Tone Arm Related- Compressor for Air-Bearing Arm

[billhart]

Bill, very cool.

Before the Airline, did you use Kuzma's 4point arm? If so, how does it compare to the Airline? What improvements do you get with the Airline?

Nope, the Airline was on the market for a while before the 4Point came out. Before the Airline, I had the then current (circa 2006?) Triplanar, and was using on the Kuzma Reference table- a more conventional looking table with a great internal suspension system. When I switched to the Kuzma XL, I bought the Airline. The XL was far trickier to isolate than the Reference. All of these components are now relatively "old" in high-end terms; Kuzma recently upgraded the XL turntable to use a DC motor; I'm not sure what additional changes, if any, he has made to the Airline since mine, but I believe it is still in the product line. (I know there have been upgrades to the dryers, and some of the associated stuff, including a 'damping' kit which I never bothered with). This combo, though I've had it since roughly 2007, has largely been trouble-free and still works extremely well in my system. I guess that speaks volumes for the manufacturer.

 

[billhart]

Hi Bill, silentaire makes a great compressor. have you considered a scuba tank? an acquaintance of mine ran a pr of 80 cu ft tanks on his ET-2. using the system daily, he got several months use between refills. the air is absolutely dry with no pulses, surges or oil emanating from a pump (not to mention dead silent). they run 2500+ pSI and regulated down to whatever you need. depending on how 'lossy' the kuzma bearing is, a scuba tank could handle 60 PSI with no problem.

Hey, man! Good to see you.
Myles had actually suggested using some sort of air tanks without a compressor a while ago (when I was bitching about the compressor a couple years ago) - I never dug down on it. I like the idea, when I used to suffer from cluster headaches, I had a guy delivering 02 tanks to my house- they were cheap (possibly because of insurance/health related). I guess the only issue is that I think the ET doesn't require the pressure the Airline does, so I'd hate to run out of air while I'm in a groove. (Almost as bad as running out when under water). Let's catch-up at some point!

 

[Myles B. Astor]

Hey, man! Good to see you.
Myles had actually suggested using some sort of air tanks without a compressor a while ago (when I was bitching about the compressor a couple years ago) - I never dug down on it. I like the idea, when I used to suffer from cluster headaches, I had a guy delivering 02 tanks to my house- they were cheap (possibly because of insurance/health related). I guess the only issue is that I think the ET doesn't require the pressure the Airline does, so I'd hate to run out of air while I'm in a groove. (Almost as bad as running out when under water). Let's catch-up at some point!

What you do is hook two 95% air/5% CO2 tanks (hopefully not oxygen!) in tandem and set one at a lower pressure. This when one runs out, the second tank kicks in. Then replace the empty tank. That's how we ran our tissue culture incubators so for instance, nothing would happen if a tank ran out over a weekend. And the stakes were almost as high!

Of course as I mentioned the first time, one MUST securely fasten the tanks to a wall with say a chain or otherwise could be violating a fire code and they could become lethal missiles if the tank falls over and the top breaks off (sure people have seen this trick done in some action movies).

 

[bpw]

Nope, the Airline was on the market for a while before the 4Point came out. Before the Airline, I had the then current (circa 2006?) Triplanar, and was using on the Kuzma Reference table- a more conventional looking table with a great internal suspension system. When I switched to the Kuzma XL, I bought the Airline. The XL was far trickier to isolate than the Reference. All of these components are now relatively "old" in high-end terms; Kuzma recently upgraded the XL turntable to use a DC motor; I'm not sure what additional changes, if any, he has made to the Airline since mine, but I believe it is still in the product line. (I know there have been upgrades to the dryers, and some of the associated stuff, including a 'damping' kit which I never bothered with). This combo, though I've had it since roughly 2007, has largely been trouble-free and still works extremely well in my system. I guess that speaks volumes for the manufacturer.

Yes indeed, it's a big reason why I chose to sell Kuzma in the first place: Franc does things once, correctly. The Stabi Reference hasn't changed since introduction over 20 years ago with the exception of the power supply which has a digital speed display and push buttons for fine speed adjustment. Other products including the ones you mentioned see small changes but the fundamental design remains. The DC motor for the XL is said to give significantly better performance than even the 4-motor XL4, but I haven't seen or heard it. If and when my customer who purchased the XL4 upgrades to the DC motor and power supply I'll have a chance to check it out.

Well done, Bill. You own a classic.

 

[puroagave]

Hey, man! Good to see you.
Myles had actually suggested using some sort of air tanks without a compressor a while ago (when I was bitching about the compressor a couple years ago) - I never dug down on it. I like the idea, when I used to suffer from cluster headaches, I had a guy delivering 02 tanks to my house- they were cheap (possibly because of insurance/health related). I guess the only issue is that I think the ET doesn't require the pressure the Airline does, so I'd hate to run out of air while I'm in a groove. (Almost as bad as running out when under water). Let's catch-up at some point!

i'm subscribed to the vinyl press (great site, btw). i've been reacquainted with lots of fabulous music/vinyl finds. i think i now own every james gang on vinyl, i just need a '69 boss 302 to complete the package. yeah, me doing smoky burnouts leaving a traffic light while blasting "funk 49" "bomber" and "walk away" you've got mail.

 

[SCompRacer]

Greetings fellow air bearing denizens. I keep my compressor in the basement and ran the hose through the wall. I used a push-lock bulkhead fitting mounted in a wall plate for a nice clean install. You can find push-locks in various sizes. Later I slid some expandable sleeving over the hose with some short sections of heat shrink on each end to keep it from unraveling. (The sleeving you would find on power cords).

 

[Wntrmute2]

I have to chuckle a bit over your air-bearing compressor woes. This is all it takes to run the Trans-Fi Terminator tonearm. It runs nicely on 0.09psi.

:roflmao:
I know it apples to oranges but I couldn't resist.