As some of you may remember on Christmas day I managed to snag the stylus of my ORTOFON X3-MC on the cloth I was using as a dust cover for my Pro-Ject RM-5 TT. Resulting in the destruction of a very nice cart and costing me the price of another very nice cart (the price made much much more digestible when I bought a virtually new Goldring Eroica H from AK member goraman for about a 1/3 it's retail price.

Now having a $450.00 cartridge and still having dust to worry about I figured I best make some changes.

So out came the thinking cap and the pencil and pad. Having seen a dust cover made by JA Michell that was similar to what I would need I got to designing something.

My TT sits under our stairs and the angled ceiling of it's little area made the use of a cake box type dust cover impractical since I would not be able to lift the box straight up enough to clear the tonearm before hitting the sound panel above the table.

So I went a little exotic and made this:

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h217/UJ78/Turntable%20stuff%20part%202/Dust%20cover/Dustcover002.jpg

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h217/UJ78/Turntable%20stuff%20part%202/Dust%20cover/Dustcover004.jpg

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h217/UJ78/Turntable%20stuff%20part%202/Dust%20cover/Dustcover006.jpg

Now this doesn't cover the whole table and sub plinth BUT it does protect it from any cloth I might use to cover the table if I'm going to be away from it for a while.

The two halves are held together by some little 4-40 screws to make polishing each piece easier and in case either piece should get broken.

It is not being held on my the record clamp it's just sitting on top. It does have the ability to turn with the platter but the lift arm and the little wire that holds the antiskate weight both touch it before it touches the tonearm itself.

I'm still thinking on a way to keep even that from happening.

Anyway my latest project for your enjoyment.

Mark, that is amazing, now make me one!!!

Nice job Mark! :banana:

I love the DIY approach. To think that some guys spend $$$ for "audiophile approved accessories" not even half as good as a custom job. :no:

Very nice. No need to validate by saying it's DIY, that's a first class looking dustcover. :thmbsp:

Thats cool, I might have to make one for my Dual 1009 that had its dustcover broken many years ago.

Looks good and effective. :thmbsp:

This would provide stylus protection, which is what I need the most. I'm paranoid enough as it is with my 10X5 hanging out exposed, but I'm going to upgrade to a cartridge closer to $1k soon, so I'd be able to sleep better with something like this.

Beautiful Workmanship Mark! Awesome TT!

John.:music:

Excellent and ingenious Mark.

Very creative!

Holy smokes, that's something else. I bet a lot o' people would be willing to pay for one, Mark. Well done.
Tom

Nice job Mark, as usual. About the possible rotation of your assembly, what about using the light column as a fixing point?

That's first class! :thmbsp:

BTW I think I heard you the day you discovered the snag. I know what it is like, as I woke up the morning after a huge vinyl & CD spinning party at the mighty stereo to find the cantelever of a very expensive cartridge folded back on itself. I started speaking about it, and Noah Webster was listening, and jotting down every word. :o