Building An Acrylic Turntable


Hey Folks,
While I'm slowly upgrading my Thorens, I've been cogitating over the idea of making my own acrylic platter and plinth. Having been exposed to the Industrial Design department in college, I have the courage to go through with it but I'm lacking knowledge with respect to turntable mechanics. Are separate motors and power supplies available on the commercial market or otherwise? What would you recommend with respect to design, weight, mechanics, etc... In other words, what would you do to a turntable if you were making it yourself or if you were having someone else make it according to your personal specifications? As soon as I get a clearer understanding, then I can begin on the preliminary drawings.
Thanks!
goofyfoot
Hey, thanks for the link! Both tables look like they can get the job done and that acrylic table surely came out nice. I forgot to mention but I'm planning to cast my platter and my plinth in a pourable form of clear acrylic. The 2 part polyurethane rubber mold will come from Polytek. This way I'll be able to make the plinth and the platter as thick, as large and according to any design I want, plus each piece will be solid.
Tpreaves
What is PTP? Is there an advantage to using slate over a slab of solid Delrin of the same thickness. The Delrin is expensive, but easier to machine.
My only knowledge about sound advantages in choosing acrylic is that it does not resinate, the very reason why my ASR amp and phono stage are encased in acrylic. Please keep in mind that I'm not machining acrylic but rather casting it instead. The only machining would be to bore or drill holes but a diamond drill bit will cut clean through any material. I'll try to find out more concerning what type of pourable acrylics are on the market.
03-27-12: Manitunc
Tpreaves
What is PTP? Is there an advantage to using slate over a slab of solid Delrin of the same thickness. The Delrin is expensive, but easier to machine.

I have no idea Manitunc, I just made the link for Andarilu.
Thanks for the clickable link tip.

PTP stands for Peters Top Plate which is a steel top plate created and sold by a member of the LencoHeaven forum. It allows you to create a plinth with minimal cutouts for installing the Lenco bearing and mounting the Lenco motor. Slate has some very nice damping qualities due to it's natural layering. Its also quite heavy and relatively soft which makes it easy to work with.