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I sat and created a custom protractor for my table. It seems to work pretty well, but I know having a mirror surface would help with the precision.
I'm looking around for a silver foil paper that is laser printable. I don't know that this would work well enough to be usable, but I'd like to give it a try.
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Mine, based on Baerwald.
It has a mirrored surface.
"I weally weally wove music." Elmer Fudd 1961
What's your method for aligning the protractor with the center of the tonearm pivot?
I just basicly sight along the two lines. I center the arm above the lines
and use the mirror also to assist my alignment. It works for me.
"I weally weally wove music." Elmer Fudd 1961
On this one I cut to the edge of the platter all the way to the center line, which allowed me to lay that part of the protractor over the arm to help get it aligned.
Perhaps some people are not aware that Conrad Hoffman developed an excellent program that can be downloaded for free to make custom arc protractors. It is very versatile in that it can accommodate any alignment for any length tonearm, and both the X and Y axes are adjustable so you can correct for dimensional printer error. Here is what it looks like.
but great resource!
I think it took me about 10 minutes to make one, so…
I have successfully made arc protractors with the Conrad Hoffman program on a Mac. ALL necessary software is free. Note that I've been a Linux user for years, so my definitions of "easy" are not the same as is bog standard. Nothing here requires building from source code or anything like that. You will need X11 (which is part of MacOS, but not everyone installs it) and WINE (a program that will give a basic Windoze file system and the ability to run Windoze programs. The easiest way to install it is to use MacPorts or Fink). My recollection was that there was a trick to getting WINE to see my printer, but I can't recall what the issue was, only that it was relatively easy to resolve.
I can post more details if this is of interest to anyone.
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"In music, the only thing that matters is whether you feel it or not. You can't intellectualize music; to reduce it analytically often is to reduce it to nothing very important."
-Ornette Coleman
As I stated, it took me less than 10 minutes to make one in Illustrator. I tend to keep my work machine (shhhh) free from any extra software, but emulation is not difficult on a Mac.
One thing I did which improved on the Conrad Protractor was to print it on transparency film. I then laid the thing on a light colored record such as Grand Funk's gold record (cheap at $3 from any used record store.) Taped securely, I was very happy as to the accuracy and repeatability of my alignments. It is also much easier to cut the spindle hole accurately in the film.
I have two different protractors possessing mirrored backgrounds. One is from Win Laboratory, the other ???.
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Music. Window or mirror?
Hey Mike,
Do you like mirrored protractors? I have a WallyTractor, but I've never been able to get a good alignment with it. All the reflections confuse me too much. Perhaps if the mirror was on the surface instead of underneath a plexiglass window, it might be easier for me to use. So far, I really prefer non-mirrored protractors a lot better. What do you think?
Best regards,
John Elison
I've got a mirror "protractor" with the primary side silvered. Works good. At least it did with with the arm I was using at the time.
From what I've read and researched, there are as many ways to set up a table / cart as there are people writing about how to set up a table / cart. And most of the techniques seem logical and would probably work.
I'm assuming you have an arc protractor.
Many people don't realize it, but you can use your arc protractor to align any tonearm regardless of length. You just won't be able to use the arc to set overhang, but you can still use it as an ordinary two-point protractor if you like your protractor's specific alignment null-points. For example, if you have an arc protractor with alignment null-points of 66-mm and 120.9-mm, those alignment grids are perfectly valid for any tonearm besides the one for which the arc is intended.
Best regards,
John Elison
Overhang was a bit mysterious to me at first. My cart specified, 12mm, but tonearm states a different overhang, and different alignment methods call for yet different numbers.
In the end, there is only one correct overhang for any two points. It was using a simple two-point protractor that helped me get this.
I should have never started out with the db.
Anyway, having the arc on the protractor really does help.
> My cart specified, 12mm, but tonearm states a different overhang
That's interesting. What kind of cartridge do you have?
The funny thing is that overhang has absolutely nothing to do with the cartridge and everything to do with a specific tonearm alignment geometry. Therefore, if a cartridge manufacturer states a specific overhang for his cartridge irrespective of a tonearm, he obviously knows little to nothing about tonearm alignment geometry.
Best regards,
John Elison
I've been very pleased with Conrad Hoffman's free turntable arc template generator. It's quick and easy. Just plug in your mounting distance (spindle to pivot), pick your std for inner & outer groove radii (IEC here), alignment scheme, and print. You can also print strobes. I've printed several for a few of my tables for Lofgren A (Baerwald) and Stevenson alignment schemes. Most recently, I printed one for my recommissioned Nott Horizon (spindle to pivot 222mm, not the 209mm in screenshot).Jim
"If less is more, just think how much more more would be!" - Frasier Crane.
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Russco Studio Pro B/Syntec S220/Empire 2000E/3-Technics SL1210mkII/ADC XLMII-Yam C-70 pre-Yam M-4 amp-KLH 6 spkrs-Outlaw sub
Edits: 08/18/12 08/18/12 08/18/12
Well that's the thing no one says explicitly. Learning to ignore information that is irrelevant is harder than it should be sometimes. The cart is an AT150 MLX. It comes with a little plastic bit for the purpose of hitting the proposed overhang.
I realized pretty quickly there was no way to get a good alignment using that figure. If I remember, this was before vinyl engine had figures posted for the specific alignment methods.
Thus my use of a simple protractor with no overhang arc, which was a good experience.
Sota also doesn't publish a lot of data on their tables, so being confident of certain measurements has taken me some time comparing different approaches.
I've owned several Audio Technica cartridges over the years and I guess I've never read their instructions. I just pulled out the box from my old OC9ML/II and you are absolutely right about the overhang instructions. They specify 15-mm overhang for my OC9ML/II and the little plastic thing used to carry the cartridge in its box has a cutout that is supposed to be placed against the platter spindle and there is a scale on the plastic with a mark at 15-mm.
The reason for this is probably because most Japanese tonearms specify 15-mm overhang. In fact, Rega even specifies 15-mm overhang. I have no idea why this is the case, but I suspect that very few tonearm manufacturers know much if anything about tonearm alignment geometry. There are countless Japanese tonearms having slightly different lengths, yet they all specify 15-mm overhang. I'm surprised the instructions with your Audio Tehcnica cartridge specifies a 12-mm overhang. Anyway, I certainly learned something surprising today.
Best regards,
John Elison
Won't the arc be shallower with longer arms, the null points farther apart? (Currently listening to Scheherazade an OC9ML (1) on a JMW-12, at least between movements.)
Yes, the arc will be shallower, but the null-points will be the same. Therefore, you can disregard the arc and use the mirrored protractor like a simple two-point protractor. If you need an accurate arc, you can download Conrad Hoffman's Custom Arc Template Generator and print your own custom arc protractor for setting overhang. Then you can use your mirrored protractor for setting offset angle. This way, if you have several tonearms, you need only buy one expensive mirrored arc protractor.
Best regards,
John Elison
Well, it's sounding pretty good, printed at 1200 dpi on some cheap office paper—aligned on a humid afternoon. Found some overhang data for Löfrgen A. I had been thinking Löfrgen B was a decent solution. This is better though.
Also figured out you can put a string on a washer, put that over the spindle, and the string will hang, centered, very nicely in the groove at the hub center of the RB 301 arm. Perfect way to make as sure as possible you have the protractor lined up from the go.
Nothing fancy.
Try printing it on a transparency (those old films that were used for presentations before DLP(r) projectors came along - then you could lay it on top of a glass mirror...just a thought
Happy Listening
I've thought of this, but the thickness of the mirror. Anyway, for sure an option.
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