I think I am going to attempt to make turntatbles


First off let me say I am not new to the audio realm. I am a computer engineer and yes I realize that deals in ones and zeros. However, I have made a few custom guitars. I know a master woodworker and a talented machinist. I have been searching for that perfect table for years whilst living in mediocrity. Well, I have the resources; why not make one from scratch. More than likely I am going to attempt a belt drive unit at first using an off the shelf arm... More than likely an SME. I am working on the power supply circuitry right now as my piece. Any one have any tips... I am thinking solid, large mdf plinth with an attached copper mat and either a heavy plinth with an acoustically decoupled motor or completely detached. Thoughts?
bc5k
Find an existing small niche manufacturer wanting to sell. He will already have a small customer base along with some needed tools. Learn from his mistakes.
There are essentially 2 schools of thought on TT design. Low mass-high rigidity, and high mass. High mass is probably easier for a DIY'er to handle since there's little additional "tuning" that is required for a low mass design, and therefore is less trial and error prone.

Designing a TT is mostly about resonance control and tight tolerances on some key parts. After that it is about speed stability. I would stongly suggest keeping things as simple as possible to avoid pitfalls that you may not be able to anticipate in your first attempt, such as using a manufactured arm rather than a DIY (unless it is an exceedingly simple design).

Good luck whichever way you go and remember there is more than one way to skin a cat as the variables add up pretty quickly.
That is the way AJ Conti of Basis and several other manufactures started; they didn't like what was on the market and thought they could better. SME got into audio because Alistair Robertson-Aikman [probably misspelled] didn't like the arms available and had his machine shop build one.
I tried and gave up.There is alot more involved than you might think

Buy a VPI Classic 1 , 2 or 3 and be done with it.