Pioneer PL-518 (Restomod)

ErKru

New Member
i was considering a Projeckt Carbon, but fell in love with the Pioneer pl-518 so after a couple of weeks looking for one i was able to win one on ebay for a reasonable price. came with a ADC headshell, and realistic/shure cartridge

yesterday my pl-518 arrived in the mail...


it was in a sad shape, has not been used in god knows how long...


the vinyl was peeling all the way around, and the metal base and cover were starting to rust..


upon further disassemble it looked like its never been cracked open!..


here's the headshell and shure r25 edt cartridge... looks like the needle has a nasty kink in it, but i am planing to replace both in the future (suggestions welcome)


after separating the mechanics and the base i started to peel the vinyl...


no pics of it in action but used a head dryer to heat the glue up and make the job much easier..


so that was all i got to do yesterday....
 
today i took the metal base, and cover to work with me (i do autobody/paint) to freshen them up a little....

this is what they looked like after taking them all the way apart, dirty and starting to rust...


so after cleaning them i sanded all the rust down and hung them up for paint..


they got a coat of sealer/primer, and fresh black base coat, and to top it of some nice clear coat...


so this is where i am now... ready to clean up the mechanics/tonearm and start putting the base back together...


after that is all done and once i can find some wood veneer i will tackle the base of the turntable...


let me know what you all think.

also any suggestions for feet for the turntable? this one came without any, and i would like to get some nice looking feet for it.

also where can i get some hinges for the dust over those were also missing.


thanks
 
Great job. I redid my PL-514 in veneer. Considered the paint route also, but I don't have access or the knowledge to do that right, figured I could at least get a decent result doing veneer. Yours should look amazing by the look of things so far.
 
today i took the metal base, and cover to work with me (i do autobody/paint) to freshen them up a little....

You do autobody/paint? In South Jersey? Wanna paint my Merkur XR4Ti? :naughty:

Nice project turntable, I look forward to seeing the finished article.

Lee.
 
Great job. I redid my PL-514 in veneer. Considered the paint route also, but I don't have access or the knowledge to do that right, figured I could at least get a decent result doing veneer. Yours should look amazing by the look of things so far.

Where did you find the veneer? I checked the local home improvement stores (lowes and homedepo) but had no luck there and i would really like to get some localy so i dont have to wait days to get it. Also what kind did you use? I want to do wood (oak) to match my credenza.


You do autobody/paint? In South Jersey? Wanna paint my Merkur XR4Ti? :naughty:

Nice project turntable, I look forward to seeing the finished article.

Lee.

Unforunatly i dont have a place to do side jobs and my place of employment doesnt allow side jobs. Otherwise i would gladly help painting a xr4ti!!!
 
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I did my feet this way under $50.00

Since you can paint automotive style, I would paint it instead of re-veneer it!
I am deciding on doing mine yellow. orange and or bright red with a sleek clear coat over the top. Some one on here already did his plinth gloss black and it looks real sleek!
 
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I did my feet this way under $50.00

Since you can paint automotive style, I would paint it instead of re-veneer it!
I am deciding on doing mine yellow. orange and or bright red with a sleek clear coat over the top. Some one on here already did his plinth gloss black and it looks real sleek!


I saw your thread with the feet it is something i might concider, ibut would it be possible to do smaller size? Or would that take away from the sound?

Also i did think about painting the plinth, but i just love the way they look with wood veneer.
 
I saw your thread with the feet it is something i might concider, ibut would it be possible to do smaller size? Or would that take away from the sound?

Also i did think about painting the plinth, but i just love the way they look with wood veneer.

I don't think that smaller balls would kill the sound any.
 
Where did you find the veneer? I checked the local home improvement stores (lowes and homedepo) but had no luck there and i would really like to get some localy so i dont have to wait days to get it. Also what kind did you use? I want to do wood (oak) to match my credenza.




Unforunatly i dont have a place to do side jobs and my place of employment doesnt allow side jobs. Otherwise i would gladly help painting a xr4ti!!!

I also couldn't find any local place that stocked veneer. I had to buy it online. Capitol City Lumber, great selection and really good prices. It only took a 2' X 4' sheet to do the entire turntable. If you can't find a sheet that size, just type in the 2' X 4' along with the type and it should pop right up. I have no affiliation with CCL, just had a good buying experience with them. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.
 
put some stuff back together, but still no luck finding veneer localy. looks like i will have to order online!
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also gave the plater a bubble bath...
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while at work today i tried sanding and clear coating the dust cover to bring it back to life ( this trick works well on car headlight) but i didnt work and now it looks frosted and the yellow is still in it. so it looks like i will be purchasing a new one in the future...
F3B7CBB4-0519-4149-952F-801A32F88B70-1815-0000049048200A83_zpsa0f0c63c.jpg


also after looking into different feer i am leaning towards the technics sl1200 isolator feet... any thoughts on these?
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not much of an update but...

i ordered the veneer from capitol city lumber like krisjay suggested, definetly recomend them! the only thing is that i thought it would be tje iron on style, instead i had to glue it. that being said i got it on the plinth and the glue is drying. i will trim it tomorrow and stain it.

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from coments i read online i decided to order the technics feet. i am glad i did, the rubber inside seems good, and the felt bottom will work great on the glass panel i am going to place the TT on. also they look nice, which is a plus.

87679599-14BA-441A-B9DB-BED67DB2BD29-1057-0000028C7E22C240_zps76448aa5.jpg


hope to have it rocking this weekend!!!:banana:
 
Hi, you can save that dust cover if you want. It is in good shape. Needs to be wet sanded the polished. There is a thread on it too.:yes:

John.:music::D
 

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Hi, you can save that dust cover if you want. It is in good shape. Needs to be wet sanded the polished. There is a thread on it too.:yes:

John.:music::D

yeah i know but now there are 2 coats of clear coat, thats a lot of wet sanding :/ i should have just polished it instead of clear coating it.

Some nice work so far :thmbsp:

I was jealous on first look, i thought you had that booth at home ;)

i wish i had a booth like that at home!!

looking good ,i sold one of those just a few weeks ago and now thinking i should have kept it

they are really easy to work on, you definitely should have kept it!



here are some things i got done today...

realized how similar the marants gyro knob and the technics feet are..


went out and bought and installed some T nuts for the feet


crappy picture of the veneer on, i still have to do some final sanding and later today i am going to stain it...


here's a picture of its soon to be home, with the help of my dad we built the "credenza" from scratch especially for my audio gear the TT is going to be stained to match the doors on the cabinet

 
got it mostly put together, however i definitely need a new cartridge/stylus. ill have to see if i can fina a used one until i order a new one. i am most likely going to get the ortofon red 2m any opinions on it?

heres some pictures...
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i will probably do another coat of stain to darken the plinth some more.
 
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