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Building high-end 'tables cheap at Home Despot II

“For those who want the moon but can't afford it or those who can afford it but like to have fun and work with their hands, I'm willing to give out a recipe for a true high-end 'table which is easy to do, and fun to make as sky's the limit on design/creativity! The cost of materials, including 'table, is roughly $200 (depending, more or less), and add to that a Rega tonearm. The results are astonishing. I'll even tell/show you how to make chipboard look like marble and fool and impress all your friends. If there's interest I'll get on with this project, if not, I'll just continue making them in my basement. The next one I make will have a Corian top and have a zebra stripe pattern! Fun! Any takers?”

The Lead in “Da Thread” as posted by Johnnantais - 2-01-04

Let the saga continue. Sail on, oh ships of Lenco!
mario_b
hxt1
141 posts
 
Everything you have said is true, Mosin... Despite the preparation, discussions with the shop, measurements... There were still 2 complete failures bfore the third go round. When i got the "correct" one home, the table still wouldnt seat properly! After much grinding, swearing, testing, swearing,grinding, swearing VERY loudly.... I finally got the thing together.... Slate is not easy to work with, and yet i want to do it all over again..... Insanity.
lewm
6,770 posts
 
So, Mosin and Hxt1, based on your personal experiences with building from slate, it would seem that the prices of the two commercial products are not at all out of line. Would you agree? (Of the two, I favor Jonathan Weiss' plinth, because it is far more massive than the one made in Wales, but I was not so satisfied with the way they treat the tonearm mount. It seems to just sit in a hole in the top deck and may not be well coupled to the platter bearing therefore.)
mosin
410 posts
 
Lew,

A few points... First, the cost is inline due to the reasons I stated earlier. Second, the meaning of "well coupled to the platter bearing" is different from what everyone has come to accept. The reason is because the constrained layer nature of slate is so efficient that sounds actually change when they travel through it. They don't go far with thick slate, so the coupling becames sheerly a mechanical one. If the mount won't allow the tonearm to become misaligned, it has done its job because there are none of the resonance coupling issues that exist with wood and other materials. It really is that different. That said, Weiss will make one however you like because slate can be cut in virtually any way you can imagine...for a price. I don't know about the other guy, though.

mosin
lewm
6,770 posts
 
I was worried also about (i) how to bolt my Triplanar onto a slate surface, and (ii) whether the slate surface of the tonearm mount can be made perfectly flat and plane parallel to the turntable chassis. If I did it, I would use the "Reinderspeter" (4mm-thick flat steel) top-plate that I recently purchased, and that engenders another question (mentioned by Hxt1) of how to affix the plate to the slate surface, which again has to be as flat as possible. (Do you have an opinion on how to do this?) I am anxious to see the results of your own efforts to incorporate slate in a plinth.
mrjstark
1,112 posts
 


John, I am not promoting belt drives or anything like that.
All I am saying is, that :
plinth design is extremly important
If possible, more mass is better IMO
wood works and is DIY friendly
it is more practical and economically a better choice

Is slate better then combo of MDF, ply baltic birch ???
I do not know.

What I do know is that making plinth for Lenco or any other turntable from slate can and probably is pain in the A$$ to execute successfully and effectively. That is of course only my opinion.
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