If im using a glass tube for drug use, I want the blower to make it look funky... then at least the "its a vase" excuse has some plausibility
Hi PDR.
Looks like you have better suppliers in Canada. I did have a pig of a job findings borosilicate glass in England, all I could find was lime glass. I had to import mine from the States. My main point, and one I believe we can all agree on, is that borosilicate glass is much better for this application and any one planning on their own build needs to be aware of the difference.
Chris
Looking forward to seeing what you've come up with.
Niffy
Looks like you have better suppliers in Canada. I did have a pig of a job findings borosilicate glass in England, all I could find was lime glass. I had to import mine from the States. My main point, and one I believe we can all agree on, is that borosilicate glass is much better for this application and any one planning on their own build needs to be aware of the difference.
Chris
Looking forward to seeing what you've come up with.
Niffy
I bought my glass tubing 4, 5 and 6 mm for a different kind of linear arm from amazon. Here is the link.
Borosilicate Glass Tubing: 5mm(OD) x 12 Inches: Pk 5 PC: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific
Borosilicate Glass Tubing: 5mm(OD) x 12 Inches: Pk 5 PC: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific
Yep, I absolutely agree.
I built an arm way back in april.... http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/anal...-linear-tracker-new-variation-perhaps-12.html
This one was sent off to a friend in Vietnam. Its a drop in replacement for
his Rega P3. Just remove the RB-300 and plop this one in.
Heres a pic of it:
I'm building another over the summer, as well as another of Colins design.
These are great arms.
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My Latest Version!!
Hi Folks
I've been promising this now for a couple of weeks. Some cosmetic improvements still needed but thought you would like me to share it with you. I've been experimenting with the right angle aluminium but the main variation is the carriage holding the arm wand-see the pictures which show the arrangement clearly. I've not been too concerned about tracking warps (I don't play warped records!) but have always had a thing about the 'pendulum motion' because the wand is always quite a distance below the pivot.
I had used the idea of the ball races with a lot of success on previous air bearing arms so thought 'why not try it on this?' this arrangement puts the pivot at the centre of the wand-and it works spectacularly.
Here are some initial pictures:
Hi Folks
I've been promising this now for a couple of weeks. Some cosmetic improvements still needed but thought you would like me to share it with you. I've been experimenting with the right angle aluminium but the main variation is the carriage holding the arm wand-see the pictures which show the arrangement clearly. I've not been too concerned about tracking warps (I don't play warped records!) but have always had a thing about the 'pendulum motion' because the wand is always quite a distance below the pivot.
I had used the idea of the ball races with a lot of success on previous air bearing arms so thought 'why not try it on this?' this arrangement puts the pivot at the centre of the wand-and it works spectacularly.
Here are some initial pictures:
Attachments
New Arm
Hi Mortron
You have hit on the one concern I had before building the arm. By introducing the bearing races on the carriage, I thought there may be a tendency for the upper rail to rock as the cartridge tracked the record. It doesn't-it remains perfectly stable in the vertical plane at all times-so no problems there.
The larger ball bearings perform exactly as I would have hoped.
All in all, this is the best performing linear tracker I've heard and, after listening to Weather Report's 'Night Passage' last night, possibly the best performer I've had bar none.
Someone asked about fabricating the cradle that the bearing rest on. I've located a supplier on E Bay who sells 1" square section aluminium for £3.00 for 400mm-AND post free.
Regards
Chris
Hi Mortron
You have hit on the one concern I had before building the arm. By introducing the bearing races on the carriage, I thought there may be a tendency for the upper rail to rock as the cartridge tracked the record. It doesn't-it remains perfectly stable in the vertical plane at all times-so no problems there.
The larger ball bearings perform exactly as I would have hoped.
All in all, this is the best performing linear tracker I've heard and, after listening to Weather Report's 'Night Passage' last night, possibly the best performer I've had bar none.
Someone asked about fabricating the cradle that the bearing rest on. I've located a supplier on E Bay who sells 1" square section aluminium for £3.00 for 400mm-AND post free.
Regards
Chris
New Arm
Hi Colin
There is no movement whatsoever and if I manually make it off balance the return to horizontal is immediate.
There's also another benefit of the design. With other linear trackers (including the Cantus) I have always been concerned about tracking weight. Whenever I measured with the counterweight in the same position, I would get widely differing readings. I seem to remember the Cantus instructions were something like 'adjust the weight so that the stylus is depressed 1/2mm into the cartridge body'-not very scientific!
With the pivots in the centre of the arm wand, a much more accurate reading is obtained-and it remains constant.
I've checked the arm out with HFS 75 test record and this is the first time this particular cartridge has tracked every band with no problems-perhaps that is telling me something?
Regards
Chris
Hi Colin
There is no movement whatsoever and if I manually make it off balance the return to horizontal is immediate.
There's also another benefit of the design. With other linear trackers (including the Cantus) I have always been concerned about tracking weight. Whenever I measured with the counterweight in the same position, I would get widely differing readings. I seem to remember the Cantus instructions were something like 'adjust the weight so that the stylus is depressed 1/2mm into the cartridge body'-not very scientific!
With the pivots in the centre of the arm wand, a much more accurate reading is obtained-and it remains constant.
I've checked the arm out with HFS 75 test record and this is the first time this particular cartridge has tracked every band with no problems-perhaps that is telling me something?
Regards
Chris
Chris,
Im not insulting your work, it's a very nice piece. Test records are in many cases a true torture test, the two bearing two tube I have have found to track with no issues too on all the bands. How is it on off centre vinyl?, that's the tell all I've found with these arms, the more extreme the better concerning mass. Even with the pivot at the tube level we need to go one step further with such a short arm to make the least compromise geometrically as to have the pivot in line with the tip of the stylus.
Remember that when your measuring tracking weight that it is a static measurement, as with electronics circuits , things change when the dynamic situation is introduced. In the end what matters is that the magnets are alligned for best sound. If I would add a suggestion, would be to do away with the vertical bearing in place of a knife edge or pin pivot to avoid potential chatte issues.
Colin
Im not insulting your work, it's a very nice piece
. Test records are in many cases a true torture test, the two bearing two tube I have have found to track with no issues too on all the bands. How is it on off centre vinyl?, that's the tell all I've found with these arms, the more extreme the better concerning mass. Even with the pivot at the tube level we need to go one step further with such a short arm to make the least compromise geometrically as to have the pivot in line with the tip of the stylus. Remember that when your measuring tracking weight that it is a static measurement, as with electronics circuits , things change when the dynamic situation is introduced. In the end what matters is that the magnets are alligned for best sound. If I would add a suggestion, would be to do away with the vertical bearing in place of a knife edge or pin pivot to avoid potential chatte issues.
Colin
Hi Colin
I know you are not insulting my work. As I stated earlier, I was concerned about the movement of the top rail but just had to try it out -and somewhat to my surprise, I found no issues-sometimes things go right following a hunch!
Anyway-you have reminded me that I have somewhere some small hobby knife blades which would be ideal for a knife edge bearing. I'll wait till my square section aluminium arrives and then make the mod.
I know exactly what you mean about test records but they are a good indicator-if the stylus doesn't track properly it usually doesn't sound too good when playing a 'real' record.
Finally, I trust what I'm hearing-if it sounds good (great?!) it must be doing a good job.
Regards
Chris
I know you are not insulting my work. As I stated earlier, I was concerned about the movement of the top rail but just had to try it out -and somewhat to my surprise, I found no issues-sometimes things go right following a hunch!
Anyway-you have reminded me that I have somewhere some small hobby knife blades which would be ideal for a knife edge bearing. I'll wait till my square section aluminium arrives and then make the mod.
I know exactly what you mean about test records but they are a good indicator-if the stylus doesn't track properly it usually doesn't sound too good when playing a 'real' record.
Finally, I trust what I'm hearing-if it sounds good (great?!) it must be doing a good job.
Regards
Chris
Hi Colin
I couldn't find an overtly off-centre record so I made one from an old John Lee Hooker album!! I increased the size of the hole so I could place it on the turntable very off-cenre and lowered the stylus. Perfect tracking and the stylus showed no visible wobble at all-remained dead centre in relation to the cartridge housing. The top carriage however was moving back and forth like a fiddler's elbow.
Therefore I deduce that the design works-and very well too.
What are your thoughts?
Regards
Chris
I couldn't find an overtly off-centre record so I made one from an old John Lee Hooker album!! I increased the size of the hole so I could place it on the turntable very off-cenre and lowered the stylus. Perfect tracking and the stylus showed no visible wobble at all-remained dead centre in relation to the cartridge housing. The top carriage however was moving back and forth like a fiddler's elbow.
Therefore I deduce that the design works-and very well too.
What are your thoughts?
Regards
Chris
Thanks Chris,
This was my second concern, 37g still remains in safe territory. I'm off next week so of course not being one to sit still and just completing the modules for my mkII current feedback poweramp I'm curious to knock up a version to fiddle around with. I have no performance issues whatsoever with my two bearing design, and do love the rigid simplicity but might even have some improvements to add to your design if your open to them.
Colin
This was my second concern, 37g still remains in safe territory. I'm off next week so of course not being one to sit still and just completing the modules for my mkII current feedback poweramp I'm curious to knock up a version to fiddle around with. I have no performance issues whatsoever with my two bearing design, and do love the rigid simplicity but might even have some improvements to add to your design if your open to them
.Colin
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Hi Colin
I'm always open to suggestions and ideas. You may be aware I'm working on my version of the WT arm which has met with a lot of success on my 401 and Lenco-going to have to cool down things a bit though. My wife might be wondering what I'm doing in the garage every night!
Regards
Chris
I'm always open to suggestions and ideas. You may be aware I'm working on my version of the WT arm which has met with a lot of success on my 401 and Lenco-going to have to cool down things a bit though. My wife might be wondering what I'm doing in the garage every night!
Regards
Chris
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