Make your own roller-based isolation system for $16.50

After reading Barry Diament's very informative web site about using a bicycle inner tube as a vertical subsonic seismic low frequency filter (something which I also had discovered from a friendly audio dealer, and written about here) and some egg holders and marbles to serve as a horizonal/rotational seismic filter, I set about making my own set of "rollerblocks".

Now, you can go buy Symposium's beautifully crafted and engineered "Rollerblocks" products starting a $300 for the junior version, or you can make something that provides nearly the same functionality for about $16.50.

Buy two packages of Shepherd's 1 3/4" I.D. non-slip plastic furniture cups; these cost me a little over $7/each at Orchard Supply. They have a nice concave inner surface and a cool, sticky soft rubber bottom that keeps them in place between your turntable and it's supporting board/shelf.



Since I couldn't find any 1/2" glass marbles, for the rollers I bought a package 1/2" wooden balls at a local Michael's craft store for a budget-busting $1.19 (they were out of the $11,900 audiophile-grade ball bearings). The best ball bearing to use here would be a 1/2" steel ball bearing, preferably tungsten carbide.

Assemble the roller-cup system as shown:



I used three assemblies under my vintage Rega Planar 3 to keep the table from "rocking". When you press on the plinth from side to side, the table will move in the horizontal or rotational plane, but quickly settle back to it's stable position. It's this ability to move horizontally and rotationally that provides the isolation from subsonic seismic resonances that can affect the quality of playback.



You can then place the board your turntable sits on either on an 18" bicycle inner tube or on a vertically damping set of roller blocks made up of squash balls and 2 or 3" rubber Quick-Caps, as shown. Both provide low frequency seismic isolation in the vertical plane.

As soon as I get some proper steel 1/2" ball bearings, I will replace the wooden balls.

Try it....my turntable has never sounded better.

Thanks for the post and pics. I love tweaking and will get right on this. BTW, there is a company on eBay that sells pretty much nothing but large steel bearings:
(no affiliation, etc.)
http://stores.ebay.com/ToolSupply

Where's the Stalking Leopard(tm)?

Awesome idea, Puma Cat. So you put the ball bearing in between the concave halves of the furniture sliders? Cool. Can you give a better description and photos of what you've got going on below your wooden base?

Brilliant idea! Are those Slip n Grips concave enough to accommodate a squash ball, if that's your preferred method of isolation?

"...a vertically damping set of roller blocks made up of squash balls and 2 or 3" rubber Quick-Caps..."

Do you have specifics on that?

Quick-Caps is a product available in stores?

Sansui Louie said:

Where's the Stalking Leopard(tm)?

Awesome idea, Puma Cat. So you put the ball bearing in between the concave halves of the furniture sliders? Cool. Can you give a better description and photos of what you've got going on below your wooden base?

Click to expand...

Yes, that's exactly right. The balls are inside the furniture cups...they don't close quite completely, thereby letting the assembly roll. They basically make a ball bearing system in between two "races" (the plastic cups with concave surfaces). The bottom of the plinth and the board underneath keep the cups flat, and they roll on the ball in this placement.

The Stalking Leopard got irked when I was installing the roller blocks, and went off to a quiet place for a nap (you know how those big cats like to sleep), but he's received an "incoming tasker", and is back on the job stalking and killing resonances....

See my reply to Clmrt below for how the squash balls are set up on the Quick-Caps for the vertical suspension; this is below the hard rock maple board supporting the TT. You could also set the board on a partially inflated inner tube sized appropriately for your board, like an 18" one like Barry recommends. This works really well, too. I didn't have one around, but I had the squash balls and Quick-caps, so I used those. This system basically delivers the same functionality as the Gingko Cloud system does.

whell said:

Brilliant idea! Are those Slip n Grips concave enough to accommodate a squash ball, if that's your preferred method of isolation?

Click to expand...

No, it's important to have a very hard ball inside the cup, so that it will roll horizontallly and rotationally very easily. And the concave cup should be quite a bit larger than the ball, acc. to Barry Diament. That's why I used a smaller wooden balls in a larger concave cup; it was all I could find on a Sunday morning at a craft store. OSH didn't have any large, steel ball bearings. The harder the ball, the better. The harder and smoother the concave surface inside the cup, the better, too; and the cup should be as perfectly concave as possible. If I could find concave cups like this out of steel I would use that, too. This is why the Symposium Roller Block system is expensive; they have very hard, precise concave surfaces that are very highly polished and smooth for very low friction. It's a ball bearing in a race, that's all it is. It's designed to only move horizontally, not vertically. The plastic furniture cups are hard, but not as hard as would be ideal. They do have the rubber rings on the back side that make them stay nicely in place between the plinth and the board.

Clmrt said:

"...a vertically damping set of roller blocks made up of squash balls and 2 or 3" rubber Quick-Caps..."

Do you have specifics on that?

Quick-Caps is a product available in stores?

Click to expand...

Yeah, you can get them at Orchard Supply...they are an and end-cap for PVC pipe. They have dimple in them that holds a squash ball nicely.



You simply place the Quick cap on your shelf, one at each corner, or in a group of three in a triangle if you want to go the tripod route. Put the squash ball on it in the dimple. Set your board for supporting your TT on it. Then put your roller blocks on top of the board, and your TT on the roller blocks.

Voila! Add your Stalking Leopard and you're done!

Puma Cat said:

Voila! Add your Stalking Leopard and you're done!

Click to expand...

Is the leopard stalking that python who is swallowing the wooden crate?

Excellent tip, excellent write-up, excellent pics!

Thanks for sharing, Puma Cat!