Lead Armboard - Anybody Try?

[elrod]

I have a Thorens TD-124 and wondering if anyone's used a lead armboard on any table?

I know there's lots of variables but I'd like to hear your experiences with lead if you have any...

 

[elrod]

I've never heard or seen a lead armboard on a 124

 

[BillWojo]

Why deplete the uranium, you could have the hottest Thorens around.
Unless the lead was fairly thick, maybe around 1/4 inch, it would bend fairly easily. Possibly glue a thinner sheet to a substrate. Constrained layer dampening.

 

[elrod]

If I were to attempt it, I would do the 1/2"

 

[Zvezda]

Might as well try some asbestos room treatments while you're at it.

 

[sqlsavior]

Gold is non-toxic, and more 'audiophile' than lead.

 

[Pio1980]

Lead sheet sandwiched with other materials has probably been tried for armboards, the Thorens suspension won't take too much more mass than the OEM board plus arm without modifying.

 

[Sound Dragon]

No one else lick their armboards! Only me? Okay....I’ll show myself out.

 

[gadget73]

Lead is sort of difficult to work with. Imagine trying to machine cheese, and you've got the idea. Its so mushy that cutting tools just get stuck. It will go if you spray it with water to keep it cool though. I once got halfway into a 2" thick block of lead with a portaband before the blade soldered itself to the block. Had to come in from the other direction with a hacksaw to get it apart.

 

[Mister Pig]

Sota built arm boards that were layers of aluminum, acrylic, and lead.

Cheers
Mister Pig

 

[heyraz]

I don't think lead would be impossible to cast into an armboard.
If I were to make one...I'd melt lead fishing weights and pour it in a sand mold.
Pretty cool idea.

 

[4-2-7]

If I were to attempt it, I would do the 1/2"

Don't let the naysayers try to pop your bubble as you are on the right thinking path. Lead sheeting is a well know dampener and blocks resonance. SOTA turntables have been using multi layer arm boards for many years and have three levels they sell today

Standard is 1/2 MDF, next level is Acrylic and Aluminum, The top board is called the Cosmos and is Acrylic, Aluminum and Lead.

 

[4-2-7]

If you look inside any SOTA Sapphire, Star Sapphire since they came out over 35+ years and up to today, they have lead sheeting laminated to the MDF sub chassis. They also use it in weight boxes for three of the corners. The end user adds lead shot in the corner with the tone arm so all 4 corners can be balanced equally.



Here's the lead weight that is used in the tonearm area



Maybe all this lead used in a SOTA table is what makes them sound so good. Most people who try a SOTA tend to stick with them and wonder why they sound so musical over other tables they have had.

Hope the arm boards posted will give you some ideas, and maybe some lead sheeting down in the plinth as well.

 

[elrod]

I'm not worried about the risk of lead. Hell I did much of my growing up before catalytic converters. so if all the lead I've inhaled hasn't killed me yet, and I don't plan on licking or vaporizing it, I think I'll be okay.

If I did attempt it, I'd do a sand cast. I figure all I'd have to do is minor cleanup of the casting and slow speed drilling for the tonearm mount holes. Seems like it would be a fun little project.

I don't use the mushrooms - I'm using a heavy mass plinth, so I'm bolted directly down onto slate. I've even removed all the manufacturing dimples on the bottom face so I have more contact area with the plinth. I'm just not sure if there would be an over-dampening factor of using slate plinth with a lead armboard

 

[4-2-7]

I'm not worried about the risk of lead.

Well lead isn't really lead today but similar.

If I did attempt it, I'd do a sand cast.

Why, you can buy sheets of it, here's a very quick look
Lead Sheet 1/4" x 12"x 12" QQ-L-201F, GRADE C
Your Price: $37.07
http://www.zipmetals.com/Lead-Sheet-14-x-12x-12-QQ-L-201F-GRADE-C-_p_67.html

And I would laminate it to something, and you can do multi layers with thinner sheets
http://www.zipmetals.com/Sheet-Lead-_c_1.html

 

[Hifiler]

Might as well try some asbestos room treatments while you're at it.

A lead armboard would hardly be toxic to anybody, ever.

 

[patrick s]

Don't let the naysayers try to pop your bubble as you are on the right thinking path. Lead sheeting is a well know dampener and blocks resonance. SOTA turntables have been using multi layer arm boards for many years and have three levels they sell today

Spot on lead is an excellent vibration damper - tho some of the replies here were very funny lol . I think the easiest way of doing this is it maybe as an armboard with multiple layers and lead being sandwhiched between them........let us know how u get on it with it........

 

[Westy56]

Anyone who wants to speed it up - feel free to do so..

I would do it just to piss off the extreme alarmists.

 

[Mark 1234]

Denon made a lead plinth for the 80.

 

[Zvezda]

No, it's not, and lead isn't toxic to look at. It's when lead is hacked, sawed, trimmed, drilled, milled, filed, melted and in the process rubbed on, inhaled and digested that it builds up inside us.

Yes, thank you. And I'll note that, in spite of my asbestos joke above, my house is full of it. My steam pipes are surrounded by it and my roof is made of it. I'm not afraid of it because I'm not touching it. The people who installed it in 1946, however, probably were not wearing protective equipment and were very likely smoking cigarettes around it while it was being installed. That wasn't safe.