FedEx lost my turntable

Glad you got it sorted out Rob. Look forward to some pictures and your comments on the sound.
 
Hi Allen,

Still riding outside, amazingly long season so far. How about you?

Apologies to OP to slightly derail the thread!
 
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RedSectorA said:
Rob, I don't know if you're aware but Shadowfax (Brian) was involved with building those tables. http://www.audioshark.org/turntables-146/turntables-gallery-607-page5.html
Click to expand...

Rob, So glad the rest of the package showed up in 1 pc!

Dan, Thanks for that plug.

I was lucky enough to work side by side with John Bicht when his original company was in Warminster PA in the same industrial park as Kovacs, the small machine shop I was working in at the time. I machined almost all parts that were not turned on the lathe, or did secondary machining on those turned pcs, like the platter. First the aluminum was turned and then the plastic was glued and cured. It was then finished turned and the groove for the outer gasket was machined in. I then got the platter and machined the grooves from the center where vacuum was drawn out to the gasket groove. I also assembled all the parts for the vacuum system, linear tracking arm and the rest. We built the original prototypes as well as the 1.0, 1.2, and 2.0 versions in small batch runs.

Some good pics in this thread - http://www.vinylengine.com/turntable_forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=29459
 
Hi Brian, John is alive and well living outside of Albuquerque. My understanding was the air bearings for the platter and arm were mfr'd by a co in Minnesota which specialized in satellite gyroscopes, etc. back then the cold war was still on and glasnost hadn't come about. it was the first time this co. produced anything for consumer consumption and was still subject to gov. protection, John said they were very cautious of selling them to him. the clearances were measured in microns and it had to be assembled in a clean room. The stiffness of this bearing is comparable to a conventional thrust bearing with a 3" dia. shaft/journal - which doesn't even exist in the TT world. I found out quickly there is nothing off the shelf here, the entire table is bespoke and milled from all manner of exotic metals. for one, the headshell is milled from solid magnesium alloy.
 
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Rob,

Of course we didn't make everything, and as you said, those air bearings were something else as well as the vacuum pumps. I knew John had moved on to manufacture and sell other audio items such as cable risers and such.

I wish I was more of an Audiophile back then because I didn't fully realize what I was making other than another expensive TT where you needed a basement or concrete floor to mount thew vacuum pump. I thought it was all horse pucky at the time but loved making and assembling all the parts.
 
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Can you post some pics of the setup, Rob? I would love to see my handy work in your room :)
 
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Here is a good shot of the vacuum grooves from the air bearing out to the gasket

Rockport_03_zps789efdbe.jpg
 
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