Hey everyone! its been a while since I posted something.
Finally, after years of R&D, I found the time to create my latest version of my 3D printed tonearm, based on the famous Frank Schröder. The arrival of my brand new 3D printed provided some more incentive because now I will be able to create much more precise parts.
Another personal goal that was thrown into the mix - print as many parts as possible, with minimal use of ready-made \ off the shelf parts.
The Pivot housing, Arm and headshell,
My first challenge was structural integrity. The arm dangles on a cord and two strong magnets aligned to stabilize everything. To deal with the pressure from the magnets, I had to use a frame to house the pivot, giving it as much strength as possible.
To keep things simple I chose on arm geometry that im familiar with, which is the REGA geometry. Due to print size limitation and concerns regarding structural integrity, I decided to print the pivot, headshell, and counterweight but use a ready-made tube to connect them. So far I tried 8mm Carbon fiber tubing, which worked great, and im now experimenting with Aluminum.
Recently, my first set of white hairs appeared, and my insistence on having a removable headshell play a critical role in their existence. It seems that nobody actually sells the needed parts (for a reasonable price that is), so I had to improvise with a lockable 4-pin aviation plug. It… ahh… works.
Earlier versions had a very small magnet, and the arm was less than stable. So this time I decided to use much BIGGER magnets, which brought me to the next challenge... Securing the cord, and that's the subject of my next chapter.
Hope you like it so far.
Tank out.
Finally, after years of R&D, I found the time to create my latest version of my 3D printed tonearm, based on the famous Frank Schröder. The arrival of my brand new 3D printed provided some more incentive because now I will be able to create much more precise parts.
Another personal goal that was thrown into the mix - print as many parts as possible, with minimal use of ready-made \ off the shelf parts.
The Pivot housing, Arm and headshell,
My first challenge was structural integrity. The arm dangles on a cord and two strong magnets aligned to stabilize everything. To deal with the pressure from the magnets, I had to use a frame to house the pivot, giving it as much strength as possible.
To keep things simple I chose on arm geometry that im familiar with, which is the REGA geometry. Due to print size limitation and concerns regarding structural integrity, I decided to print the pivot, headshell, and counterweight but use a ready-made tube to connect them. So far I tried 8mm Carbon fiber tubing, which worked great, and im now experimenting with Aluminum.
Recently, my first set of white hairs appeared, and my insistence on having a removable headshell play a critical role in their existence. It seems that nobody actually sells the needed parts (for a reasonable price that is), so I had to improvise with a lockable 4-pin aviation plug. It… ahh… works.
Earlier versions had a very small magnet, and the arm was less than stable. So this time I decided to use much BIGGER magnets, which brought me to the next challenge... Securing the cord, and that's the subject of my next chapter.
Hope you like it so far.
Tank out.
Wow, that's awesome! Looks like silver PLA on an i3 mk2? I'm curious, what are your settings for infill of the parts? And concerning the tonearm, how are you handling anti skate?
Hey Rodeodave, thank you for the kind words.
Its ordinary grey PLA, nothing fancy actually. the Printer is indeed a Prusa, but an I3 MK3. Depends on the part, but infill varies between 20% to 60%, with layer height between 0.15mm to 0.06mm.
Anti-skating will be covered later 😉
OK, time for our next chapter - Securing the cord.
Another substantial challenge was securing the cord that holds the arm above the magnet proved quite the challenge. Earlier editions of my tonearm saw the string go up through the housing, take a turn and loop around a screw. The idea was that the pressure around the screw would be enough to prevent it from spinning and dropping the arm, but that didn't work with the much bigger magnets I was using now.
The old design looked like this:
And its cross section:
So here came the biggest challenge of them all… 3D printing a screw and nut that will sit on the same axis as the cord, eliminating the chance that the downforce will cause it to turn and drop the arm. Designing a screw to be 3D printed is quite the challenge, and it took me some research to figure out, but surprisingly enough - it worked from the very first print.
That's it for now.
Tank out!
Another substantial challenge was securing the cord that holds the arm above the magnet proved quite the challenge. Earlier editions of my tonearm saw the string go up through the housing, take a turn and loop around a screw. The idea was that the pressure around the screw would be enough to prevent it from spinning and dropping the arm, but that didn't work with the much bigger magnets I was using now.
The old design looked like this:
And its cross section:
So here came the biggest challenge of them all… 3D printing a screw and nut that will sit on the same axis as the cord, eliminating the chance that the downforce will cause it to turn and drop the arm. Designing a screw to be 3D printed is quite the challenge, and it took me some research to figure out, but surprisingly enough - it worked from the very first print.
That's it for now.
Tank out!
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