Has anyone thought about building a MC cartridge from scratch? Has anyone else tried?
I'm looking at something like
ON Semiconductor EMI9404: 4CH EMI LC Filter with ESD Protection
for coils.
It's actually copper coils integrated onto an IC with zener diodes. These are in plastic packages, but there are chip scale coils too which are much smaller. The roll off of the filters is in the megahertz, so that's probably not going to be a problem. They're great at filtering out GSM cell phone noise. There's a surplus place here with Litz wire and the individual strands of enameled wire must be about AWG 63 which is small enough to solder to the IC's.
for a cantilever
Amazon.com: Translucent Amber Miniature Polyimide Tubing, 44 AWG, 0.0020" ID, 0.0030" OD, 0.0005" Wall, 30" Length: Industrial & Scientific
which might actually be too thin. The filter IC's would be glued edge on to the cantilever. Since the chips are half a mm tall, that would be a good diameter for the cantilever.
A couple of these
SuperMagnetMan Ring Magnet
would make a field for the coils to live in.
I have no idea where to get a diamond tip. There's a guy in New York that re-tips cartridges for $250, but that's a pretty steep experiment. A cheap-0 cartridge or needle from Radio Shack might be a good donor to start with.
I'm looking at something like
ON Semiconductor EMI9404: 4CH EMI LC Filter with ESD Protection
for coils.
It's actually copper coils integrated onto an IC with zener diodes. These are in plastic packages, but there are chip scale coils too which are much smaller. The roll off of the filters is in the megahertz, so that's probably not going to be a problem. They're great at filtering out GSM cell phone noise. There's a surplus place here with Litz wire and the individual strands of enameled wire must be about AWG 63 which is small enough to solder to the IC's.
for a cantilever
Amazon.com: Translucent Amber Miniature Polyimide Tubing, 44 AWG, 0.0020" ID, 0.0030" OD, 0.0005" Wall, 30" Length: Industrial & Scientific
which might actually be too thin. The filter IC's would be glued edge on to the cantilever. Since the chips are half a mm tall, that would be a good diameter for the cantilever.
A couple of these
SuperMagnetMan Ring Magnet
would make a field for the coils to live in.
I have no idea where to get a diamond tip. There's a guy in New York that re-tips cartridges for $250, but that's a pretty steep experiment. A cheap-0 cartridge or needle from Radio Shack might be a good donor to start with.
I was curious about this too. I see offers of a re-tipping service, and wondering what specialized equipment and tools might be necessary. Like a watch maker, or fishing fly tier. 🙂
Not to burst your bubble but I am pretty sure that these are not coils in the conventional sense. At 35nH these are likely spiral inductors printed on to the silicon (usually aluminum doped with silicon). These have been in use in MMICs for years.
Planar spiral coil inductor calculator
That said; a company called Piconics does make very small wound inductors.
Air Coil | Piconics, Inc.
Planar spiral coil inductor calculator
That said; a company called Piconics does make very small wound inductors.
Air Coil | Piconics, Inc.
There was an article in Elektor magazine a couple of years ago about a girl who made her own moving coil cartridge, I don't remember the details.
netcromancy. heh heh. Ya know, an idea pops into my head, I search it, and sure as sh(*&% someone already posted about it. Nine years ago. May as well revive it I figure. Make it a more helpful thread. 🙂 some other over-caffeinated DIYer can stumble into it later on. I also posted on another one from 2008 "beginner project."
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You might consider repurposing the very nice tiny coils balanced armature IEM headphones.
I have a few IEMs where the casing is broken but the elements are fine that I could cannibalize. The stylus could be mounted onto the diaphragm shaft. I am not sure the impedance is an issue as they are typically 16ohms to 32ohms.
I have a few IEMs where the casing is broken but the elements are fine that I could cannibalize. The stylus could be mounted onto the diaphragm shaft. I am not sure the impedance is an issue as they are typically 16ohms to 32ohms.