I NEED A 16 INCH CORK TURNTABLE MAT


I HAVE BEEN LOOKING EVERYWHERE FOR A 16 INCH CORK TURNTABLE MAT.....DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE I CAN BUY ONE ???       THANKS

autospec

@yogiboy 1+ You get cork in a roll. Relax it under books for a month or so then mount it between two 14" squares of 1/2 or 3/4" plywood. Use a wood screw at each corner 1" in. Drill a 1/8" hole near dead center then use a circle cutting guide for a router set at 11.5" and a carbide down cutting spiral bit. Cork is very friable. If you try to cut it naked it will flake apart at the edge. Once you have made the cut take the cork out and treat the edge immediately with thin Cyanoacrylate glue. Loctite Red applicator from Home Depot will do fine. I forgot to mention, before you take the cork out of the assembly take a 7.2 drill (Mcmaster Carr) and using the previous hole as a guide drill the hole out to spindle size. Good luck. If you have any problems feel free to message me and be careful. Routers can bite. If you do not know how to use one find someone who does. 

Reading Mijostyn’s instructions, I am reminded of Senior Wences from the old Ed Sullivan show: “Easy for you. Difficult for me.”

There is an outfit from Portugal that sells a cork/rubber 16" mat, die cut, for around 25.00 US plus shipping. They claim that they will do other versions. Might be worth contacting them. They are on E-Bay. 

Senor Wences, with a curl over the "N".  Not "senior".  Was having a senior moment.

Enter this eBay item number into the search bar.

125716340248

 

16" (406.4mm) Cork and Nitrile (NBR) Rubber Turntable Mat 1.5mm Thick

Transcription table....I’ve got some old 16" dia. discs bought @ a Habitat auction, ’just because’... *S*

@mijostyn , 👍, great DIY hack, but I’d treat the center hole after counter-boring as well.....
....and 18" squares will yield a 16" dia. disc kinda betta... ;) 🙄

...and the ’lazy’ daemon on my shoulder *yawns* and sez "eBay....40$ + customs v. all that f’n ’round...🤨."

@kingsleuy ...sharp eyes, guy....;) *G*  But 1.5 mil is 'thin'...*whew*

@asvjerry , Da. 16" is right. OP must be refurbishing an old broadcast table. And, treating the spindle hole with Loctite also a good idea. 18" fine also.

@autospec , I just thought of another way to do this that is much less intensive. Get the cork roll and the 7.2 drill. Somewhere near the center of the cork place the cork between two flat pieces of wood and drill your spindle hole. Treat it with Loctite. Get spray contact cement (Home Depot). Clean the surface of the platter with brake cleaning fluid. You will want to mask the platter. Spray the surface of the platter and one side of the cork with the cement. Let it dry for three minutes. Gently bend the cork into a "U" shape with the spindle hole directly in the center. Place it over the spindle hole and roll down one side at a time being careful not to leave any air bubbles. Trim the cork so it overhangs the platter by around 1". Now comes the tricky part. Use a piece of wood as a bridge, a two by four about three feet long will do. Place the ends of the wood on stacks of books or bricks or whatever is handy so that the wood hovers over the platter. This is to brace your hand. Take an Exacto knife with an 11 blade (the pointed one) and holding it like a pen place your wrist on the bridge and turn the table on, it's slowest speed. Lower the tip of the knife into the cork at the right diameter keeping it oriented on the tangent or it will skate one way or the other. Press down firmly and let the platter take a few revolutions. Peel the excess cork away. You can clean any glue off with a rag and lacquer thinner. 

@mijostyn ...+33 1/3... ;)  A bit less 'tool-intensive' for Plan B...since I've been over-exposed to 'tool newbies' (that claimed they weren't...😣..."Screw won't go in....*switch cordless driver to drive*....oh...."), I don't assume anything anymore....

Routers are an acquired taste 'n talent that bite and hard to those unclued....plunge cuts into curves needing to start 'n go anti-clockwise Firmly....and ready for the last angry inch....*L*

It was interesting getting some back-story on broadcast/transcription discs and tables when I bid on those won....used well into the '60s', the discs themselves being very touchy to clean/restore...commercials, music and shows you've never heard of....

I assume the time period for the demise of the format gave rise to the availability of the tables, and why many were still in decent shape.

Unless they got tossed into dumpsters, more likely the fate of the times.

One thought, tho'....contact cement is very permanent very fast, an option from art/craft shops is 3M repositionable spray both cork and platter.
Allows for the 'less surgical hands'.

Mask the spindle as well as just the edge of the platter; use scissors to cut off the bulk of the cork 'drops', leaving an inch or less to trim....*S*

....I 'do the fiddley bits' a lot, revamping the innocent driver into a Walsh mutant.

"I can fix anything but broken hearts....that's because friends don't want me about them with anything sharp...." ;) 😏

....of course, this all assumes that you don’t want to ’slip cue’....a whole different animal ’n genre’.... ;)

Then....you’ll want to....

*L*

You could use a 12" cork mat and go with the 2" record overhang on each side. I've used 10" vinyl as a mat on 12" table with zero support issues.

@noromance , a whirl’d of possibilities....

Miserable pun...and the Wayfair mat would make VTA a ’perhaps’ challenge....

"I don't think I've ever seen a tonearm play 'uphill' like that....." 😟

Get a 12" cork mat and a handful of 2" cork circles of the same thickness to surround the outer perimeter of the mat.  

@asvjerry , cork is very stiff. I do not think the repositionable spray is necessary. Cork is also very porous. It is possible that slower drying cements might bleed through and trapped air will bleed right through with gentle pressure. I would use a veneer roller. 

@mijostyn ...*L*...and I think we’re wandering rather deep into the weeds over a project that isn’t ours.... ;)

Personally, I’ve been ’blue skying’ with this little thang, just released from PE/Dayton....

Hmmmmm....

Basically meant for ’sound bars’ and the like, I’m intrigued....

I’ve always been drawn to small objects that whisper ’potentials’....;)

(...just ’bent’ that way....*L* )

....and I’ve got some stuff laying about that’s been underfoot long enough to be gotten ’out of the way’ and needs to be ’put to ’grander purpose’ (if you drift my gets)....

@mijostyn ....hardly a new habit indulged by me... ;)

If Springsteen was born to run, I must have been born to wander...*G*

Why and where from or to....topicality generally up for grabs....*L*

 

Well, I was presented with a lot of good ideas, I got a roll of cork and made one and I ordered a new one from a company in England............So now I can work on some of my turntables..........THANKS

noromance:    I am working on about 7-8 Rek O Kut's and about three Gates, four Garrards and probably another half a dozen others...........It's a sickness..........W