Hi All,
I intend to braid the four tone arm wires of a new tone arm I am building.
Does anyone know the percent of "shrinkage" that I may encounter when I braid the wires?
Sincerely,
Ralf
I intend to braid the four tone arm wires of a new tone arm I am building.
Does anyone know the percent of "shrinkage" that I may encounter when I braid the wires?
Sincerely,
Ralf
I guess it would depend how tight you braid it
I’d head for a 2/3 shrinkage if it’s before you order a length?
I’d head for a 2/3 shrinkage if it’s before you order a length?
Estimate the angle of the braid. Tight braids like coax cable can be 45 degrees to the braid axis. If the braid turned sharply, the strand would be 1.414 times the braid length. If the angle were 1 degree, a very long braid pattern, the strand would be <1.1 times the braid length.
But for a tonearm you are down in minimum-order lengths. A foot of strand may be 9 inches of braid. So buy 2 feet. Even if you are making a million of them for profit, it is probably better to make a few and measure than to try to compute.
But for a tonearm you are down in minimum-order lengths. A foot of strand may be 9 inches of braid. So buy 2 feet. Even if you are making a million of them for profit, it is probably better to make a few and measure than to try to compute.
Different question, but what do you hope to accomplish by braiding? There may be good reasons for not doing it depending on what sort of arm you are using it in.
Braiding will likely increase shunt capacitance and high frequency cross-talk with MM type cartridges. Twisted pairs can be helpful in reducing pick up from magnetic fields if differential inputs are employed.
The tighter the braid the stiffer the wire will become which may affect how free the arm is on its bearings.
My experience is pretty limited, having rewired a small number of SME 3009, 3012, a few Southers, and ET2/2.5 tone arms over the past decade.
Braiding will likely increase shunt capacitance and high frequency cross-talk with MM type cartridges. Twisted pairs can be helpful in reducing pick up from magnetic fields if differential inputs are employed.
The tighter the braid the stiffer the wire will become which may affect how free the arm is on its bearings.
My experience is pretty limited, having rewired a small number of SME 3009, 3012, a few Southers, and ET2/2.5 tone arms over the past decade.
Hi MikePP, PRR and kevinkr,
All the answers were helpful.
The last two tangentially tracking tone arms I built, used braided KAB litz wire. Nobody faulted the sound. However, kevinkr mentioned twisted pairs. So I think I'll try that to see how that affects the sound of the tone arm. Should the two twisted pairs just lie side by side in the tone arm tube, or should they be twisted again, to each other?
I am building five pivoting tone arms with Bearwald geometry and a floating head shell. That takes 11 feet of wire which allows me to assemble at least one with braided wire and one with twisted pair wire.
Sincerely,
Ralf
All the answers were helpful.
The last two tangentially tracking tone arms I built, used braided KAB litz wire. Nobody faulted the sound. However, kevinkr mentioned twisted pairs. So I think I'll try that to see how that affects the sound of the tone arm. Should the two twisted pairs just lie side by side in the tone arm tube, or should they be twisted again, to each other?
I am building five pivoting tone arms with Bearwald geometry and a floating head shell. That takes 11 feet of wire which allows me to assemble at least one with braided wire and one with twisted pair wire.
Sincerely,
Ralf
The two twisted pairs will be absolutely fine next to each other, you’re trying to keep the whole arm mass down, so (personally) I’d avoid adding anything else other than the two pairs and any arm metalwork earthing wire.
Trying both seems like a good strategy. I would not twist the twisted pairs together, just place them right next to each other. If you use a slightly different pitch between the pairs in theory you might very slightly further reduce cross-talk, can't hurt to try it although it probably won't have an audible benefit. 😀
AVWERK said:
Hello AVWERK,
Counting the wires in the "loop", I see two twisted pairs and a ground wire.
How is that different from what everybody else is doing? I must be missing something.
Sincerely,
Ralf
Ralf,
Sorry to be so late with this response.
FWIW, I've had good luck with separate twisted pairs. One end of the pair in a hand drill inherited from my father, the other in a vice, step back for some tension and spin the crank. I do a left hand turn for one, right hand for the other. Lay them side by side, add a ground wire and you've got a nice quiet set of wires.
Doug
Sorry to be so late with this response.
FWIW, I've had good luck with separate twisted pairs. One end of the pair in a hand drill inherited from my father, the other in a vice, step back for some tension and spin the crank. I do a left hand turn for one, right hand for the other. Lay them side by side, add a ground wire and you've got a nice quiet set of wires.
Doug
Hi Doug,
Thank you for the reply.
Are the left and right hand twists based on Science?
My question is meant to be serious and not a wise crack. 🙂
Sincerely,
Ralf
Thank you for the reply.
Are the left and right hand twists based on Science?
My question is meant to be serious and not a wise crack. 🙂
Sincerely,
Ralf
The R/L twists are based on a suggestion I read on one of the DIY forums, maybe here or one of the amp building ones. The reasoning is that if fields are created from whatever source, they will cancel each other. I tried it because it was easy to do, probably harmless, and might help with hum I was getting in some projects. The hum stopped so I just went on using it, except for straight linear trackers, but I do put a loose twist in PLT wires. I use a fifth wire for ground.
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