Oswald Mill Audo Saskia Idler Turntable Innards?

I make the then old-fashioned way, by hand.

I should say the old-fashioned way. The word "then" typed itself into the post. ;) Anyway, various parts of the turntable are built in machine shops, a company does water jet work on the raw slate, another makes the basic part of the controller enclosure, and Mark Kelly does the controller circuitry in Australia. I do all assembly and finish work.

Win,

I am not an engineer, so please forgive my crude attempt to ask an engineering-type question. How do you communicate dimensional and geometric tolerances to your component part manufacturers and machine shops? In other words, since the ultimate success of your design depends on micro tolerances, how do you make certain that each turntable you build is precisely uniform from one turntable to the next?

Tom

Tom,

I send appropriate CAD drawings to the vendors. They build from those, and I accept or reject according to the outcome. This is all done in close contact with those involved, of course. The slate, for example, can be cut to an accuracy of .0006". Metal is even more accurate than that. One particular company, IDG Mfg. LLC., is owned by a machinist named Colby Lamb who has done work with me from the outset, so he is the key vendor. It is nice to have those who understand what is expected beyond that of a simple job that has been contracted, and he is that guy. If you think about it, the tolerances of most anything in a turntable are subject to the whims of temperature or humidity, or both, but in the case of slate, this is diminished over wood and some other materials. Unacceptable variance is still a big concern, however, so great care in the process is still necessary for all aspects. That is the most painstaking part of the assembly. In other words, I haven't discovered a way to snap the design together. It requires a lot of time and effort from those involved.

Win