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In a previous thread below, tragus asked about references on DIY tonearms. I'm posting this here, as the subject may be of a more general interest, and others might be able to add to the list. The list of references below is certainly not complete!Tonearms have the advantage that the size of the various parts is much smaller than those of a turntable. Thus they are easier to make on the kind of tools that and of the kind of raw materials typically available to the amateur. By going through the references below, one can see that many ingenious solutions have been presented to overcome the difficulties that may arise in a "kitchen table" workshop.
References on DIY tonearms:
1. R. Cooper, A Tangential Tracking Tonearm, The Audio Amateur, 4/1982 (also reprinted in The LP Is Back!).
2. D. Read, Simple Pickup Arm Design, Wireless World, November 1980.
3. R. Cooper, Practical Parallel-Tracking Pickup Arm [Part 1], Wireless World, December 1979.
4. R. Cooper, Practical Parallel-Tracking Pickup Arm--2, Wireless World, January 1980.
5. R. Cooper, Mercury Switch for Parallel-Tracking Pickup Arm, Wireless World, April 1980.
6. R. Cooper, Parallel-Tracking Pickup Arm Modifications and Improvements, Wireless World, July 1981.
7. E. Lowinger, The Bizarm, Wireless World, December 1977.
8. D. Ruether, The Praying Mantis, The Audio Amateur, 2/1976 (also reprinted in The LP Is Back!).
9. R. Sanders, A Do-It-Yourself Tonearm, The Audio Amateur 2/1973 (also reprinted in The LP Is Back!).
10. D. Bartholomew, Unipivot Arm, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, April 1972.
11. R. Ockleshaw, Pickup Arm Design for Home Construction, Wireless World, November 1971.
12. J. Bickerstaffe, Building the Woggle Arm, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, October 1971.
13. J.S. Wright, Approach to Pick-Up Arm Design, Wireless World, June 1967.
14. J. Bickerstaffe, Torsional Stability and the Unipivot, Part 1, Wireless World, January 1966.
15. J. Bickerstaffe, Torsional Stability and the Unipivot, Part 2, Wireless World, February 1966.
Reference [11] is in fact one part in a three-part series describing the construction of not only an arm but also a turntable (using a factory-made platter) and a wow & flutter meter. The other two parts are:
16. R. Ockleshaw, Turntable Design for Home Construction, Wireless World, October 1971.
17. R. Ockleshaw, Novel Wow and Flutter Meter, Wireless World, December 1971.
Even if one is not contemplating the actual construction of a tonearm, it is fascinating to read about the various designs. It goes without saying that for anyone seriously thinking of building a (pivoted) tonearm, the classic papers by Lofgren, Baerwald, Bauer, Seagrave, Stevenson and/or Randhawa on tonearm geometry are required reading.
If any of the inmates can add to the above list, I would be glad to hear from them.
Trad
Follow Ups:
HelloI read the posts with interest as I also dreamed at one stage to venture into building my own turntable. Difficulty was finding the materials needed, suppliers and then the information needed to design and plan the different stages of such a project.
My advice today would be to get a good older model like some of the Thorens tables or Garrard and to take the basic design or components of these tables to create something new.
As for arms my feeling today is that the RB250 gives the home builder endless oppertunity for tweaking as it has a basic good design. Take for example only the counter weight on the RB250 and how many possible designs one can consider.
To give you an example, with all the mods done on my Thorens I currently spend a lot of time reading, thinking/dreaming about a possible modification on the motor assembly of my Thorens. This one aspect can keep one busy for weeks I guess.
I have mentioned it a few times on AA and are still happy to do so, see if you can get yourself a old Connoisseur BD2 as reference or starting point. Incredible little turntable this with loads of potential to be improved. Challenge will be not to loose its natural musicality while "improving" it.
Only thoughts and I would be veeeeery interested in following any progress you make.
Best Regards
Siegfried
Well, pooh. I put in a pithy "thanks" as a Subject line with nt, but somehow the Asylum gods nixed the lot -- leaving my straitjacket flapping in the breeze all empty. *sigh*Anyway, I have a bit of library work to do now. I'm starting a long-term project of a DIY 'table and am working on many of the pieces. However, the 'arm struck me initially as a challenge for a DIY. What I'd love to create is something on the order of the VPI 12.5 OR a good (quiet) linear tracker. However, I'm not sure if the materials alone will be much less expensive than one of the commercial products.
Now, has anyone done a DIY cartridge (heh)?!?
Cheers!
Hi again, tragus,While a tonearm may look complicated, it is in fact much easier to make than a turntable for the home builder. You can buy virtually all the raw materials needed for a typical tonearm at a model/hobby shop, and the gauges of the materials are such that it is easy to work with hand tools.
IMHO, with both turntables and arms, the biggest challenges for the do-it-yourselfer are the bearings. The platter bearing/spindle is not a problem, if you have access to a lathe and know how to use it. For a DIY tonearm, the unipivot might be the easiest to build--if the principle happens to appeal to you (it certainly appeals to me, and one of these days... *wistful sigh*). It used to be that finding suitable wire for the tonearm was also a challenge, but the many rewiring kits available today have solved this problem.
As I said before, the money saving aspect is not a valid reason for building a turntable. You can buy a decent second-hand Thorens TD 125 or Garrard 401 for about $150-200, and a second-hand SME 3009 for considerably less, and it would certainly not be trivial to surpass the performance of these (or the VPI) with a DIY turntable/arm at a first attempt. Also, many people are shocked when they learn how much one-inch-thick Lexan (or aluminum or brass or stainless steel) costs.
I've never heard of any DIY cartridges--which of course does not mean that it couldn't be done! One would probably have to be a watchmaker to be able to wind the coils. A good stereo microscope would probably also be needed to do it. And a SEM would probably be the best inspection device for monitoring the progress of grinding/shaping/polishing the stylus... ;-)
Good luck and keep us posted!
Trad
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