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Tweakers' Asylum Tweaks for systems, rooms and Do It Yourself (DIY) help. FAQ. |
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Tweakers' Asylum Tweaks for systems, rooms and Do It Yourself (DIY) help. FAQ. |
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In Reply to: excellent info! posted by troporobo on September 22, 2008 at 01:15:43:
The original ET arm used the Takatsuki aquarium pump. As such, the arm was designed for high volume, low pressure use. Later an after market firm released a modified Wisa extending the pressure to 22 psi from the nominal 6 of the earlier pump. Bruce Thigpen then started producing manifolds with tighter tolerances to enable the use of a higher pressure lower volume pump. With the larger compressors available, you can obtain the high pressures and the volume without requiring tighter bearing tolerances.
Last I spoke to Bruce he could tighten tolerances for a range of pressures: all you need to do is to inform him of the pressures you wish to run ( the arm is back in limited production at $2900). running a standard high pressure manifold I have had no major issues with running high pressures other than popping off the hoses. The barbed fittings and the the fact that aquarium hoses tend to swell under pressure are the chief problems. My local air regulator parts department does not seem to have small enough fitting to convert to a harder hose assembly, although I've been eyeing the medical type respirator fittings: they look very good but again I haven't gone the final step in tracing the fitting parts.
I used zip ties and RTV to lock down my hose ends and it seems to hold up to 35 psi with no issues (cheap and easy). I used a 1/4 thick wall reinforced Tygon hose for the air line from the compressor to the the surge tank. Had I owned a home, I would have installed metallic pipe. It would have been smaller and more hidden and probably kept the line pressures higher.
There is one danger, however, as the floating arm approaches the manifold, the air blowing past the seal sometimes will catch the arm wand structure and blow back the arm at the end groove of the LP. It is definitely an issue at the pressures I like to run the arm and I actually moved my arm over a small amount by a 1/4 inch or so to compensate. I haven't measured the pressure at the manifold but I suspect it is around 30 psi.
I got my check valve at a chemical supply house and it has tapered ends. I found it necessary to clip a little off the ends in order to increase the amount of air flow through the check valve for proper arm operation. Using the check valve was as effective as adding the surge tank in my experience.
Good luck. With the higher pressures, the ET can compete with most of the super arms in the mechanical department. I do notice that ET has a carbon fiber tonearm available: that ought to be interesting. I rewired mine with Cardas 33 gauge for a nice improvement and using the AMS silver wire was also very nice. In order to minimize the junctions I simply ran the wire down the arm wand and out to a junction box behind the moving arm area with very good results.
Have fun!
Stu
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Follow Ups
- Re: pressure - unclestu52 10:23:21 09/22/08 (0)
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