Motor and spindle bearing for DIY turntable

If you want to make a decent main bearing for a low cost DIY TT, take a large brass bolt, and drill a 1/4"hole down the center. Polish it up inside, and use a long 1/4" non-tapered roller from a roller bearing. Push this into your platter all the way through, and it is your spindle. Get a brass nut that fits the brass bolt, and bolt it to the center of your plinth. Put a small ball bearing in the bottom of the hole, add oil, put in the spindle/platter.

You might have to try this a couple of times to get the bearing clearances just the way you want them.

It's about the cheapest way to go, and alot of older TTs had bearings very similar to this. The 1/4" spindle diameter is not as heavy duty as some of the newer bearings, but if low cost and basic workability are the criteria, then this will work for you. It is not going to unseat any of the world championship TTs.

For the motor, I'd recommend just getting an AC synchronous motor from an Goodwill turntable, and using that. Make a pulley that is correct diameter for your platter. Most sub-$1k turntables use basic AC synchronous motors.

Winggo,
Why not try a new spindle bearing and shaft for the SL-1200mk2? It will cost you less than $30 from KAB USA ( http://www.kabusa.com/ACCESSS.htm#pg2a ). The spindle bearing is a massive 1/4" polished stainless steel shaft closely machined through a 1" long bronze bearing. See a picture at http://www.kabusa.com/gif/spindle.jpg .

Please tell us more about your design.

- Harald

If you are trying to save money, just buy a pre-built table (pro-ject, rega, et al.) - you are not going to be able to build something better for much less $.

the point of DIY is not to make it cheaper, but to make it better. IMNSHO. For a few grand you can have a table that equals stuff that sells for $10k+. (e.g. a DIY teres in this example).

the truly high-end level of vinyl reproduction is not easily achievable via DIY. E.g. things like vacuum record hold down, air-bearings on the platter, air-bearing linear tracking arm, etc.

-Ed

Ed,

Speaking for myself, the point of DIY is to make it better for less AND to have fun along the way.

Cheers,

- Harald

I used pre-owned VPI bearing and platter, Jr. or MKIII for $200 or less. Then I use the Luxman PD-121 turntable to drive the VPI platter I have to make room for 2 turntables sit side by side. I adjust the pitch on the Luxman TT to get correct speed on the VPI platter. If one use lighter platter than VPI then one can use lesser torque direct drive to drive the platter. Direct drive has super quiet motor.