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Rek-O-Kut Rondine Jr. L-37 Restoration Begins.

Then again,there is nothing wrong with honest wear to the paint.It's not exactly patina as in antique furniture,but it still will retain the original surface if you don't re-paint it.Did cleaning and polishing the spindle and bearing make it quieter?How is the rubber on the idler wheels and motor mount grommets?
Dave
 
So far, I've polished the main bearing and cleaned and lubed the idler bushings and oiled the motor.

I have a new set of seven grommets on the way from a guy an eBay who still carries them.

I was really wanting to hear this thing make music, so I did a quick build as a Frenkentable.

The only decent arm I had around needed its plastic plinth to function, so I cut that 'table in half and screwed it down to the ROK plinth. It's mounted with a Red Ed Elliptical cartridge. It works!!

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drillher said:
How does the motor/platter function?Is it quiet?
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No,at this point, it's not quiet. I think this is for a list of reasons; the rubber grommets that isolate the motor and drive mechanisms are old and dry-rotted. Also, the idlers could use some refreshing, and maybe most importantly, it's mounted in a hollow, resonant box. All that said, the motor itself is practically silent.

But I plan to keep running it in this empty box until I get all the mechanicals tuned up. The amplifying characteristics of the hollow plinth will let me really hear how its running.

From what I've been reading, it's nessisary to have a massive plinth to really quiet it down.

But just listening to The Band - Stage Fright on this cobbled together build has me excited to follow through with the project.

This thing has an unstoppable drive system. Very strong!
 
Good that the motor is quiet.Do you know the cost of having the Idler wheels refurbished?How much did the new set of motor mount grommets run you?The strong drive system,as I understand it,is responsible for the music dynamics that a idler drive TT can reproduce.Thanks for your postings on your REk TT project.
 
drillher said:
Good that the motor is quiet.Do you know the cost of having the Idler wheels refurbished?How much did the new set of motor mount grommets run you?The strong drive system,as I understand it,is responsible for the music dynamics that a idler drive TT can reproduce.Thanks for your postings on your REk TT project.
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If I'm not mistaken, I can hear those dynamics even through the plastic, unaligned frankentable configuration. I'm pretty excited.

I found the grommets following a link in another forum to eBay seller transformer123. I had to write him to see if he had them as his only listing was for an Empire (I think they are the same though) The price for 7 was $58.25 shipped. ($8.32 ea).

I don't know how much the idlers will cost. I've read it's around $30 ea.

I wasn't really planning on spending ~$200+ on a new turntable, but I'm proceeding happily at this point.

I'll post more pics in a little while.
 
Brett a said:
I don't know how much the idlers will cost. I've read it's around $30 ea.
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When I was rebuilding a ROK B12 a couple of years ago, the two main sources for rebuilding were Ed Crockett and Terry's Rubber Rollers. I sent my idler to Ed, and iirc it was ~$30.

Rebuilding the idler definitely helped with noise, as did changing the grommets. My B12 is still a little noisy, I think because the idler's center hole isn't perfectly true (not a result of Ed's work, of course, which was on the rubber itself) and so it "wobbles" a bit when it rotates. And it's in its original hollow-box plinth, mainly because of my laziness/lack of woodworking skills. But I love its sound, even with the noise. I have other tables that I like a lot, but the attack of leading-edge information--esp. bass and drums--on the ROK is just so much fun.
 
I've improved the Frankentable set-up by cutting a 5/8" plywood riser ring for the Rondine's mounting plate. This gets the VTA level. (Before, I had it stacked up with extra platter mats just to get contact with the stylus)

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Once I get a better arm, all this will be unnecessary. But hey, it's a Sunday at home and it's fun.


.

BTW, Here's the donor 'table: a $5 hollow plastic, 3-footed Yamaha.

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By cutting it essentially down the middle, I was able to preserve the cuing mechanism.

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It seems that having the idler wheels refurbished and running true is important.Is the noise audible through the speakers or head phones,or is it just audible when you are close to the TT?Having a massive plinth and good motor mounts should help as well.
Dave
 
I was thinking;What if you were to isolate the tonearm by having a spring suspended arm board or some other isolation method like grommets?You could also use a dampened platter mat.I don't even know if the isolated arm board would even be necessary,but I wonder if it could make all of the other improvements that you will make even better.
Dave
 
drillher said:
It seems that having the idler wheels refurbished and running true is important.Is the noise audible through the speakers or head phones,or is it just zaudible when you are close to the TT?Having a massive plinth and good motor mounts should help as well.
Dave
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oh yeh, it's loud both through the speakrs and even in the room . I've got a long way to go in efforts to quiet it.

If I had to guess, i'd say it has a s/n ratio below 25 db as it is.

I think once I get a decent tonearm mounted in a proper solid layered plinth, it's going to be significantly quieter.

The original specs of it stated a s/n ratio around 35db which is phenominally low. (Meaning it has a very high noise floor). I' hoping I can tune it in better than that.

By comparison, my Well Tempered has a noise floor down 70 db.
 
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I have a question about idler shaft washers:

So this is the order they were on, the two metal ones on the left were on the underside and the two plastic ones were on top. I put it back together: metal washer, plastic washer, idler wheel, plastic washer, metal. Doesn't seem to make a difference in sound.

Anyone know what order they are supposed to go in?

This seems like an area for improvement. Is there such a thing as a low-friction washer like Teflon?

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Redboy said:
Yes, indeedy, and they work very nicely in this application!

eBay, search "Traxxas 3981"

:thmbsp:
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Seems all the searches for "Traxxas 3981" comes with these numbers --- 6x9.5x5 T-Maxx 2.5

Which really confuses me.

six what? by 9.5 what? Maxx 2.5?????

:dunno:
 
Brett a said:
Seems all the searches for "Traxxas 3981" comes with these numbers --- 6x9.5x5 T-Maxx 2.5

Which really confuses me.

six what? by 9.5 what? Maxx 2.5?????

:dunno:
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Millimeters. :)

6mm inner diameter x 9.5mm outer diameter x 0.5mm thickness.

They're what I used on my ROK.
 
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