The Presslift

I’m guessing, all those keystrokes were about lifting an arm, when a record ends. My first Safety Raiser(AT6006) lasted 30+ years, before it began lifting too quickly. That’s a lot of years, in which I enjoyed end-of-record-peace-of-mind, via it’s very gentle lifting habits. Not bad for the $19.95 that I paid, back in 1980. I quickly found a couple NOS/NIB Raisers, for which I(gladly) paid $120 each. Now, Audio-Technica has re-released the piece(AT6006R), sans the lock-down wire of the old(no big loss) and a higher price(of course). https://www.audio-technica.com/cms/accessories/398e4995e9bfe926/index.html I’m not really crazy about changing the effective mass and/or resonance of my tonearm, by adding a chunk of alloy to it’s headshell, either.

it began lifting too quickly

If you still have it, you can ’slow it down’ by renewing the silicon gel. Easy job, as the raiser-piston pulls out, just be removing the little screw behind it. The silicon is sold for fixing cueing-devices, and fairly easy to find. I agree the lockdown wire is unnecessary. As for the price, used ones sell for that, or more, and now that the patent has expired, some knock-offs are double the price. Great little device; some complain it doesn’t work, but they just don’t know how.

As for OP’s invention, it’s brilliant... in some ways, e.g. the ascending spiral. The ’bar’ across the headshell needn’t be so massive; to me the weight is ugly (as is the bar — both are design overkill); it doesn't address edge-warp; and I’d prefer a clamp — it’s a firmer grip, pressure is adjustable, and why add mass to the bearing?

Sorry for the diss, OP. Honest feedback. If you think I’m wrong, by all means defend your creation. I wish you success, I love the idea, and if it were available in the simpler form described, I’d grab it.

rodman99999
bimasta

My answer is going to be long, I never expected to write up so much on the subject… especially in a forum.

Thank you for the straight-forward feedback. I really appreciate receiving opinions, positive or negative.

The presslift is not intended to compete with other record weights or clamps for the sole purpose of flattening a record and it is not intended to compete with other arm lifters only for the purpose of lifting the arm.

The presslift is singular and it does what it does a bit differently than all these other products combined. I am going to try to explain:

The lift in presslift:
The Safety Raiser, the Little Fwend, the Alphason, the Q-up, the Expressimo and many others are excellent options to add the convenience of lifting the arm at the end of the play.

In addition to the intended function, they all have one other thing in common: any guess?

The reset. You cannot forget to reset... so the whole user experience becomes part of the ritual I was talking about in my original post.

Not that it is a big deal to reset, that's not the point, but the point is safety. 

If for any reason the reset was not done, then, next time around, the arm shaft hits the raiser and will bounce outward and inward repetitively until the problem is dealt with.

Sure the stylus won't be too happy.

With all shaft raisers, the user must not forget to reset the lifter each time.

The presslift eliminates the need to reset.

Another point which will not apply for many, if a turntable has more than one arm; two, three anyone? Well, one presslift would suffice.

The lifter currently supplied with the unit weighs 1.6 grams. Yes, it ads to the total effective mass of the arm with the cartridge installed but generally the effective mass ratings on arms come without cartridge so therefore these extra 1.6 grams could be taken into account as cartridge mass variance... When we designed it, we considered this additional weight would not affect resonance perceptively in general, but considering a user knows the characteristics of their arm, they can match a cart together with the additional 1.6g in order to fall within the spectrum of ideal resonant frequency. Key word is spectrum and as long as that resonant frequency stays below the teens, no audible output will occur.

The lifter looks heavier than it is but the underside is hollow to allow placement over mounting screw-heads (in some cases they stick out from the surface of the head-shell) without having to disturb any existing set-up. It literally takes 10 seconds to strap it on with an invisible elastic band. We supply 2 clear bands and one black. It can be installed over any head-shell, I even tested it with a Concorde just for argument's sake. 

If this project generates some revenue, we will develop a lighter lifter first and eventually a head-shell with an integrated lifter. This is definitely work in progress but the current version works flawlessly.

The press in presslift:
The unit weighs 722 grams or 25.47 oz. This is the amount of downforce the record receives which we consider an ideal pressure for a 12 inch record. This additional weight is supported by the platter which in turn is supported by the bearing. Generally, TT bearings are designed to support more than just the weight of the platter, this additional weight would not burden any bearing to lead to premature wear.  

In the presslift the total weight is distributed. About 40% of the unit couples with the platter (spins all the time) whereas the rest is suspended on a bearing which is housed inside the presslift. The bearing is designed with a tiny amount of play between the steel rings and the ceramic balls which allow the top of the presslift to counter any change of direction (caused by external vibration or shock) and therefore this mechanism  permits a measure of dampening to occur. If you want to visualize a simplified profile of this system, imagine a bell attached to the center of the platter by the tip of its clapper.

When the motor starts-up, the only additional burden it sees is about 290 grams of static weight. The rest of the mass does not demand additional torque from the motor therefore the additional starting burden to the motor is minor considering these 290 grams are close to the center of the platter.

 

A clamp works differently. The clamp pulls the shaft upwards and pushes the record against the platter, downwards. If the platter and the shaft are coupled rigidly okay but if the platter sits on a conical mount, then the platter is further pressed into the shaft by the additional force created. It takes more time to set-up a clamp and also if a felt washer is used, your records will develop eventually a conical profile in the label zone, generally more prominent on the sides you prefer to listen to more often.

With some clamps you need to press the record down by hand so then you try to avoid fingerprints on the record… and when the hand presses the record down, the force is not applied uniformly in a concentric pattern with the plate and therefore during this action the bearing sees unbalanced loads with each application.

Both methods, by weight or clamping, will result in coupling the record with the platter. There is a diminishing return though, it doesn’t mean that higher forces produce better results. We believe we hit the sweet spot with the weight of the presslift.

I hope all my time to write these details will help offer better insight into what the presslift is all about.

We launched this product in December 2018, the design, prototyping and validation took a long time and the consumer acceptance is going to take time. We created this product because we are passionate about this craft. Time will tell if it was a good idea or not.  

If you made it all the way here, thank you for taking the time out of your day to read about the presslift.

When I become too maladroit to manage manipulating my VPI’s record clamp(without wrecking my recordings) and/or can’t reliably remember to reset my Raiser, it’ll be time to train someone else to spin vinyl for me. In my particular case, acoustic feedback was a major issue. I took great pains, tuning/redesigning my TT’s suspension, base, plinth and feet(successful in eliminating every vestige). Adding over a pound and a half to the platter, could very well require starting over. There’s little doubt, you’re product will find a home in the systems of many, with a need for it’s benefits. Best of luck, with your endeavor(s).

@bimasta-  Thanks for the repair tip.