New Maplenoll Ariadne owner needing advice

good work!

Oilmanmojo , I have been reading your Apollo adventure with great interest. I have a few suggestions for your consideration ; in no particular order :

1. Clean the air manifold: Removing the manifold and cleaning the airbearing with a oil removing solution does wonders for air flow and arm stabitily.Clean the plith while your at it.

2. Do not underestimate the effect of filling the spindle tube with a "light" dampter. I used a Home Depot product that is sold to fill open spaces around windows. Very easy to apply & interms of dampting scores a 3-4 out out of 10 , an excellent way to improve the spindle w/o excessive dampting & weight.

3. Before re-assembly,lightly spray & polish parts, such as, the spindle, air manifold's inside air bearing ; the inside of top / bottom air bearing plates with Eagle 1 Spray Detailer ; its available almost anywhere auto parts are sold. The result has to be experienced to be believed: All air bearing parts operate so quitely , arm stability is improved.

4. A light damping the bottom of air bearing plate's underside & replacing worn or hardened rubber , returns the pliths performace to like-new or better. You are also assured the bottom bearing is flat ,secure & will not excessively "ring". I feel the top plate must revolve on a "lightly" dampened lower plate to bring out that last breath of air in certian recordings. "Light" is all you need. Again, this has to be experienced to appreciate the difference.

5. Test the platter & air bearing plates for "trueness" before going any further with truing/sanding the platter to assure neither is so out of round the repair may be out of reach.

6. When replacing the center pin use a soft wooden dowel to push the old pin. Then, gently tap in the new pin to seat slightly higher than where the former pin rested. Next, put the top plate into the new center pin , gently push down,by hand, onto the top plate to "seat" the center pin. I have learned that my failure to seat the center pin as outlined can result in "air swoosh". Only that gentle push by hand seats the pin.

Wishing you grest sucess.

Charlie
Thanks for the tips. I have already cleaned the spindle and the air openings/chamber using a good solvent and carefully dried everything. I have not applied an exterior finish as you have suggested, but i will try that. I have notices one of the spare parts in the box of items was an airbearing tube that was not the typical aluminum finish but some type of applied finish that is much smoother than some of the other bearing tubes. great idea. I am still awaiting the balance of the platter. I know that will improve the effectiveness of the system. I am toying with an idea to try on one of the old bearing plates i have. You can improve the effectiveness of the airbearing plate by going to multiple air ports versus the single source. Not an easy task because you have to carefully control the orifice size of the port but if done properly, you could improve the balance of the system using 6 or 8 orifices. The platter dynamics become more stable and the "stiffness" of the airbear improves and less wobble occurs. (at least that is what i think i am learning from studying the theory around the airbearing). If it doesnt work, i still havent lost much because the plates have to be polished and resurfaced anyway. I know I have promised some pics and I will get some soon. Thanks again for the support and tips. By the way, the teflon centerpin is working pretty good.

Tom, I look forward to your future posts. Glad to know the teflon pin works so well; your idea of multiable ports does appear to resolve many issues.

I should get my platter tommorrow:^0 i will lose about 1/8 in on diameter to get it trued up. But it is supposed to be perfectly balanced. I will soon see. The theory around the multiple ports on the bearing is similar to the one on the arm spindle that keeps the spindle centered. Key is drilling the port about 1/1000 in. I have found a machine shop who can do this for me. Not sure that the project would be commercially viable since the procedure will cost a little money. Still got to design the manifold or well to ensure each port sees the same air pressure. Got a couple ideas, but nothing specifically designed yet. The existing design should still work well if the platter is balanced and the bearing plate is true. You brought up that point earlier and that is the problem with the old set of plates that was in the box of parts.