New Maplenoll Ariadne owner needing advice

Gf gumby:

Good to have you on board. Admired your work from afar.

Do you have any pic's of your work on the lower plate of the air bearing ? Please be a tad more detailed re: "clean up of the casting helped ". Thanks

My bearing castings were a little rough. Corroded too. I was hesitant to
clean up much of the "rough cast" in the middles of the top
and bottom halves of the air bearing, as I read a looong time ago (Lumley?) that that very roughness helped by making the air more turbulent. As that memory is vague at best (I wasn't even doing analog at the time) I opted to not mess with that rough cast, thinking I could always clean it up more later. Turns out it works pretty well.

However, the wide surfaces that make contact when there is no air pressure can be cleaned up with good results. I used jewelers rouge on the flat surfaces and spun the top plate relative to the bottom plate to effectively polish those surfaces. Grit from fine sandpaper would work as well, but it's important to not sand them, you need to use the powder/grit/rouge between the plates to insure they stay consistently flush relative to each other. That seemed to allow it to float with less pressure, however it requires the table to be level
to do so efficiently and effectively. It will obviously still run at higher pressure as before, but it's not as critical to have the higher pressure to float the platter.

I also drilled and tapped two more holes in the base at 120 degrees apart the same distance as the original air inlet from the center to spread out the incoming air more evenly. That requires a little more drilling/relieving from the underside of the chassis to run the split hoses to from underneath. Make sure to re-level the bearing relative to the table upon re-assembly. Check to make sure the rubber washers between the bottom plate and the table are in good condition while you're putting it back together- you'll need them supple to take up the difference when you level the bottom bearing plate. Although a bit rough and crude, the original design wasn't too bad, but can be improved upon in these ways.

If this is "clear as mud" you can email me outside the forum.
I haven't contributed much during this thread as it has been concentrating mostly on fighting the original air arm
which I don't use for some of those same reasons. I do think the 'nolls are a neat platform that can be used as a
quite capable table, for pennies on the dollar compared to cost no object tables.

RFG

Once i moved up to a high pressure for the arm (45psig), I have not had any problem with the airbearing spindle. I have looked at your pics before and wondered why you replaced the air bearing arm. Thanks for the info. I do feel the arm is a weak link but i like the linear aspects of this arm and love the way it tracks. I have looked at ways to improve the vta adjustment and stiffness of the arm hence the tweak I am looking at. I agree the platform is excellent though a little crude compared to the beautiful tables being produced presently. But the sound stage IMO can not be found in any table in the price range you can get a used maplenoll (assuming you can find one).

however it was the main air bearing sleeve which was missing when I got the table. Some nice man in Europe has the rest of the parts from the arm so at least it helped someone with their 'noll. I alos love linear air arms, but it just wasn't meant to be in this instance. I've considered an ET-2 or either of the beautiful more modern arms like the Kuzma, Walker, etc., I just haven't felt
the need to add yet more levels of complexity, etc. as
I've been fighting head amps and carts. Anyone else have
a radical tonal shift in their room/system when they change from analog to CD?

C'mon, you know that last statement made you smile...

Update on my Maplenoll tweaks. I have completed my tonearm construction and began the wiring for the arm. The arm is a yamamoto headshell attached to a carbon fiber tube(0.5"OD). The wiring is teflon coated silver wire(0.003") and will run from the headshell to the Phono stage. The arm is clamped to the air bearing spindle and is easily adjustable to set overhang. I have included a pic of the new tonearm on my system pics. Next step is to install/align the z-lift to provide an easy adjustment for VTA. This arrangement will improve the stiffness of the linear arm while providing an easier way to adjust vta. once complete, i will include the pics of the table mods on my system description.