DIY Air bearing tangent tone arm

[AVWERK]

What is the length from pivot to stylus? If your arm is like a Versadynamics style and very short, you need a vacuum platter seriously or bass response will be a mess and consume most of your amplifiers power
For starters, is your cartridge mounting platform parallel to the record surface? Most cartridges but not all!! Get VTA in the proper range when in this arangement.
If the back of your cart. Is higher that the front side, then this tips the VTA balance to the higher frequencys and the opposite etc.
Have you made any other changes to your system that might have an impact?
I also have an ET1 and ET2 arms with subs and bass is deep and tight, but requires proper handling of setup compared to pivoted arms
If you have any 60 cycle hum from your phono stage this will also rob you of bass potential.

Regards
David

 

[fmelindy]

Yes the VTA is significantly off, with the cartridge tilted forward (slopes up from front to back). I'll try dealing with that first. So the consensus is that this is probably the issue? Or are there other ideas?

 

[clivetjm]

Yes the VTA is significantly off, with the cartridge tilted forward (slopes up from front to back). I'll try dealing with that first. So the consensus is that this is probably the issue? Or are there other ideas?

I think you know with 90%+ confidence what the issue is.

 

[fmelindy]

Yes, that seems to have made a large difference

 

[fmelindy]

By the way, how critical is it that the holes be 0.3 mm? I just noticed that mine are larger than that and i do get a fair amount of hiss... is that why, you think?

 

[fmelindy]

By the way, how critical is it that the holes be 0.3 mm? I just noticed that mine are larger than that and i do get a fair amount of hiss... is that why, you think?

Well, I'm learning as I go for sure! I just remedied this as well and made sure that all holes are exactly 0.3 mm and that they all have the same level of air flow and that made a HUGE difference. It made a huge difference not only to the sound of the music but to the sound of the arm - it's virtually silent now with no hiss and far less air flow needed. And the bass is back!

To any newbies or people trying this for the first time... don't cut any corners, do it right the first time! At least then you'll be able to content yourself that the flaws in the sound are not the direct results of flaws in your construction. Make sure:

1 - you have no air leaks anywhere
2 - your holes are drilled properly and are of the proper size (double check your air flow!)
3 - your carrier is level and stable
4 - you use a smoothing tank
5 - your arm wand allows you to parallel the cartridge to the record surface precisely
6 - your wiring is very limp and light (and using the gantry to keep the wires elevated is a good idea)

I'm by no means an expert mind you, these are just the issues I had to confront when I was building the arm!

 

[toptip]

Tangential arms

All linear tracking arms I have come across either use a mechanical pull or a compressor / air tube combo or, very rarely, some magic glass which supposedly has no friction (there is at least one, Swedish I think). These all have drawbacks, mechanical ones can produce a "thump" noise, air bearings get dirty, compressors are noisy, etc.

What I have never seen is a magnetic levitation arm, meaning a piece of ferrous metal floating in a magnetic well where it is repelled from the bottom, the back and the front with some electromagnetic system. Why would this not work, they build trains that levitate?

Or may be it already exists?

 

[Sourdingue]

Good evening, I took the post in progress and will share my experience perssonelle. I realized a pneumatic tangential tonearm, the largest Difficulty is to reduce the noise airflow, for my part of the solution was to make drilling tube to 0.2 mm at a pressure of 0.250 bar (flow is adjustable by a limiter) ....
I found the manufacturer of the tire fitted to the socket "kuzma" I considered this option early, then I left ... because the price is high and above the pressure needed for proper operation is much stronger which leads to greater problems of residual noise reduction ..
(sorry for my bad english ...)

 

[drumdoctor]

hole spacing

What is the spacing used between each hole? Do you use just one set of holes along the top of the tube?

 

[Sourdingue]

What is the spacing used between each hole? Do you use just one set of holes along the top of the tube?

hello,the spacing between holes is 6mm and only on the top which is quite sufficient..

 

[Moko]

Hi, been reading this thread and have decided to have a go at building a Terminator style arm myself.
At the moment I am starting to get all the pieces together to start work, so far I have got some nicely matched anodized 25mm L section aluminum so all good there I hope. Pump wise I have got a Sera 275R but does anyone have any recommendations regarding the tubing to use & the hose barb sizes to use to build a smoothing tank from (I'm in the UK so EBay links are good)

Any other tips/hints from previous builders would be most welcome.

Thanks in advance for any advice given. B wishes David

 

[Straight Tracker]

Hi David

Some time ago when I was interested in designing and building an air-bearing tonearm, I came accross this company:Welcome to www.beswick.com | www.beswick.com
They have miniature barb fittings and tubing.

Sincerely,

Ralf

 

[Geosto]

Just use fish tank material that will do perfectly.
The professional equipment will work also bud is capable of working with a much higher pressure than needed.
Also the tube diameter is much smaller than the 4mm fish tank hose so the airflow may be to low.

for some inspiration a link to my website

Regards George

 

[brommermartin]

This is my version of the tonearm, as buffer tank I use a jerry can of 5 liters.
for the hose I use 4mm fish tank material

 

[Moko]

Wow that is a beautiful arm, how did you connect the air tube to the base of the aluminium L section.? A photo of that part of the arm would be very helpful.

Is the 4mm tubing the inside diameter of the tube or the outside.?

 

[Geosto]

Inside

to connect the hose to the aluminium i use a M5 nipple.

 

[Moko]

Thanks for answering my dumb question so quickly.

 

[krandle37]

Hi All,

Could someone provide pictures or drawings for constructing the arm portion?

 

[spartan]

Hi all,
This interesting thread seems to deserve better attention. It is a great little project that if done right would best, I want to believe, any of the silly and expensive arms in the market.
I wonder if anybody has tried the Ladegaard's arm (in its inverted version) with low compliance cartridges. For instance, I have had the best results with my Shilabe with a rather heavy arm (26g). (Indeed, heavier arms seem to perform better with any cartridge, period). The Shilabe transfers a lot of energy to the arm, tracking at 3.1g and with a compliance of 5x10-6cm/dyne. The Ladegaard, however, seems to work best when it is light, for the lighter it is, the less air needed between the slider and the base, therefore less chance for turbulence, noise, etc. I ask myself if given the very light mass of the arm, the vertical bearing wouldn't rattle with a cartridge like this.

 

[spartan]

Let me clarify that the heavy arm I'm using with the Shilabe is a modified SAEC arm, therefore a conventional pivoting arm. I have no experience with tangential arms.