attaching a headshell

[spooky1234]

Hello everyone,

I need advise on attaching an acrylic headshell to my diy tonearm. should I use a screw or glue to attach it? IF glue then what kind should I use? Thanks

 

[jeff spall]

Hi, is it possible to get a really good mechanical fit?
I think that this joint is critical to the sound so no glue is best.
What's your tonearm shaft made of? As acrylc expands a lot, I guess heating it in boiling water would be enough to get you a good interference shrink fit which would give a much better sound path than any glue.
regards. jeff

 

[spooky1234]

thanks Jeff!

The shaft is made out of wood so shrink fitting wouldn't work(at least I don't think it would). I think I'll just going to go with a screw, I have an experimental arm with an acrylic headshell attached with a screw that sounds better then having the cart attached to the bottom of the wood shaft. thanks for the help

 

[fortytwo]

Hi i am making a tonearm and my shaft will be a carbin graphite tube. I was planning on making the headshell out of aluminum, to fit inside of the tube. Would this method work for heating up the tube to make it fit over the Aluminum?

Does the no glue concept apply to the whole arm (eg pivot mount/counterweight mount)?
Thanks
FortyTwo

 

[jeff spall]

I think the carbon reinforcement might make that difficult. When I posted the first reply I was thinking of a metal arm tube with the headshell going over it.
Could you get a good taper fit? That can be a very solid connection as anybody who's tried geting one apart will know!

regards, jeff