Rega Planar 3 Upgrade(?) path

[J!m]

got the power switch assembly done. Added the connector which required opening up the plinth a bit more…

also added the fuse. I was able to get the threads of the holder to thread into the wood. Came out clean. Everything is good so far!

 

[J!m]

More fiddly work. Attached wires to the fuse holder and attached the connector to the motor board. Slow progress.

I stopped by the local store and got some flag connectors to run wires off the inlet filter at 90 degrees. That’ll be sorted tomorrow. If I’m clever, I’ll be able to remove the motor, board and harness as an assembly for service too.

 

[J!m]

"No one's going to see it" is not license to do sloppy work...

Motor carrier is done.

 

[J!m]

Started on wiring and realized I would not be able to adjust the motor very much. It shouldn’t need much honestly, but I may go with longer belts and get crazy..,

So, I had to create a new space for the motor board. Had I realized this earlier, I might have mounted the fuse on the other side if the power inlet. But it’s fine.



That “brown” area in the large cavity is a raised area that was under the board. I took it out so the entire large cavity is open and flat.

The cable to the switch and LED is now shorter, so I need to deal with that, but pretty smooth all things considered.

 

[George S.]

I watch those YouTube videos of those pro wood worker guys building massive plinths out of exotic woods. They're all using jigs and patterns to recreate a plinth that they've built before, perhaps many times.
I've often thought about doing the same, and come to the conclusion that I'd have to build at least 2 or 3 to get the jigs and patterns correct.
Looking at what your doing basically"freehand" and figuring out the cuts and recesses as you go is impressive. Good job!

 

[J!m]

I (and you) can make temporary jigs. I actually have a book in making jigs and fixtures for woodworking. It was a big help for designing the method for a 15 degree scarf joint to attach the headstock to the neck…

But if you have a shallow pattern but (mine is 1” but I used to have an arsenal of router bits back in the day…) and then you use plywood to define straight lines and hard stops. For this work, it is not seen, so I just go for it.

To do the counterbores, I put the wrong size bearing on the bottom bearing bit, so it cuts deeper than the bearing…

 

[NeverSatisfied]

Proof of a good design and a good designer/engineer/fabricator is the ability to modify and improve along the way. Recognizing an opportunity to improve a design whether yours or someone else’s is real genius.

 

[J!m]

Or just an oversight...

 

[NeverSatisfied]

Or just an oversight...

Or in this case just an undersight…..

 

[J!m]

I blame PTSD from the Yoko video.

 

[laatsch55]

I blame PTSD from the Yoko video.

LOL!!

 

[J!m]

More boring stuff today.

Made the bing for the VTA disc template. I’m going to run around the outside, using the bore for the tone arm to keep it well centered.

It will be “D” shaped- flat at the edge where the wheel protrudes. Still on the fence but the plan at the moment is to have the edge peek out through the wood plinth.

Then I polished the main shaft of the sub platter. Finish was worse than the stock Rega; now it’s better. I can do less than one micron but I couldn’t find the Diamond suspension. This was done with 10 micron paper and thread cutting oil.

 

[J!m]

More boring stuff but I did hear back from the machine shop (hopefully have the last quotes soon) and the rubber place. If I go “big” we’ll make a die to stamp out the rubber sheet. Since it’s just one for now, it’ll be water-jet cut. Hopefully I have that quote tomorrow as well.

Otherwise I just cut the ears off the motor. I need to cut the wire channel a bit deeper and of course re attach another broken wire.

 

[NeverSatisfied]

Jim, saw this while cruising on Pinterest, thought you might like it.

 

[J!m]

Yeah, that’s interesting!

 

[J!m]

I needed a break from micro-machine design...

Back on this. Machine shop is swamped so I still don't have my quotes. But, it gives me more time to save money to pay them...

I needed a way to accurately rout for the VTA lock disc. Similar to the Michell "Finger Nut".

Anyway, this locates in the counterbore for the tonearm, and I will rout around the outside of it, to create a circle of appropriate diameter, on center, and of proper depth. The edge of the disc will peek out the side of the plinth, just above the sub-plinth, for loosening and tightening. Not quite VTA on the fly, but at least you don't have to reach under the table, or prop it up on blocks, while fine-tuning... I will have a "wall" thickness of 0.165" on the back of the plinth, but it should be enough in Birch ply. I'll reinforce it with cyanoacrylate in that area, after I'm done with the routing.

 

[George S.]

Looking forward to your completion of this project with lots of photos because I know nothing about expensive turntables and tone arms.
Still using my AR-XB I bought new in the 70s.
Never even heard of a MS turntable until you started talking about them. Cool thread.

 

[J!m]

Got the counterbore done for the arm nut today. (Also got the quote for the water jet cut rubber sheet)



I also made a heavier anti-skate weight for the Kenwood. This is why I was hearing distortion on inner grooves…



I needed to add a penny (3g) to the 1g weight all the way at the end of the arm, to get it to run clean. The new weight is 5g so I can run it more in the middle of the adjustment range.

 

[J!m]

tracking force got screwed up so I did 82% of a complete set up again.

But, it works!

 

[J!m]

Todays update: the water-jet cut rubber sheet for the constrained layer has arrived!

The last pieces are being machined now.

This thing better work because it’s REALLY expensive…