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Mark W. RCM Photo's finally

Mark W.

Nut house of the Universe
OK I finally have this pretty much functionally finished (I still have some little details to attend to.

Platter rotation motor is a $20.00 Black and Decker 3.6V rechargeable electric screwdriver Motor and planetary gear reduction (180RPM stock). Power is transmitted via a Hub drive using a 1.5" diameter Model airplane rubber tail wheel shoved over the bit holder chuck on the screwdriver motor and riding against the plate belt pulley surface.

This combo gives so much torque I could use this to screw a 2" wood screw into solid fir! It is a 6-1 reduction from the original 180 RPM. The reduction increases the screwdrivers already massive torque.

The Vacuum turbine is from a hand held Euro vac.

Motor power is from a 5V 3.7amp wall adapter using 3) pairs of N4001 power diodes to reduce the voltage to approx. 3.8-3.9V volts giving a speed of 29-30 RPM I would GREATLY like to THNAK Markthefixer for this excellent solution to my hair pulling power supply problems.

The Platter and bearing assembly is from a mid 70's era ONKYO TT. I had to make a special tip for the spindle so I could have threads on the tip for the clamp to attach to.

The Mat is two layers of the finest grain cork I could find glued together with Carpenters glue.

The Vacuum turbine is housed inside simple cheap 4" PVC sewer pipe it turned out to be the perfect inside Dimension. The front 10" of the big white tube is a Water trap that seams to be doing it's job very well I can't feel any moisture exiting the rear of the machine. I still need to add a 1/8" diameter brass tube into the water reservoir so I can use a large syringe to suck it dry when needed.

The Vacuum pickup is made from .750OD Carbon Fiber tube and the pivot blocks are made from Micrata (a Phenolic resin and cloth based material) The slot in the pickup is shielded with Velvet ribbon carpet taped to the pickup tube I used about a 1/16th inch wide slot.

The platter will rotate both directions. (I need to reverse the switch as it's mounted wrong!)

It takes approx. 2 rotation to remove all visible liquid from the record.

I tried to make the styling look like it fit my Oak and silver face system. I still have to finalize the satin finish on the aluminum but wanted to make sure everything worked properly before those details.

The box is 1/2" MDF that once it was glued and screwed together I used 20 minute model airplane finishing epoxy (think the epoxy version of a polyester resin like fiberglass uses) This fills all the screw holes and toughen ups the edges so they will hold up to years of being rubbed. The Paint is Rustoleum Hammer finish black and one more coat will go on once I decide to complete the finish details.

The surface of the top is covered with Black art foam about .090 thick.

So far I have only test washed a few records to see if everything is working properly. I need to pick up some more distilled water for a final rinse and then I'll do some serious testing and test listening to see how well it is working.

I still need to pickup the new inner sleeves and jacket covers I want to use before I start cleaning the collection. But that will give me time to perfect my method cleaning thrift shop junk.

Feel free to ask any questions I'll come up with something.


THE PHOTOS
 
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Wow, Mark! Very impressive!!! :thmbsp: Your workmanship never ceases to impress me.

Have you put anything around your pickup to create a vacuum seal of some sort? Most record cleaning machines use a felt "ring" of some sort for this application.
 
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It has a Velvet ribbon on both sides of the pickup slot currently just carpet taped in place I wanted to be able to replace it easily
 
So Mark, when do you go into production? You sure can do the maximum with the minimum in material and cost.
 
WOW, it looks GREAT Mark..... glad to help, especially glad that things worked out so well in regards to keeping the cost of the power supply down....



For those who are curious, there are three parallel pairs (for heat dissipation) of two diodes in series. with attention paid towards getting the three pair's voltage drops matched.
 
The 1N4001 diodes were I thought a 1 amp rated device. You may have to upgrade that to a 3 amp or above diode in time.

Nice project you pulled off :thmbsp:

EDIT: never mind, reread the post and you said pairs of diodes so maybe you aren't too far off max spec.

Lefty
 
I have actually thought about building a few of these next winter to add to my unemployment check each winter (I drive dump truck for a paving company and 4 months off every winter is not uncommon)

The problem is finding a source of suitable platters and bearings. if the cost of materials approches $100.00 then keeping the price affordable and competitive with the $500.00 factroy machines is a challege.

But I have all summer sitting in a dump truck to think about it. SO I just might find a way to do it.

I wouldn't mind adding a few hundred bucks to my winter time fun money making and selling a half dozen of these machines

With my 14 year of experiance as a custom knifemaker I know alot about doing small production runs of projects like this. I even manufactured and sold Belt grinders for knifemaker for a little while.

BUT it is deciding to actually go through with it that is always the hold up.

For now I'll be happy to inspire a couple others and their DIY machines and to ge tmy 500 albums clean.
 
Mark, that is impressive :thmbsp: . I especially like the T-shaped vacuum arm. I don't know if you planed it to look that way or if it was just a part that was T-shaped but it's a nice touch. How loud is the vac? How good is the suction? Any tweeks that need mentioning? I'm assuming that you lift the T-bar verticaly to place and remove LP's - correct? Is it a manual turn? And if it is how hard is it to turn while the vacuum is running?

Jimmy
 
NICE.....

I am on my way also...

Have most all my STUFF.... Have one componet coming next week and need to get one more item...

:banana:
 
Jimmy read my first post it is powered by a screwdriver motor has enough torque to put in a 2" wood screw into solid fir!

the T was made from Carbon Fiber tubing I bought 5 foot long. and yes I lift the arm to place an LP

the vacuum will pull all the water off in two passes and if it weren't for the high torque would stop the platter dead it's a 600watt vacum
 
Mark, that looks great! Though I am wondering why you didn't put in a little plexiglass window so that people could see the sewer pipe :scratch2: :D
 
I was wondering what to do with all that open flat alumnuim Rich A window is a great idea. I have some blue aceylic that would make a great viewing window.

Actually I though real hard about putting a drawer for cleaning brushes into it. That is room for a pretty good sized one about 4" deep. But I just wanted it done. I may revist that idea later.
 
Great job Mark.Wish i was a handyman or diy.Would love to get one of these one day.To much money for a factory one for me.Thanks for shareing
Jim
 
Motor power is from a 5V 3.7amp wall adapter using 3) pairs of N4001 power diodes to reduce the voltage to approx. 3.8-3.9V volts giving a speed of 29-30 RPM I would GREATLY like to THNAK Markthefixer for this excellent solution to my hair pulling power supply problems.

The 1N4001 diodes were I thought a 1 amp rated device. You may have to upgrade that to a 3 amp or above diode in time.

Nice project you pulled off :thmbsp:

EDIT: never mind, reread the post and you said pairs of diodes so maybe you aren't too far off max spec.

Lefty
You can't run diodes in parallel to share current like you can a resistor. One always has a lower voltage drop and takes all the current, and the other just sits there.

You could use three 1N5404's (rated at 3A), or three 6R4's (rated at 6A).


Didn't see this thread back when it was posted.
 
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You can't run diodes in parallel to share current like you can a resistor. One always has a lower voltage drop and takes all the current, and the other just sits there.

You could use three 1N5404's (rated at 3A), or three 6R4's (rated at 6A).


Didn't see this thread back when it was posted.


OK I have no technical knowledge to dispute you.

I did buy many more Diodes then needed and as Markthefixer told me to I tested them with my multi meter and made up 3 matched pairs.

It has so far cleaned over 100 LP's and shows no sign of not continuing to work as built. I guess if the pair with the lowest voltage drop goes south the next pair in line will keep the machine turning.
 
I don't remember the gory details of the diode selection, those details may have been handled by (long lost) PM. Thus I'm not sure if that matching attempt was just dealing with what was already there, the hi-current diodes were unavailable, if initially I thought the current was lower, or I just plain blew it....

Since they haven't blown up, I guess it isn't pulling many amps. But Mark, if one goes, and then the other one of the pair shoulders the load until IT blows, then the thing shuts down, like an opened switch.

Radio Shack has the higher powered diodes at or under 3 bucks. I would get em and toss them inside of the rcm storage for the just in case situation of the current diodes conking out.

3-Amp Diodes 1N5402 part # 276-1143 2 in a pack for $1.59 you need 3 so you need two packs at a total = $ 3.18

OR

6-Amp Diodes part # 276-1661 4 in a pack for $2.49
 
Worst-case scenerio is the diodes burn up and open. In that case, just toss some tougher ones in there.
 
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