"LaserBeam" - Tank's new Lenco!

TankPopper

TankPopper

Well-Known Member
Hey guys.

Time for me to build another TT.. and fortunatly enough a L75 landed in my lap for dirty cheap - and in great condition!

My plan? go super HiTech! i want EVERYTHING to be cut by laser and make a Lego out of it. inspiration was naturaly drawn from the PTP. The body will be MDF (easy to cut by laser), the top plate and armboard will be 3mm stainless steel and the top will recieve a black surface using an acrylic board (laser cut as well..)

here are a few images of the work done so far:

top view
6.JPG


all the layers:
1.JPG


armboard and acrylic board removed:
2.JPG


top mdf board removed:
3.JPG


top plate imbedding board removed (3mm mdf...):
4.JPG


and just the base:
5.JPG


Alot more planning is still neccesary, mainly to make sure the LEGO aspect of it works fine.. i plan to make holes all over to help me brace the layers when glueing and maybe even cavities to fill sand \ led inside to plinth.

the only part not laser cut will be the side walls (not seen in the images). i plan to use a rather pail wood, probably oak.

any suggestions will be welcomed!

Tank out.
 
Your last build was impressive, but we haven't heard much since! Are you going to give us some photos of it in action, along with some listening impressions?
 
hey guys, sorry for not giving any updates.. it was the end of the semester in school and i was over whelmed with test and such.. but now im back!

first of all, im using SolidWorks for a cad program.. i can use Rinho as well but SolidWorks seems to work best for me.

My last build will soon be relocated to its new home at a friends system but for i can say the while the tonearm was rather simple the result was nothing short of stunning! the first thing i noticed was how musical and natural it sounded, the music was just right. it was also super quite (although it could be even more silent). im super happy with the result and that's why i went a head and started another Lenco project.

i have to say, those table are really magical.. they are really good in stock condition and could produce amazing result once you upgrade them. at this point, i dont see myself ever using anything else, no matter the price range.

and i will load some pictures and videos soon :)
 
One thing i could your help with - I'm thinking about making small cavities inside the plinth that will be filld with sand to improve the damping. My concern is that while birch is super heavy and dense, mdf isn't.. what do you guys think?
 
Thanks for the input tnsilver!

The thing is, and it might sound insane, but my goal in this project is to use laser cutting as much as i can and Birch nor solid wood cant be cut that way.. CNC IS available to me, but that would be a different project all together. besides, MDF isnt BAD for such tasks.. its actually pretty good! it has absolutly no resonance what so ever - its completely DEAD!
 
One suggestion I'd make is the allow for a separate, large armboard so that you can try different materials for it.

As it is you are effectively committed to using whatever the plinth is constructed of as the armboard material.
 
WOOHOOO!! doner lenco is here, and its so good looking im having second thoughts on butchering it....

and not only its in amazing condition, it came in with the ORIGINAL KIT!

%255BUNSET%255D.jpg


Tomy - you made me think.. im looking into CNCing this project out of Bamboo boards instead of laser cutting. more updates on that soon.
 
ok guys.. time to man up and admit - i was wrong...

after giving it much thought i realized that doing everything by laser is not smart and will have way too many problems to be worth while..

so CNC it is.

cnc.JPG


two layers of 38mm bamboo!

on top of the plinth will be a single 2mm stainless steel board.

more pictures are coming soon..
 
tnsilver said:
Personally, I wouldn't give a rat's ass who or what cut my turntable plinth - but if this is the aim of your project - it's entirely up to you. As for MDF, I'm not convinced, not at the least, with it's counter resonance or damping characteristics. It seems I'm not alone on this. The long lasting argument regarding it's virtues as a speaker cabinet building material is one of the most common on DIY audio forums. The facts, however, are less common.

One of the more serious references I could dig up - is located here on the Wilson audio web site. It seems, this manufacturer had done some actual research and the resonance / damping graphs of MDF vs. Birch vs. Oak vs. others are made publicly available. Let me quote some of their conclusions that are relevant here:

MDF



Baltic Birch



Check it out... Wilson Audio disclose this information because they have their own material which they clain is superior to all others in regards to cabinet building - but it's just another tip regarding MDF. It's actually very interesting. I wonder - is MDF really that good for turntable plinths in terms of damping and countering resonances? For sure, more research is required here...
Click to expand...

The only thing MDF and Particle Board have in common is they are engineered wood products as is plywood. Particle board is bonded wood chips. MDF is made from processed wood and maintains a fair amount of the cellulose fiber structure intact. These are completely different products. This quote from Wilson is therefore nonsense. Which material did they test?
MDF (particle board) is by far the most popular cabinet material. It's inexpensive and easy to mill. But as the graph shows, it has three resonant peaks (poor monotonicity), The high, sharp peaks indicate poor damping, and the resonant frequency lies in the 350hz range, (right in the midbass).
Click to expand...
. I seems your source needs to do some actual material testing because this is just marketing hype.
 
I only meant "your" source in the sense that it was your quote used to support your point. Re-read your quote from Wilson that you quoted. They mentioned particle board. "MDF (Particle Board) ..." That's what tripped my 'BS' flag. Any materials engineer doing testing would not likely make that mistake. 3/4" MDF is about 10% more dense than particle board and BB plywood is pretty close to particle board. Just as the resonant properties of cross laminated plywood are different than those of fibrous MDF I would expect granular particle board to vary as well.
 
I would suspect that particle board is chosen over MDF more for pricing than for sonics since MDF runs about 1.75X the cost of particle board.
 
ok guys - more progress!

i finally finished all the CNC files and this morning sent them off to the factory. its gonna be made from two layers of 38mm bamboo boards.

i made a little render for you two see were this is going:

11.JPG


The hardest part of the procces was to figure out a new speed control mechanism.. i had a bunch of ideas and most were impracticle.. but finally i found a solution! you can see how it works in a little video i made:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjwhL3IPq14&list=UU4G9I6-_3IQOOCYBVd-zBpA

Soon enough all the parts will be ready and assembly will begin! i cant wait :smoke:

Tank out!
 
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