what are you doing ?

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vinylnvalves
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#676 Re: what are you doing ?

Post by vinylnvalves »

Alignment gauge.. I knocked one up a few months ago..
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. It does make alignment easier. I took inspiration from the clearaudio alignment approach. Got my lad the mathematician to goal seek the ultimate alignment, using robust design tools, it was very close to the Germans alignment, within 2mm. My plan was to after the aerospace industry dies and I have time on my hands to make them for some pocket money.. However I have found a Chinese knockoff of the Dr Feickerts tool for less than a £100... that put pay to that idea.
Ant
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#677 Re: what are you doing ?

Post by Ant »

I have a dr feickert, i did have a clearaudio which i thought was crap. Couldnt get on with any of the 4 alignments on it which seemed to completely ignore any record which has an inner groove radius that was anywhere near din standard 60.325mm. The closest alignment had an inner null point set at 65mm, i measured 10 random records out of the rack and most were in the 60mm region, but a couple were 57mm, such as the first level 42 album. Which meant that the 65 mm null point was too far out to track those really tight 57mm inner grooves. Theres probably a good proportion of lps in the rack that are in the 57mm range.The clearaudio said it was supposedly for those audiophile pressings you can get these days. Which i dont have.
The feickert one seems to give me very good results, although its mostly other peoples stuff that gets lined up with it. it gets used regularly, and also doubles up as a great marking tool for fitting arms to peoples builds. so to me it was worth the 160 quid. Probably not if its going to get used once every blue moon as i suppose most people would.
And completely useless for the linear arm, which is teeth gnashingly finicky to set up.
Handily, the black perspex is really good, as the reflection from it seems loads easier for me to see the stylus tip in than the normal mirror one i was using before
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Greg
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#678 Re: what are you doing ?

Post by Greg »

Well, for cartridge alignment, I use SMARTractor. I completely agree that the cost for very occasional use is disproportionate. I have found a way around this with a joint ownership scheme, so three close hi-fi friends own the SMARTractor. We move it between ourselves according to need. This seems to work very well.

I’ve been seriously interested in your linear tracking arm and have been tempted to buy one, but I’m a bit put off having read what you have needed to do to get it set up correctly. Currently I have an Audiomods Series 6 10.5” carbon wand which was dead easy to set up with the SMARTractor and sounds, with the Hana ML cartridge, absolutely fantastic.

My inclination is to stick with what I’ve got.
vinylnvalves
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#679 Re: what are you doing ?

Post by vinylnvalves »

This was the background to what I used for the alignment... it’s the same trigonometry that all alignment rules use, it’s just where you set the inner groove “useable” radius. https://www.vinylengine.com/clearaudio- ... tool.shtml

The alignment of the zeta arm with the zeta gauge, as it’s been set up for years was spot on the single point alignment gauge I have engraved. Which gave me some confidence. The challenge with this and the densen tool ( which I also own) is you need to know where the pivot is precisely, a challenge for most arms that aren’t unipivot. The single point alignment irrespective of the alignment used is an easy way of getting the overhang right.
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#680 Re: what are you doing ?

Post by Ant »

Well to be honest greg its a right pain in the arse to set up. I knew that going in with my experience of the terminator arm. Once its right its very right indeed, but getting it there can be very frustrating. Same as all linear trackers ive used (this, vics arm and a pioneer pl l800)
It will always track 'a' tangent, wether its the correct tangent is another matter. If its off line by the finest margin, its off all the way across, and its at the same wrong angle all the way across
Making the adjustments is very finicky. Its time consuming and tedious. But when it snaps in its worth it
The protractor/jig/line on a bit of paper needs to be at the same height at the record surface because the wand length is so short, a mm difference in height from where it will rest in use will mean that it wont quite sit on the tangent. The line also nees to be longer than a normal protractor, the longer the distance between the points on the line you use the better, the more accurate the alignment will be
Ive ended up measuring all sorts of things with digital calipers to get it right.
Its definitely not fit and forget
Ideally, ill make a jig that aligns against the air track rather than the base, that would be the most accurate way to do it.
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jack
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#681 Re: what are you doing ?

Post by jack »

So, finished repairing the s/h 3.5x4.5mtr shed we got from a school - they were just chucking it out, so we dismantled it... There were two - the second was pretty rotten close to the ground but we took that as a donor for the rot and holes in the better shed. Mainly, we reclaimed a load of cladding and I replaced all the panel bottoms and some of the uprights with CLS tanalised timber - all the rot cut out and replaced - took several days.

Whole point is to use as much reclaimed material as we can.

Panels now all in pretty good shape. Built a base out of tanalised 2x4 and covered with P5 waterproof flooring T&G.

Good day today, so with the help of a friend, all the repaired panels assembled and shed frame now complete. Tarp for roof for the moment whilst we decide what to use.

All wood sprayed with black water-based stain and incumbent false black widows gently escorted outside...

Next is the electric submain and consumer unit (10mm2 twin core SWA) plus a conduit to carry ethernet cable and a water feed. That all gets trenched 50cm down - it's a 50mtr run from the workshop so has to be a chunky cable. Using a small backhoe digger.

Also found some salvageable small casement windows, so will replace the crappy acrylic ones in the shed with the reclaimed ones. There were 4 sets of windows, but I've taken two out and reboarded them as the rear third of the shed is for the sauna.

Lots of insulation and internal cladding to do too... Plus the sound system and lighting...
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steve s
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#682 Re: what are you doing ?

Post by steve s »

I've just got back from 4 weeks in south Germany, weathers been great.
Coming back through France to the tunnel was a surprise, very few english cars on the road, and the eurotunnel train was empty, 7 Van's and 1 camper (me)
Was interesting to see how the germans delt with corona virus, not alot different to us, but every one wearing masks when on public transport, using toilets etc. They needed a government form not to wear a mask or where fined.
How it should be in my view.
The tube manual is quite like a telephone book. The number of it perfect. It is useful to make it possible to speak with a girl. But we can't see her beautiful face from the telephone number
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Ali Tait
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#683 Re: what are you doing ?

Post by Ali Tait »

If I had a pound for each time I've gotten out of the car to go and pay for fuel or go shopping and had to go back for my mask, I'd have at least £40 by now. :roll:
Ant
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#684 Re: what are you doing ?

Post by Ant »

Basking in the sound of silence.
Today is the first day in 6 months that all 3 of the kids are back at school.
Son no 1 started his first day at the new STEM school, doncaster university technical college today. he had the choice of either engineering or computer science to go along with the core subjects, he chose engineering.
Itll be good for him to have a fresh start and a direction.
I can actually hear the clock in the living room ticking. Its a wonderful sound
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steve s
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#685 Re: what are you doing ?

Post by steve s »

Ali Tait wrote: Wed Sep 09, 2020 10:35 am If I had a pound for each time I've gotten out of the car to go and pay for fuel or go shopping and had to go back for my mask, I'd have at least £40 by now. :roll:
I'm the same.. we walked to the local shops, a good mile or so to realise we had no masks with us when we got there, we now have masks in every pocket..
The tube manual is quite like a telephone book. The number of it perfect. It is useful to make it possible to speak with a girl. But we can't see her beautiful face from the telephone number
vinylnvalves
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#686 Re: what are you doing ?

Post by vinylnvalves »

Just as long as your are wearing them correctly...
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pre65
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#687 Re: what are you doing ?

Post by pre65 »

Just getting ready to attack the last two conifers in my front side hedge. The trunks are stripped up to about 6ft high, but it's the higher mass that's more difficult to remove as they are all intertwined.

I've been using a long rope and the car to pull cut branches down up to now, but these last two are not as accessible.
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pre65
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#688 Re: what are you doing ?

Post by pre65 »

I've been attending to my built in electric oven this morning, the main oven fan has been noisy for a while, and has had trouble getting up to speed.

So I put the workmate in front of the oven, and slid it out so I could remove the top and back casings.

The main fan came out reasonably easily, and I used a hypodermic syringe (from a printer ink refill kit) to drip clean engine oil near each end bearing. As the oil worked itself in the resistance diminished until the fan was spinning well and not making any noises.

I did the same to the fan above the grill which was a precautionary measure.

I had to use some new stainless torx head self tappers to put things back together as they were slightly bigger in diameter (1.75 gnats) and gripped much better.

Put it all back together, slipped it back in it's alcove and switched on. Fan runs silent and fast. Job done. :D



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The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

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Greg
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#689 Re: what are you doing ?

Post by Greg »

pre65 wrote: Sat Sep 19, 2020 2:20 pm I've been attending to my built in electric oven this morning, the main oven fan has been noisy for a while, and has had trouble getting up to speed.

So I put the workmate in front of the oven, and slid it out so I could remove the top and back casings.

The main fan came out reasonably easily, and I used a hypodermic syringe (from a printer ink refill kit) to drip clean engine oil near each end bearing. As the oil worked itself in the resistance diminished until the fan was spinning well and not making any noises.

I did the same to the fan above the grill which was a precautionary measure.

I had to use some new stainless torx head self tappers to put things back together as they were slightly bigger in diameter (1.75 gnats) and gripped much better.

Put it all back together, slipped it back in it's alcove and switched on. Fan runs silent and fast. Job done. :D
Nostalgia. Food now smells and tastes of Castrol R :lol:
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jack
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#690 Re: what are you doing ?

Post by jack »

The sauna project progresses.

Hired a "slot trencher" for the day - this beast digs a 100mm x 500mm slot for laying cables. Dug a 45mtr trench and put in a 25mm MDPE water pipe, a 50mm data conduit and a 2/10 SWA power cable. Backfilled and drove over it lots of time to press it down. Also hired a CAT4 cable detector as we're crossing the existing buried supply to the office.

Use some diamond core drills to cut three holes into the cellar of my workshop for one end of the cables/conduit/pipe - other ends are in the sauna.

Tomorrow is terminating the SWA, fitting the consumer unit, pulling the CAT6 cable through and getting WiFi in the building (using POE).
After that, son & I are re-felting the roof and remaking the barge boards and gable ends. That should do for Sunday.

Weather due to change & rain on Wednesday, hence trying to get the important stuff done ASAP.

Left my phone on top of the car as SWMBO drove off. Phone fell face down onto drive (about 50mtrs away) and smashed screen in several place. Screen now completely dead, but phone still OK as can ring it etc. and WhatsApp desktop still works.

^&£%*$££$£$£!!

New screen is 50 quid or thereabouts - It's a Google Pixel 2 - a few years old, but still a good phone and worth repairing. This will be the second new screen I've put in :(

Now on the lookout for 35m2 of cedar cladding (or spruce) to line sauna with. We'll buy planks and use the router table to make them into T&G. As we can't use reclaimed timer, this will be the single largest expense on this project, but I'm hoping I can get a good deal out of one of the trade suppliers we use for NT work.
Last edited by jack on Sat Sep 19, 2020 7:54 pm, edited 4 times in total.
Vivitur ingenio, caetera mortis erunt
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