1963 Bogen BP51HPmod_stacker on soapstone plinth

[mfrench]

nose grease and elbow grease; lots of the latter.

My Presto T18DC plinth was block sanded to 400 grit, then wet sanded through to 600grit. You need to block sand, as the grain is harder than the field, and you'll raise the grain, easily. So, block sanding keeps things nice and flat. Beyond 400 grit, and you won't be raising grain anymore.
At any rate,... Sarge the spousal unit, commented that my Presto plinth was more shiny than this new one. I went for a more matte finish with this one, and only sanded through to 400grit. The finish feels velvety, but the sheen factor is definitely lower. I like the matte finish allot.

 

[mfrench]

Re-Mark-able (pun intended) thanks for the insight, you've inspired me to come up with an uber-cool homespun TT. It all makes sense, now. The fabrication is familiar to me, only the media is different. I'm a CNC programmer, precision machinist and metal fabricator by trade...or at least I was, until the second spinal fusion last March, LOL. Hopefully next year everything is healed and I can get back in the shop I work at. What a great project this would be for Lucite! I love to see the "guts" of things, much to the chagrin of my wife...

Heal well and quickly.
Errrr uhmmm,... you might want to avoid the soapstone for a while
I have mashed discs in my neck, and working overhead is bothersome to that. Guess what I've been doing the last couple of days?
Drywalling my bathroom ceiling.
On tearing it down, I got a nice rat and mold infested mouthful of blown-in insulation for breakfast a couple of days ago,... yummy
At any rate - commiserating over worn parts. May you heal well and quickly.

 

[Fran604g]

On tearing it down, I got a nice rat and mold infested mouthful of blown-in insulation for breakfast a couple of days ago,... yummy
At any rate - commiserating over worn parts. May you heal well and quickly.

Thanks Mark for the kind words. I know the rat dropping salad you speak of...our home is 200+ years and we gutted most of it 20+ years ago, every above-head level horizontal plane we tore down was full of it...that and black walnut shells. My wife did get lucky one time, though, she was taking down the wainscoting ceiling in the kitchen, when she heard something rolling, and out came a very old solid wood croquet ball and conked her on the head. Only "treasure" we've found yet, LOL.
Good luck with the ceiling!

 

[mfrench]

Hi Fran,

Its Mike. I get Mark quite often, and I'm sure that Marks get Mike often enough. Water off of a ducks back.
The croquet ball,... ouch and funny all at once.
I was out in the garage yesterday, and stooped over to put away some low stuff. I stood and turned to walk, right into a box of old culled LP's(that I'm intending to give to charity), and smacked myself in the forehead with the box corner.
Not only did I get the forehead bruise, but, for some reason, i smacked my teeth together for an exagerrated exclamation point on that wonderful head ringing experience. Never thought I'd get a bruise from records.

 

[voltcontrol]

Beautiful build Mike!
I 'missed' that copper bearing end cap until now, is it a generic part or something machined by one of the LH guys?

 

[Fran604g]

Hi Fran,

Its Mike. I get Mark quite often, and I'm sure that Marks get Mike often enough. Water off of a ducks back.
The croquet ball,... ouch and funny all at once.
I was out in the garage yesterday, and stooped over to put away some low stuff. I stood and turned to walk, right into a box of old culled LP's(that I'm intending to give to charity), and smacked myself in the forehead with the box corner.
Not only did I get the forehead bruise, but, for some reason, i smacked my teeth together for an exagerrated exclamation point on that wonderful head ringing experience. Never thought I'd get a bruise from records.

Ya know...I knew that...I appologize, recently the brain doesn't work as well as it ought to...percoset is nasty stuff...:sigh:

 

[mfrench]

no need for apologizing, please.
Percoset,... echh. I had to take Flexeril for a while, as my neck disc herniations resulted in muscle spasms. They tried me on the pain killers, but ultimately, it was muscle relaxants that helped the most. I really do hope the best for you. Spine pain is the worst.

 

[mfrench]

Beautiful build Mike!
I 'missed' that copper bearing end cap until now, is it a generic part or something machined by one of the LH guys?

Hi, and, many thanks, Pim.
The copper cap is a basic 1/2" copper plumbing end cap. It did not naturally fit. So I took my Dremel, grinding bits, and the drum sander attachment, and enlarged the hole a little bit. It took a few minutes, not long, under 10 minutes. The results were a nice fitting cap with the strength of metal, to resist the bearing brace.

 

[djnagle]

Very cool Mike. I really like working with stone.

 

[mfrench]

I agree,... love working the stone!

Tips hat to another stone crafter. thanks, Dennis.


some random stone stacking on my patio (rock gardening obsession);

 

[mfrench]

More Photobucket blight removed, repaired,... at least for now.
A bump for the effort ^^

Happy Listening

and, some more random rock stacking,... Our temporary art, viewable from the road.


Sarges delicate rock chip cairn:

 

[fiddlefye]

arm board details:

The armboard is a separate entity, removable from the main plinth deck. It is two stacked sections of soapstone, and built with high adjustability in mind.

The top layer is cut in and routed out to 1/2" deep. There is a sweeping adjustment crescent that is also cut through to the second layer of the arm board.

1/2" aluminum disc for the armboard; center drilled for circular adjustability, in place:

Jelco base in place:

Jelco arm in place:

Armboard base underside, looking back towards the al. disc. I've since cut a passage through for an RCA jack panel:

Brace for aluminum disc/arm in underside of armboard.:

Don't laugh too hard; a DIY'rs Feickert tool:

Looking really good! I have an identical "Feickert" tool. I have a suspicion a few of us might. Next up will be a more adjustable version...

 

[Fran604g]

It's nice to go back in time, Mike! Your talent still blows me away.

 

[mfrench]

@Fran604g
Thanks, Fran.
It was such a disappointment to find all of the Photobuket spam blanks. I'd been in a brief discussion about TT's in a recording forum playback section, and went to find this thread, and, found it to be wiped out. So, a quick pass thru the dead links with the easiest fix resolve, and, they're back; but for how long?
Happy listening my friend.

 

[mfrench]

Looking really good! I have an identical "Feickert" tool. I have a suspicion a few of us might. Next up will be a more adjustable version...

The Feickert tool for the poor obsessed builders. Shrugs,.. It works very well. It is marked for all of my builds. It has been saved in the box of TT parts and surplus.
Happy listening my friend.

 

[EngineerNate]

@Fran604g
Thanks, Fran.
It was such a disappointment to find all of the Photobuket spam blanks. I'd been in a brief discussion about TT's in a recording forum playback section, and went to find this thread, and, found it to be wiped out. So, a quick pass thru the dead links with the easiest fix resolve, and, they're back; but for how long?
Happy listening my friend.

I switched to imgur years ago because Photobucket is cancer.

 

[bimasta]

Beautiful craftsmanship! Is soapstone a difficult to work with?

Old thread question, very late answer. Soapstone is easy to work. In Africa they carve sculptures using only a saw, knife and file; not even a chisel-and-hammer. It smooths easily with sandpaper, and "polishes" to a nice glow with only wax or oil. It's a rich green with lovely patterns. It has great compressive strength (good for a plinth: resonances go there to die) but it cracks/shatters easily. Friends shipped several sculptures back to LA (about 8-9000 miles) by air and well packed — every piece arrived broken.