PART 1:
So this past summer I got myself a Garrard 401 and decided I would make my own plinth.
For the material, I decided on Russian (Baltic) birch ply, 1" thick. I bought three sheets which I had the store cut into pieces of 20"x25". The three sheets would yield a total of nine pieces, I would need five. The remaining four pieces I will keep as spares in case a mistake occurs during the cutting/drilling process. The final dimensions of the five sheets I would use ended up being 20"x22" (I eventually trimmed off three inches from the side of the plinth). I wanted to make the plinth tall enough so as to have a solid bottom layer. Thus, I would need a plinth 5" tall to be able to house the bottom of the motor (and its transport bracket) with a bit of clearance to spare.
Sheets being cut as I wait, and placed in the trunk for the ride home:
I marked them from 1 to 5, with level 1 being the top piece. This helped during the cutting process because in the beginning all the sheets look the same. It helped quite a bit when trying to figure out which piece belongs where and which direction should it be facing. Simple, but effective.
The 401 came with its original manual as well as an original paper template. Laid out the template and proceeded to mark the four bolt holes and spindle mark:
So as not to cut or damage the paper template, I used a safety pin to punch tiny holes into the wood:
making an arc (according to spec on template) from spindle mark for the upper part of the chassis:
and joining the dots:
I cut the hole as close to the pencil markings as possible (do not go outside the pencil border). I lightly sanded for a smooth cut:
Level 1 complete along with mark for tone-arm hole:
......
So this past summer I got myself a Garrard 401 and decided I would make my own plinth.
For the material, I decided on Russian (Baltic) birch ply, 1" thick. I bought three sheets which I had the store cut into pieces of 20"x25". The three sheets would yield a total of nine pieces, I would need five. The remaining four pieces I will keep as spares in case a mistake occurs during the cutting/drilling process. The final dimensions of the five sheets I would use ended up being 20"x22" (I eventually trimmed off three inches from the side of the plinth). I wanted to make the plinth tall enough so as to have a solid bottom layer. Thus, I would need a plinth 5" tall to be able to house the bottom of the motor (and its transport bracket) with a bit of clearance to spare.
Sheets being cut as I wait, and placed in the trunk for the ride home:
I marked them from 1 to 5, with level 1 being the top piece. This helped during the cutting process because in the beginning all the sheets look the same. It helped quite a bit when trying to figure out which piece belongs where and which direction should it be facing. Simple, but effective.
The 401 came with its original manual as well as an original paper template. Laid out the template and proceeded to mark the four bolt holes and spindle mark:
So as not to cut or damage the paper template, I used a safety pin to punch tiny holes into the wood:
making an arc (according to spec on template) from spindle mark for the upper part of the chassis:
and joining the dots:
I cut the hole as close to the pencil markings as possible (do not go outside the pencil border). I lightly sanded for a smooth cut:
Level 1 complete along with mark for tone-arm hole:
......
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