New Maplenoll Ariadne owner needing advice

charlie

I have my armwand filled with a silicon material to minimize the resonance. I have a teflon tube much to what you highlighted in the center of the armwand to snake the phono wires through. I am not sure it made that much difference though as my first iteration was just the carbonfiber tube. Both sounded better than the stock aluminum arm. I still think one of the keys in the success of my arm is the ridgid construction and clamping system as compare to the vta adjustment with the stock arm. i was never really satisfied with the stock arm because it could be easily flexed. I also feel the direct connection from the cartridge clip all the way to the phono stage adds some value though it is difficult to set up with those fine wires instead of a traditional leads. Please keep us informed as to your progress. I am still working on my project that we discussed earlier, though a new work assignment has me backed up right now.

Oilmanmojo: Thanks for the input. I feel this is an exciting time for us 'Nollers. What I'm attempting is both short/long term , filling in knowledge blanks and making one last effort using the 'Noll arm design. I do think I'm on to clamping down the vibrations by replacing some metal & plastic with wood 'an GE goo. A little bit of 'Ol Bob, LLoyd , Michael Green , Van Evers and the AG troop with a dash of crem1. The table itself is the object of attention. The Music Hall Motor w/ all the goods should make a huge improvement. Keep up the good fight with your arm design. I never forget how easy it is to unbolt one for another. But everytime I listen to a Frank Schroder T/A I wonder why I don't convert(answer-$$$$). I will keep you informed .

Crem1, this is great news on the pump! Any details you can post on it will be VERY much appreciated.

Thank you!!

-Jim

All Travels Begin With A First Step :

Yesterday , the Maplenoll began its journey back to a box of parts. This is not the first time that I disassembled the Maplenoll. The change here is to completely break apart the 'Noll ... part by part, sub-assembly to its components that are to be examined , cleaned , renewed or replaced. This is a top down revision that I believe will substancially upgrade this table into a direction with the finest air bearing tables .

My first objectives were the Tone-Arm Lift , the Air Bearing Tube & Platter in that order.

The Tone-Arm Lift has never seemed to move smoothly , now I understand the reason; the block body was cut too wide obscuring the need for a clip to secure the stainless steel rod offset into the lifter. Without the clip , the rod had too much play shifting ever so little as rotated stressing the cantilever & stylas as they entered into the LP grove. I bought the Noll from Fred Kaplan , TAS reviewer. I don't think he ever understood why the cartridge suspensions were trashing out on a couple of his Hi-priced carts. Oh, Fred, thanks for the AQ 7000 after a redo it works great.

Following a lot of sanding , miking and plain grunt work, the lift moves perfectly w/ no slop. Another discovery, sanding the block to be a dense materal that's rock hard ,grey in color and quite dead to a knuckel rap . It appears to be a plastic resin of some sort. Since Bob D. was also a weapons designer who knows -- Maybe surplus stock from other project? Well, only Bob or LLoyd know and they arn't a part of this thread (yet). Next it was off to Home Depot for Rust-Oleum "Professional" Primer. Its as good as they note on the can, highly recommended.

The Air Bearing Tube :

After all the head work I did on this one the answer was so simple; Just pop the plug on one side & fill the inner space with Dap Tex-Pluse , a window & door foam sealant. Hi-Tect foam that expands slowly allowing for the tubes re-capping. The end result ? As lightweight as before & no ringing . Within hours that tube was as dead to a rap as I have experienced. Now for the Big Momma ...

The lead Platter : This was to be a 600 grit work-over , as I had done before but my inner sprit got caught up in the moment: Starting back side to front , grunt work began safety first its Lead , respirator , gloves & glasses on so the sanding began -- for hours . I found that paint covered hundreds of casting inperfections that eventually disapeared as I sanded /to polished the back to a satin finish. The old addage " painters hide the mistakes of carpenters " applied here. I removed almost all gouges, imperfections and casting lines, not to mention a myrad of lathe marks. A good dusting and then several coats of primer that leveled into imperfections so small you needed a mag glasses to see them. The gang at Rust-Oleum knows what they are doing. Enought daylight for clean-up. On to another day.

Scott Leventhal's Pump Suggestions in no particular order :

www.silentaircompressor.com see Super Silent Pump DR-500; sale 4620 + S/H, reg. $ 900.

Thomas Industries Model 900-13-59E @ Granger Industral Supply

Wisa Rotary Pump & other aq. pumps starting @ $400 & up.

A note from Audio Asylum @ 1/3 HP Technmseh Refrige Pump

Scott also included some other links that were broken.

For my money the DR-500 is the one I intend to use, should the SQ go belly up.