Has anyone developed an easy method for mass loading? Have done all mods except this. Hoping someone has a process and material list developed without having to melt and shape lead.
Edit: just saw the recent notes about the new VN springs so may go that route if there’s no lazy man’s mass loading.
Disclaimer: I'm no authority and am regurgitating my understanding of AR lore scattered here on AK k- under the lens of my going thru this process myself at this time.
I *just* received VN's springs (a few weeks back);
and they definitely do need some work - out of the box, they don't compress to the same heights and the t-bar wiggles around like a Jello from those good old Tom-n-Jerry toons.
Easy depends on your definition of "easy" - I saw early pictures of T-bars with wheelweights stuck onto them; all the way up to later pictures of lead pucks + delrin "spacer plates" (I think Hose calls them 'collectors'
). You can gather all the methodology just by reading this tread. Ease depends on your tooling
I'd say at a minimum you'll need some ways to drill metal, and, ideally, to cut plastic (jigsaw; bandsaw; scrollsaw...). Basic measurement, leveling equipment, and flat surface (kitchen countertop if stone) are also desirable.
You can forego lead. Wheelweights aren't lead nowadays if you're using a simple WW method. I heard that sticky fails on them. You can devise a method of not relying just on sticky (basic "wrap" around the t-bar with some flat twine will be a perfect redneck way of double-attaching them).
In my AR TTT, I will be using brass (I know, I know, this is expensive as heck but I don't want to deal with lead either - because I don't know the
precise weight to add, doing it the first time, and don't want to shave off the lead; and used that as an excuse to by a 12x1x2 bar
) attached to a Delrin "collector" plate, as seen here, for example:
https://audiokarma.org/forums/index...-turntable-owners-thread.595003/post-16558673
Ultimately, what you're trying to do is get the springs to be equally compressed (30-32 mm for Linn springs) and the "jounce" to be in up/down direction only. From what I gathered (and understand on the redneck mechanic level), you want the weight to be as low as possible - the overall CG should be below the tops of the springs to prevent them from "tipping".
Though, putting weight too high (== simple wheelweights glued to the t-bar) is better than un-tuned springs.
