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DIY Frankenstein turntable?

nicholas2381

nicholas2381

Super Member
I've got maybe a 1/2 dozen turntables in various states of disrepair that came in different bundles. Some are more parts units than close to functioning. While I've listed them for sale in BT, there's seems to be limited interest, so I'm starting to think of a fun project: DIY Frankenstein turntable!

But, uh, I don't really know how I'd go about piecing things together to make something cool. Here's a brief overview of the parts units I have to pull from:

1 Dual 1249: Motor runs fast.
2 Dual 1219: Tone arms (broken height adjustment rings), counterweights, platters, gears, spindles, knobs, 2 plinths (black, united audio; walnut (?), neat fold-up top), dust cover (fits united audio plinth), 2 motors and and more.
Garrard SL95: tone arm, platter, gears, motor, plinth and more.
Garrard GT35: platter, plinth, dust cover, motor, gears, tone arm, counter weight, and more.
Miracord 625: platter, tone arm, plinth, motor, new motor mounts, counter weight, push buttons, knobs, and more.
Miracord 620U: Various push buttons and knobs.

I'm kinda leaning toward a Dual 1219 motor and platter; Garrard GT35 arm; custom plinth. Manual table would eliminate the need for most (all) of the gearing.

Fun idea? Stupid idea? Stupid but fun idea?
 
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Totally bonkers! Go for it!
...but if you have the platter from the 1219 it could be interesting to try to use that since it is nice and heavy
 
Ah, I was wondering a bit of a 1219 motor running fast. Never heard about that before ;-).
Yup. A 1219 motor and platter would make a good heart in a build!
 
Nice! Now that's an interesting approach. I never considered keeping the basic structure of the dual table - that'd greatly simplify some things. I'll give that some thought.
 
I'm still not sure if I'll be able to adapt the tonearm from the GT35. Might be beyond my skill level. Since it was an automatic table the gears and linkages did a lot of the support work underneath, so I'm not sure how to go about mounting it.
 
Really, I might need to get a purely manual arm with mounting hardware. But the point of this was to use up some of the parts from these tables on hand.
 
Regarding fitting another arm onto a stock top plate, here´s how I fitted my ADC LMF1 arm onto a Lenco L75 plate. I enlarged the mounting hole in the chassis and made a cover plate out of model plywood with the mounting hole for the arm. Still works great.

upload_2022-5-25_15-57-57.png


upload_2022-5-25_15-57-14.png
 
Nice! I'll post a picture of the arm I'm dealing with later today for input. But see how yours has all the support structure on top of the plate to hold the arm? The GT35 arm doesn't have that. It was supported under the unit through direct connection with the gearing for the auto mechanisms.
 
Did a little more exploring on the GT35 tonearm over lunch and think I have a mounting solution. Probably going to be without anti-skate though unless I can find a way to adapt that portion, which I'm skeptical of at this point. Can probably save the cuing lever though!

I did notice that one of the tonearm wires is disconnected so I'll need to figure out how to repair that.
 
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Id go for it. I always wanted to build a diy belt driven 1219 platter fully manual with a sony or technichs tone arm double configuration.

DC motor with pitch control. May have to add a resistor to help get the speed ballparked. Who knows.

I have also been thinking about building tonearms from broken golf club shafts - high end driver shafts. Spitballing ideas now.

Have fun.
 
OK, this project progressed some last night. Stripped all the unnecessary components off the Dual 1219, keeping the motor, the speed selector, the pitch control, the idler wheel, the platter bearing/support and the platter.

I verified this setup still works. Motor runs, speed selector works, platter spins, etc. Needs a little fine tuning as without the automatic functions, the idler wheel doesn't disengage the motor spindle. Not a big deal unless it sits for a long time; don't want to introduce an indent in the idler wheel. Well, actually, the disengage mechanism works fine, but the the linkage to the motor switch is tied to it. So when the motor is "on" the wheel is engaged. When it's off, the wheel is disengaged (like it's supposed to be). But that linkage wants to disengage and turn the motor off. So I need to work out a solution.

I also need to rewire the tonearm. Seems the wires are also disconnected from the pins on the head shell connector. Shouldn't be too big a deal to disassemble, resolder and put back together.
 
Hi There is not a such thing like to build a turntable from different donors and hit the nail on the head.
I will recommend to build it always thinking in few days you will modify it again and again.
The journey is amazing and you will fine great sound and probably you will ruin it looking for better! Dont worry you will find the sweet spot several time. Few rules “going to far to the east bring you back to the west” “brands doesnt mean perfection” use them them as concept.
And please post pictures!
I made mine and was a nice journey and still under development!!
AG.
 
SmileyFaceEQ said:
You can add a simple on off switch for the motor. Put it in circuit with the ac lines in.
Click to expand...

Yes, that’s the plan. But I still need to figure out a way to get the idler wheel to retract when not in use so as not to dent it. Or, alternatively, engage when I turn it on.
 
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