I built my own Turntable and here are the results

Simon Yorke turntables do not use separate armpods. It uses a cantilevered armboard attached to the base. The armboard is, I believe, marine grade plywood said to be the best sound for SY tables according to their designer after extensive experimenting. He could've easily machine a separate armpod with fancy alloy material but opted to have tighter coupling between tonearm and bearing. I subscribe to such approach because my friends and I had similar experience and none had good sound when the arm is decoupled from the table base. I would love to be proven wrong because I think having separate armpod is quite convenient in adjusting overhang and maneuvering purpose. The Merill turntable takes such approach to the extreme by machining the armboard and bearing mount as one single piece so, obviously, swapping tonearm is not as easy and armboard/bearing mount need to be custom made for each individual arm. Again, just my own experience...

Hiho, You wrote, "I would love to be proven wrong because I think having separate armpod is quite convenient in adjusting overhang and maneuvering purpose."

But what about when you quite accidentally brush the arm pod and you then need to stop everything whilst you get out the protractor and relive the unpleasant experience of re-aligning the tonearm? And I mean from go, because you may have altered the pivot to spindle distance by a mm, which others tell us can be critical. Pain in the butt. And this is quite apart from any theoretical considerations that favor coupling the tonearm base to the main chassis, if not the bearing per se.

"But what about when you quite accidentally brush the arm pod and you then need to stop everything whilst you get out the protractor and relive the unpleasant experience of re-aligning the tonearm?"

You are right Lewn, I had the exact unpleasant experience before. If I am forced to keep a table with separate armpod, I would find ways to drill a hole or bolt the pod to the platform. I think the Verdier simply bolt the armpod to the same platform the platter and bearing assembly shared so it's almost a hybrid. Cantilevered armboard has its flaw too - diving board effect. Anyway, I think we are on the same page about keeping tonearm and bearing as tightly coupled as possible. The separate armpod thing has better snob appeal. The same thing with thick and heavy platter, I cringe whenever I see platters thicker than 2 inches. Not my cup of tea, that's all.

Not even a cup of tea served on a 2-inch platter? (Sorry. Could not resist.) If the tonearm is on a cantilever, it had better be very sturdy well supported one. But a solid wood or slate or other plinth wherein the tt chassis also resides is a good place for a tonearm to sit.

If it's Oolong tea then I will take it.