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A Turntable Project (09/2018) |
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After I have my Carrson project to a young and very dedicated enthusiast, I found myself with a large sturdy trolley designed for an EMT 927...suddenly empty. So I decided to design a new turntable on the general lines of the classic 'broadcast' decks of the great era of the vinyl. It has to be big, heavy, sturdy, with a classic idler-wheel drive. The first part of the job will be to find some good parts from donor decks, over the years I have bought so many of these that I have plenty of them and some, I must say, were bought in such a nasty condition that restoration has never been contemplated. Of course, I did never think of cannibalizing an EMT, Garrard 301/401 or TD124 to assemble this project: I turned my attention first to the remains of some old USA workhorses.... |
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Rek-O-Kut Parts |
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A Rek-O-Kut LP-743, for example, could provide a good bearing and pin, whilst its motor is not up to my needs |
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This Rek-O-Kuts is a bit amateurish....not the best base for my project |
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Sparta/Russco parts |
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Let's take a look now at the massive mechanicals of a Sparta broadcast deck |
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The Bodine motor is huge; not EMT 927-level of size and weight but very impressive anyhow |
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The lubricating cap and the adjustment screw at the base of the bearing mean business |
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Not many parts, but very sturdy |
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The idler wheel |
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Bearing |
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A huge bearing, 93,5 mm tall... |
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...and nearly 20 mm thick, as big as an EMT 927s |
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A simple but effective architecture, very Fifties USA broadcast |
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Those insulating rubbers break with age....luckily spares are still available from the good guys at russcoturntables.com |
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EMT Parts |
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One of the advantages of being since so many years interested in high-level turntables is that many spares are just around the house. Browsing through boxes and drawers I found a vintage EMT 930 bearing sleeve in excellent condition |
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The '2751' engraved on it means that it belonged to one of the early, pre-'61 machines |
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It is big, longer than a Sparta's: it's 145 mm tall (outside) and carries a 15 mm shaft |
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The all-important load-carrying steel sphere has a diameter of 13 mm |
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Papst motor |
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Sometimes you also lose some parts. For example I have no idea where I put this Papst motor, a spare for the Carrson turntable, that I would have used in my turntable project |
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