oiled the sides of the bearing but have not touched the motor. Extraneous bits of metal and plastic have been removed from the workings and the springs have been replaced with elastics. One day I may get to the remaining tweaks. Or maybe not. I am really enjoying the music I get from my system now.
Harry

Another idler wheel turntable to look out for. I recently purchased a McCurdy Turntable (pictures at http://www.tamminen.ca/mccurdy/).

The story behind it, as I was told it, is that these turntables were used by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) from the 50s to the 80s and then were disposed of. Someone took this one home and built a base for it. It is a heavy base although not a layered one. The platter is aluminum and not as heavy as the one on my Lenco. The idler wheel is still supple and the motor is large, heavy and quiet. I cleaned the bearing apparatus and found that the platter spins very smoothly. I removed the old Shure arm which was not in great shape and replaced it with a Sony arm which I believe came from an old Sony PS 2250 turntable. As you can see by the pictures, it took some adjusting to get the geometry correct. I tried a Denon DL103 cartridge but could not get rid of the hum so I installed a Shure M97HE and added a ground wire. It is now quiet and so far, (one evening's listening) it sounds great.

I am going to give it a couple of weeks as is and then consider all the "Lenco Tweaks" for it. When I get into again, I'll take pictures of the motor and the underside of the metal plinth which by the way is a 1/4" thick piece of steel (I think). If anyone has any more information on this turntable, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Harry

Paul, the pivot to spindle distance is 223 mm. I used the template from EnjoyTheMusic.com to set the null points. That is why the arm board looks the way it does. I drilled out the hole and adjusted the position of the arm board. Eventually after a trial period I will produce a better looking armboard or will go the route of building a layered plinth. So far I am not hearing any rumble at normal listening levels even with my ear right up to the speaker.

Mario, the turntable is actually mounted on large closed box. My pictures give the wrong impression. So I cannot disengage the idler wheel from the bottom. The motor/idler wheel does make more noise when standing up close to the turntable than my Lenco. This probably because of the large box which acts like an resonator. I have not damped anything yet. That noise does not seem to show up through the speakers.

Thanks for the interest and Jean, thanks for the inspiration for all things idler.

Harry

Hi Paul,

I checked my measurements again and got the same 223 mm pivot to spindle distance. The arm has a length of approximately 250 mm from the pivot to the front centre of the headshell. The tip of the stylus is about 8 mm back from the front of the headshell which gives me about 18 mm overhang. I had no instructions with the arm so I just used the template to try to get a good fit. I assume that the same overhang can be obtained by changing both the stylus position and the pivot to spindle distance. So far the set up sounds pretty good.

Harry