I started this about a year ago. It's really depressing how long it takes me to finish a project anymore. My primary goal with this (other than to clean records) was to have an RCM that I could actually use in the evening without A.) waking my 3 year old son up, and B.) having my wife yell at me. Obviously, A would lead to B without fail. I had a Nitty Gritty at one time, but both A and B were violated on a regular basis.
In order to keep this thing quiet, I wanted to find or build a very sturdy cabinet, and line the inside with acoustic foam. I scored big time by finding a solid oak cabinet for peanuts. According to the label on back, this used to be in a hotel! If you look at the bottom cavity where the vacuum is located, you'll see that it is totally lined with foam. Also, I used a speaker port tube to exhaust the air out the bottom. The exhausted air (and sound) hits the carpet, and then is routed to the back of the cabinet.
I used a VPI pickup tube, and got a 17 Hz high torque motor on ebay for $17. The donor turntable was a cheap Sony. Fitting the motor was by far the hardest part of the the endeavor. I ended up having to buy 3 motor couplings on ebay for a couple bucks each. I bought 3 because I figured I would f**k two of them up, which indeed I did. The motor spindle was 3/8, the turntable spindle was 5/16, and the the coupling was 1/4". It took two failures before I was able to drill the thing dead center. This type of coupling is nice, because it is springy and will soak up any slight misalignment of the shafts.
After a bit of tweaking, I have to say that this thing works like a charm. It takes all of the snap, crackle, and pop out the albums, and I can use it without earmuffs on! The volume is about 1/3 that of an average carpet vacuum. Total cost was about $100, with the bulk of that going to the pick up tube.
Markus
In order to keep this thing quiet, I wanted to find or build a very sturdy cabinet, and line the inside with acoustic foam. I scored big time by finding a solid oak cabinet for peanuts. According to the label on back, this used to be in a hotel! If you look at the bottom cavity where the vacuum is located, you'll see that it is totally lined with foam. Also, I used a speaker port tube to exhaust the air out the bottom. The exhausted air (and sound) hits the carpet, and then is routed to the back of the cabinet.
I used a VPI pickup tube, and got a 17 Hz high torque motor on ebay for $17. The donor turntable was a cheap Sony. Fitting the motor was by far the hardest part of the the endeavor. I ended up having to buy 3 motor couplings on ebay for a couple bucks each. I bought 3 because I figured I would f**k two of them up, which indeed I did. The motor spindle was 3/8, the turntable spindle was 5/16, and the the coupling was 1/4". It took two failures before I was able to drill the thing dead center. This type of coupling is nice, because it is springy and will soak up any slight misalignment of the shafts.
After a bit of tweaking, I have to say that this thing works like a charm. It takes all of the snap, crackle, and pop out the albums, and I can use it without earmuffs on! The volume is about 1/3 that of an average carpet vacuum. Total cost was about $100, with the bulk of that going to the pick up tube.
Markus
