Finally, an affordable CD Transport: the Shigaclone story

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This High End company (BMC-Audio) has succeded to turn our Shiga in Belt Drive....:cool:

Maybe we can figure out if they sell the complete platter as a repair/spare part...that will get us again a step further...:D
 
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I agree, way overpriced for what it is....

I was thinking to do something like that but for the sled too....

First I wanted to lower the turntable to reduce possible wobling from off-center CDs, which means bigger and higher mass spindle, and lower on the motor shaft.
Second, something like a belt for the sled would eliminate the play between gears, and would eliminate the need for the "anti-skating" mod.
What is a bit unclear to me is how the speed controller would handle the increased mass. On the above solution, I see that they handle it using different pulley sizes to act as a reducer, which requires the motor to work faster to keep the cd spinning on the predefined speed. I don t know how this might work.

Interesting idea though. Definitely inspiring :)
 
I made a plate like that out of 3/8" aluminum. It was all done manual so it isn't what you would call precise or repeatable, but the important things are there. I also kept the stock plastic cover so that it will mate nicely to the bronze top piece I have made. I should pull it out and post some pics
 
As for the belt drive, why not use same size pulleys for the spindle shaft. I thought about trying this and now see it can be done. I may play with this some, I just need to find a mechanism to tear apart and play with. Are any of the ebay versions the same as the original or at least close enough? I'm also looking for longer ribbon cable. I used to have all this info but it has disappeared.
 
As for the belt drive, why not use same size pulleys for the spindle shaft.

There are practically two reasons for this. One is the increased mass of the puck which would require more power from the motor. With the slightly different pulleys it just has to run a bit faster but the power required to start it should be slightly less.
The other reason is possible elasticity of the belt, again because of the increased puck weight. The above mentioned faster motor speed should be easier on the belt as well.

If their size was identical, there was not reason to use a belt. You could just use it direct drive style and eliminate the problems introduced by the belt itself.
 
Hi everyone,

After I sow criticism a few treads ago about ,what this project have become (I agree with Erik) ,I finally called my friend to take this short video of transport in motion and I hope that it will motivate somebody to try something new.
After three Windows crashes I am still nemo68 or alphaigor under new Z Audio username.I have bad habit not to write on paper my passwords and even this time I haven't done it but my transport is easily recognized if not the username :).

Shigaclone with belt driven air bearing sled mech with static cd lens (inverted concept mechanism) - YouTube

Igor
 
We definitely need more shots of what you made Igor, preferably pictures with descriptions, or schematics! :)
I personally think BMC-Audio have barely scratched the surface of what can be done, and their transport in no way impresses me. Your work, on the other hand, I feel has the potential to be something truly outstanding.

Regarding the high-mass vs low mass discussion - I have not compared different pucks extensively, so I am not taking a stance yet, but I would like to point this out for the sake of balanced discussion - I seem to be the only one who actually went and tried the low-mass path.

The few pucks I tried were all, without exceptions, adding colourations to the sound. Puck-less was by far the most natural and pure sounding. Having said that, I have not had the chance to audition a really well-made puck. If there is anyone who would be willing lend me some other puck(s), I will be happy to do a proper "puck shoot-out".
I have an audiophile friend who has extremely acute hearing (still hears up to 22kHz), and also my sister is a jazz singer, so I can invite them both in order to have a balanced view and then report back :)
 
My experience has been that even with same mass and material, construction quality is of supreme importance in a puck. And to my experience turned pucks do not cut it. Not even close. They are very difficult to center and balance, and it shows both visually and sonically.
I ve been using ones made out of aluminum CNCed knobs with wooden and brass axles for some time now and the difference in sound was huge. Their mass is around 100grams with the metal axle. And visually you cannot even perceive its rotation unless you go really close. I have also tried a few made out of smaller guitar sized knobs weighing around 25grams, but the bigger one was better. Not a lot better, but it was. Aluminum is also quite resonant, so perhaps a wooden one might be a better choice.
I can order a few if people are interested. It should not be too expensive. Something like 15 euros plus shipping depending on size and material. Jarek I' ll see if I can order just one to send you, along with the FT1 cap we were talking about a while back.
 
Igor that is truly impressive.

WRT low mass vs high mass pucks;

I would expect this to in part be dictated by the the servo control time constants. I've not looked but it might be possible to tweak the servo time constants for the controller in conjunction with the chosen mass to further optimize it.
 
Can you explain a bit more what's going on there? :) Seems rather impressive :)

You can recover your password very easily. Just log out and hit the "I forgot my password" link :)


As I said ,the passwords are pain to me.Useless to try anything.This text that you read is second one after first one that disappeared after hitting the preview button and I forgot to copy the first.You get which idiot level PC user am I ?I can't even get the Smilies today.


https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8kj-_TTE29VRktZWlVtRHJHTXc/edit?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8kj-_TTE29VS05tVFZrcXhTa0U/edit?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8kj-_TTE29VTldlVHNOMURxVDQ/edit?usp=sharing


In short ,the original sled motor have ,3mm pulley which is attached to wooden one and it spins the third which have a .25mm winch for soft pulling the air bearing where the disk is placed.The lens is fixed on the chassis and is mechanically treated with paraffin stick and carbon for mechanical absorption and realize of lens energy.The spin energy is realized in lead weights under the bearing.
The point is that the stress of the lens must be minimized to bring the most natural sound.The less you hear from it the better is.The sled have no backward motion anymore ,just forward like turntable tonearm.It is simple but complicated to realize it.I was thinkink about hydraulic motion too and who knows ,maybe one day....

Igor
 
Igor,

You are somthing else....out of my league :eek:

But indeed inspiring to me...

Yes I know.Sometimes I frighten myself too with such creations when I am told that they are:D.Here is a picture of my ''lab''.It is not conventional because of the constant development of various things 15-20 hours a day.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8kj-_TTE29VeUdSeFNGRllkTGc/edit?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8kj-_TTE29VSUlfWTZ3TWtJbkE/edit?usp=sharing

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https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8kj-_TTE29VYzdGLWlVMlRhQnM/edit?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8kj-_TTE29VRTExRWJ5cTJ1UHM/edit?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8kj-_TTE29VbG9IOFNzY0NkZnc/edit?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8kj-_TTE29VS05mTzdQZmxGdUU/edit?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8kj-_TTE29VNWVaN0FjQW1rNXc/edit?usp=sharing

I spend my time in manufacturing the cables and they are guilty for such mess.There are some of my actual models and I must be very effective in development because after that step I must spend 250 hours in constructing that white PSU cable on the floor ,for example so ,no time for fancy transport interventions.The only thing is the valid sound reference when I offer my work to 100000eur worth system owners.I can afford esthetic flows with myself but not with my clients.I can post more photos of the transport.

My puck is 4g only and higher mass versions ''eat'' some music from the sound.Another important thing that I noticed is ,no matter which weight is ,the best result is with low gravity point of the puck itself and curved form ,probably because of pendulum effect on the motor shaft and aerodynamics.I removed steel plate from the motor plastic.


Igor