| phn |
Anyone knows where to get, buy that is, a Garrard 301 template? A full-scale template, not one of those scaled down jpgs found on the Net.
I'm in Sweden, but don't mind ordering it abroad. |
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| plo |
I've recently brought a Garrard 301 turntable, and am in the process of designing/building a plinth for it.
I have read through most of the Websites, collecting information regarding this turntable, in particular in the design of plinth. there are a cople of things I have noticed: firstly, most of the plinth designs are too bulky or, may I say, a bit too old fashion; secondly, most of the plinth designs do not allow the change of tonearm; and, thirdly, as you said, its very difficult to obtain a template in 1:1 scale.
I have in fact obtained a 1:1 print of the template from a local shop, but I do not think its accurate enough, and, being an architect myself, I have decided to draw one for myself. It took me almost two weeks to draw it (its not easy as you may appreciate, as there are a lot of curves), and it is drawn in accordance with the actual turntable I have, and cross checked several time against various "templates" I had; I therefore have every reasons to believe that its dimension is very, very accurate, and I have worked out the radius for all the curves, and the coordinates for all the openings.
I therefore like to share the result of my work with you, free of charge of course, as you are just another DIY enthusiast like me.
If you like you could contact me by e-mail, as I cannot send the drawing file to you here as its an AutoCAD file, I have to send it by e-mail, and you will need to have AutoCAD to open and read it. (You may of course copy the file to a foppy disc and bring it to one of the professional printer for architectural/graphic works to have it print out to 1:1 scale.)
Hope you find it useful, and good day to you. |
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| EC8010 |
| Welcome to the forum, plo. I'm sure people will find your template useful. I hope your plinth is heavy. What a 301 needs is mas, mass, and yet more mass - I used a sandwich construction of MDF and 2mm lead sheet, then covered it with black Formica. I think it's quite pretty (well, I would) but like all 301 plinths, it's bigger than one of those anorexic Linns.. |
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| phn |
Thanks plo. I got a template from a dealer in Britain. Don't know how accurate it is though. I will bring the 301 as well as the template to the carpenter when time comes. I decided to use another arm than the SME 3009 I had. The arm is ordered, but I don't have it yet.
I can see it being difficult. I'm designing the plinth in Illustrator and use one of those jpgs I found on the Net. Scaling is difficult, but I think I got it right.
I don't have the Auto CAD. But I guess there has to be a trial version. For now I will try with what I have. If it doesn't work, I will contact you. Thanks again.
Change of tonearms won't be a problem. I expect not to. I've ordered what appears to be a rare choice for Garrards, an EMT 929. Since I plan to have the deck wall mounted, I didn't want those large plinths you need to fit a 12-inch arm. But that also means I have to have some serious work done. I want to use the original lift. Since I don't have the arm yet I can't give the exact measurements. But right now it looks like the plinth will be roughly 480 x 120 x 385 mm.
As for the plinth, it will be made out of a solid block of black cherry wood. (It's actually red. I don't know why it's called black.) Yes, inspired by the Shindo plinth. It was the carpenter that suggested it when I talked to him. And it's much cheaper than it may sound, about €50-60 for the wood or roughly what the carpenter charges by the hour. He recommended it because he thinks this will be faster to make than a layered plinth.
Here's a pdf of what I'm working with. The one I'll give the carpenter will look slightly different. This was made with an SME 3009 in mind. The outer circle is for the EMT 929. 301 Plinth |
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| EC8010 |
| Your plinth is rather thicker than mine. I made mine so that the bottom of the (Martin Bastin modified) platter bearing was flush with the bottom of the plinth less 0.1mm. I then machined a 6mm thick disk of aluminium and drilled holes through it to take longer screws into the bearing casting and also six screws to go into the plinth. The result is that the bearing is braced from side to side and the platter can no longer rock. The audible difference was much tighter, cleaner bass. |
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| phn |
120 mms only sound thick. The 301 is almost 100 mm deep. But I do like that beefy look. Other than the height, it's quite possibly the smallest 301 plinth around.
Anyway, though I'm not quite sure about your design, it looks interesting from here. I didn't go with the Shindo design because I thought it was the best. I went with it because I knew I wouldn't go wrong that way. And the design was suitable for my requirements. I.e. to wall mount the deck. |
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| analog_sa |
| quote: | | The audible difference was much tighter, cleaner bass. |
Hi EC8010
Would you like to post a pic or a drawing? Are you supporting the bearing from the top? I have only experimented with supports from the bottom of the plinth and the result has been very good. |
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| EC8010 |
Hello analog_sa,
my mod isn't worthy of a drawing, and taking a picture of the underneath of a turntable with a fluid-damped unipivot arm is difficult to say the least. All you need is a reasonably substantial plate (>3mm thick) with two holes in it that correspond with the two 4BA screws that hold the steel plate onto the bottom of the bearing casting. If you've jiggled your plinth thickness correctly, when you screw the plate to the bottom of the bearing while the 301 is screwed into the plinth, the last quarter turn draws the bearing down by a gnats and the plate is pulled snug to the bottom of the plinth.
If you're like me, that doesn't quite happen, and you find that the plate is clear of the plinth by a fraction of a millimetre. That's when you're glad that your plate is a 3" disk that you machined in a lathe. You then use feeler gauges to measure the gap, add 0.1mm to the answer, and machine a recess in your plate to that depth. On your next attempt, the last quarter turn pulls the bearing down by 0.1mm. Alternatively, the bottom of the bearing is recessed within the plinth, so you use a ruler across the gap and feeler gauges (again) to measure the gap and subtract 0.1mm from the answer. This time, you machine material away from the outside of your disk to leave a raised stub in the centre.
Friction might hold the plate in position, but I drilled six holes near the periphery and screwed it to the bottom of the plinth.
It's not so much a support as a sideways brace. If you press on the periphery of the platter, you can push it down. What's happening is that you're bending the middle of the chassis, so the bottom of the bearing swings from side to side. Adding my plate prevents the bottom of the bearing from being able to swing, and that's why it greatly increases rigidity. |
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| plo |
Dear All,
Thanks for the advice from EC8010.
I have just completed my plinth design, although I am not quite sure of how to convert the AutoCAD format to a format that could be viewed here, I am working on it right now....
The plinth I've designed has two tiers of platform make of 30mm thick very fine and high density plywood and finish with wood veneer. The two platform are supported and tied with 4 steel posts at the 4 corners, the posts are 35mm in diameter, height adjustable.
The arm board is demountable, and supported with another 4 steel posts fixed to the bottom platform, again, height adjustable for levelling, i.e. the arm board is physcially detached from the upper platform where the turntable is fixed.
Size ofthe turntable measures approx. 560mm x 450mm, the height between the two platform is about 145mm plus the height of the level adjustable legs, total height is about 250mm.
The size of phn's design is really very compact, the plan is quite similar to mine with he exception that I've got the 4 posts at the corners, and the size of my arm board is bigger (measure 100mm x 185mm) I would go for a larger arm board as it would be able to take on almost all sort of arms except the extremely long one.
At present, I am working on another design for the plinth, trying to have a more modern look. |
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| analog_sa |
| Many thanks for your explanation EC8010. Seems like a really good idea that i'll try with my next Garrard plinth. |
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| jo-briggs |
Plo,
You could send it as a .dxf or a .dwg file, both are generic AutoCad export files, and there are several freeware programs that will read them (try http://www.2haveit.com/ or http://www.download.com/ ). User could download CadSTD Lite from www.cadstd.com which will allow them to read, redraw, and print your file. www.rhino3d.com can be downloaded as a trial, it will read both these file types, and allow you to draw & redraw in 3D, so you can print photorealistic pictures of your final design (Rhino used to be a 30 times trial, so if you didn't close the program you coud use it for ages - it may now be a 30 day trial) I heartily recommend Rhino as an excellent value for money product, it's very intuitive, I've only looked at the manual about 3 times in 8 years. |
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| jo-briggs |
| This is a drawing of a deck I did as an exercise |
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| plo |
Thanks jo_briqqa.
I have saved the template to a .dxf file and a. dwg file, but it is not the valid file extension that I could attach here for everybody to view. It has to be either in gif or jpg, or png, or txt, or pdf file! |
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| jo-briggs |
| You could e-mail them to people who want them. |
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| plo |
No problem.
Anyone who need the template could contact me. |
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| Soundadvice |
To answer your question , for anthing Garrard, (as well as some Quad stuff ) put AVONDALE AUDIO (U.K.) into your search engine !
Sorry cant post the U.R.L. as I am a new member and I have not checked all the rules of this site yet ! |
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| tuckers |
I am looking for Garrard 301 templates.
PCN, do you have a finished version of yours? OR is the one you posted the latest?
I have access to many illustration programs and CAD programs, so if you send me a file I can probably make a PDF to post here for everybody.
Thanks!
Tuckers |
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| phn |
I have the dwg file made by plo. Since it's not mine I don't want to upload it. I can send it over, though.
And would someone here be kind to remove plo's email address? Maybe he's already swamped in spam. |
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| tuckers |
Hi PHN,
If you could email it to my address that would be great! You can reach me at
johnh
at
despammed.com
Thanks! |
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| eboni |
Just want to share to you a garrard plinth that i made for my friend. it is 6" thick, red oak wood, weighs 16kgs and can accomodate 2 tone arms.
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| sappleby |
Hi, does anyone have a copy of the Garrard 301 dwg or dxf that they could email me?
I'm an architect and am designing myself a hi-fi cabinet with a Garrard plinth on the top of it.
I've attached a copy of my preliminary design in case anyone's interested.
Any tips would be much appreciated. Has anyone any knowledge of the ply plinths and the best ply to use to get good acoustics and also a nicely faced finish?
I'm planning to make the interior of the cabinet adjustable with removable shelved that slot into grooves in the side of the cabinet and are screwed into place.
Any tips on isolation/ support would also be much appreciated - I'm thinking of using Vibrapods under the plinth and spikes to the base of the main cabinet. http://www.vibrapod.com/
Please email me on my members email or alternatively at: applebysteve@yahoo.co.uk |
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| EC8010 |
Welcome to the forum, sappleby.
I made the plinth (and arm) for my 301. The main thing you need is mass. At least 20kg. Cut the top sheet to the Garrard template, then make the succeeding cut-outs only as large as necessary (that first cut-out has to be large because of all those levers, but the others can be much smaller). This will make the plinth much stronger and heavier. I would suggest using lead flashing to increase the weight and damping (as I did on my plinth), but that's probably illegal now. Read through this thread to see other tips. |
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| phn |
sappleby, you've got mail.
Can't tell very much from your drawing. Like the cabinet, though.
If I would redo my plinth today I would make it out of concrete, with a machined piece of aluminium as bottom "plate." Love Tando Ando's stuff. ;)
I spent at total of €4 on my rubber feet. |
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| bulgin |
Hi
And now for something completely different:
http://www.blueangelaudio.com
The size is w49xd40xplinth thickness5cm and the weight 27kg.
This is the 12th year since I made it.
bulgin |
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