My non-rushed long-pondered L78 remake

[SteveM]

Finally! Lenco owner (3) for over 5 years now. I've enjoyed reading all the builds (thanks to all) here, so I will try & return the favor by sporadically posting details & pics of my current build in a dis-organized fashion.
Sporadic & dis-organized, could be a theme.
This is my 2nd project, 1st has been set aside due to an engineering problem.

To see what you're dealing with look here;
http://www.lencoheaven.net/forum/index.php?topic=11847.0
It was no contest - no one dared challenge me  
That evolved to a single arm, temporary (2yrs.) 2 scrap layer "plinth" on a steel rack.
Time for some presentable progress. Hope to have a playable build before spring chores/renos start (soon).

General idea is a max-contact, direct-coupled, minimized metal, 2-piece top-plate, single-speed, double platter, layered plinth with a tight budget.
Fingers crossed by necessity, since I have basic power-tools & limited experience.
Tools used so far (mostly cheap stuff from Crappy Tire   );
- angle grinder, dremel, jigsaw, drill, sander, shop-vac, assorted small & large files, tap set, soldering iron, bench vise, lots of clamps, hand planer.

3 sheets of 2x4ft. 3/4" Home Depot cut russian birch ply & mdf $65CAD.


Down in the dungeon;
2x4ft gives 3 layers of 15-7/8 depth by whatever width, however I realized later the grain runs front to back.


I used leftover material to cut a couple of 4x5in. mini-plinths for testing (glue, finish, whatnot..).


First ply cut, trying for a snug, non-pinching fit, 3/4 ply should be a good fit for cut-down top-plates;


1st mock-up, still some work to do on the plate;


Back to the dungeon for a few hours...

Edit: tool list updated

[soundscape]

Nice. I just bought a Rabco tonearm myself , so I'll follow your remake with great interest.

[mustafa]

Hi,

I like what you have done so far and good luck with the rest of your project.

regards

Mustafa

[itskeith]

Hi and good luck with your project.

Always good to see another smiley face 

[SteveM]

Thanks for the encouragement guys.
Yesterday I fine-tuned the plate & top ply and modded the lever.
Then this morning I thought of a better mod for the lever. I will consider if it's worth it at this point.
This is what happens when you don't pre-plan all the details Keith 
Might get all the wood cutting out of the way this afternoon, will have to borrow some clamps from the bro-in-law.

[Officerpup]

Enjoy developing the design - all part of the fun 

Look forward to seeing how it turns out - always so jealous of you folk with workshops, cellars or wotnot 

[SteveM]

Quite impressed with what you managed to cook up in your kitchen Mark!

As for further modding the lever - L78 lever runs under the pan because of all the auto mech. above the pan -
since I stripped all that stuff out, I was thinking of passing it from underneath up thru the pan like an L75.
I convinced myself this is not supposed to be a make-work project but a "make-music" project.
However once I cut the 2nd layer, test fit everything & eyeballed it, I said to myself the pass-thru idea doesn't buy a lot of real estate, but, it is prime location near the bearing & motor.
I'll take another look & try to make up my mind in the morning, if I decide to go that way I'll set this layer aside for another project.
See, I said sporadic & dis-organized... 

Too nice an afternoon to spend it all down in the dungeon & tomorrow is supposed to be even nicer.

[rfgumby]

Looking good.

Now back to the dungeon!

[SteveM]

Thanks Scott, should make it to double digits today (low 50s F.) so I will raise it from the depths and do some work in the backyard sun.
Hope I don't drop any small bits in the patchy snow.
I will try not to post late-night recaps, woke up in the middle of thinking about the lever & then the idler arm slider.
I know I have it good if that's what keeps me up at night  

[rfgumby]

If you wake up in the middle of the night thinking about it, you're in Lencomania for sure.   

Still snow? You must be a few weeks behind us in Minnesota then.  Good luck!

[SteveM]

Scott, I think it's mostly DIYitis.
I suffered acute Lencomania in 2010 when I bought 4 in 5 months, sold 1 a couple of years later, infecting another LHer who then bought 3 more.
We got a bit of last week's Colorado low, guess you don't usually get hit by those.
Great day outside yesterday, Blue Jays, Cardinals and the rarely seen locally Layered-Lenco.

I decided to mod the lever à la L75, since this is supposed to be my balls-to-the-wall, and possibly only (current rate of 1 every 5yrs.  ) build. I figure every little bit counts.
Putting a couple of bends in it was the most difficult part of the build, so far, it barely survived.
One more hammer blow might have done it in, good thing there isn't any stress on it.
Looks even worse without the reflection, the side cut was a poor previous attempt at more bearing support;


I decide the pass-thru would be past the pivot. This adds a bit less suface, but keeps my on-off linkage simple (hope my linkage mod will work).
Required cut in the top-plate, another  which became more of a  when finished;


Version 1 of 2nd layer, with tape showing v.2's added support for the bearing, inspected by Minou;


Test fit with the v.2, a bit too close in spots;


Rough cuts done, the worst of Home Depot's cutting burns placed on the back side.
Still have to accommodate arm slider, wiring & on-off linkage;


My cheap tools have been up to the job, main problem is the nut holding them 
Might start gluing tomorrow, long-term forecast doesn't look promising, so back to uno where.

[young gun]

Looking good!

[Officerpup]

Quite impressed with what you managed to cook up in your kitchen Mark!

Cheers 

It's the constant cleaning up that does my head in 

That's looking great, though!

Amazing how tight you've managed to model it.

Decided on a colour? 

[SteveM]

Not a clue about what it will finally look like Mark.
Short term goal is to get it operational and then think about looks later.
My history says I can deal with ugly, but only for so long  

Unfocused & slow progress this afternoon.
Made a rookie mistake by marking & making a cut-out from the bottom side of the top layer for the on-off linkage.
I neglected to check that the cut would be covered by the top-plate until after the 1st cut.
It wasn't, but only by a fraction of a mm. Close call, lesson learned, question is how long will I remember it?

Edit: the only cheap tool to let me down is the soldering iron, operation is a bit of a crap shoot.

[SteveM]

Couple of small setbacks, another clumsy moment and I broke a screw tab on the switch & my really old tubes of epoxy don't want to co-operate. Hope my backup (dollar store) epoxy does the job.
Cut out the slider hole on the second layer (33 and 45rpm only) & modified the slider.
Marked out some possible layouts for the motor island, will decide on one & cut it tomorrow.
Still need to work on the on-off linkage mod, have to work out what to use as friction plates, I have some working on my other stalled L78 project but this one is a little bit trickier.
I won't be gluing any plinth layers until I'm sure everything fits & works properly.

Got to try my seldom used bench vise pressing skills (after a bit more work & slider looked good as new) ;


Tapped out for #6 screws even though one hole was about 1/3mm too large;

I'm concerned that screwing the slider snug might make the post loosen a bit, I'll cross that bridge if I come to it.