DIY vacuum plate

[lulu]

Hi,

I thought that this could help or inspire someone, I got inspired from this spinnertownblanks blog post https://spinnertownblanks.com/blogs/spinner-town-blog/diy-sp10-vacuum-platter and tried to make my own vacuum patter, bacause I was tired of warped blanks due to heating. I used old and heavy platter from an Lenco L75 turntable, carved some grooves into it, drilled a hole to the center pin, one from the top and other on the side. Then I made a cap from aluminium to connect the center pin to the vacuum, there is a small O ring in it so it spins freely. Then I connected the tube from the platter to my side channel blower that I use for the chip suction... And it worked.. I am attaching some photos. Maybe it helps somebody. I think it is not that hard to do and it helps a lot.

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Cheers,

Lu.

[lulu]

I am sorry for the bad photo orientation, but it looked OK in my computer byfore the upload.

[ilovedrums247]

very inspiring, thanks for sharing

[PLD]

Lovely job!

[Fattcamp]

Thanks for this! Looks great

[spinnertownblanks]

Amazing work! Really great to see more innovation, using an existing platter is a great idea

More photo's of the spindle and 0-ring would be good for others to see. Also can we update our blog with your work added to it?

[sameal]

Nice work!

It looks like mine was created out of a sheet of phenolic, but making one from an existing platter saves a TON of work!

[farmersplow]

Hello Lu, excellent work. You can be proud of that! Very inspiring. Keep up the good work!

[lulu]

Thank you for all the nice replies, I will take some more photos of the spindle and of the piece with the o ring. I am glad if someone found this useful.

Amazing work! Really great to see more innovation, using an existing platter is a great idea

More photo's of the spindle and 0-ring would be good for others to see. Also can we update our blog with your work added to it?

Of course, that would be great, let me know when it’s there

Cheers,

Lu.

[discosdecorte]

Looking forward to doing my own DIY vacuum platter, but the steps of taking apart the turntable to get the spindle and drilling it terrify me

Best regards,
Fer

[SueDenim]

Looking forward to doing my own DIY vacuum platter, but the steps of taking apart the turntable to get the spindle and drilling it terrify me

Agreed! Drilling the centre spindles of my precious SP-10 mkII turntables is something way too risky for me
Anyone in the UK have any experience doing this?

[spinnertownblanks]

Blog post is up now

https://spinnertownblanks.com/blogs/spinner-town-blog/diy-vacuum-platter-part-2

[Joel]

Hi Lulu,
Got inspired and in-process making one. Are there any changes you would make on the design since putting it to use? What's the approximate size and depth of the pockets/rings? It looks like you have one outer ring for both 10 & 12 inch discs. Are you finding that sufficient to hold the outer diameter of a 12 inch disc? Thanks so much for sharing.

[trailerparkjesus]

Adding to this... I made one with two layers of 1/16 fine grain cork. You use a circle drawing compass to make several circles in one cork sheet (I did about 1" apart) and cut them out. Use every other circle. Then spray glue them onto the other cork sheet which is cut to the diameter of your platter. Cut two channels on each side of the platter in the top cork rings form the center pin to the last ring but not through the last ring. Then I used a weld on 3/8" hose barb for the center vacuum connection. I drilled the holes in the spindle with a drill guide and 1/8" bit and a long drill extension to reach the center pin from the side. Wait until you get your cork on before drilling anything to get the right height.

[Joel]

This is a great idea! Could you post a picture of your end result? I've used this company called https://sendcutsend.com/ that can laser cut 1/8" thick cork fairly affordably with a provided dxf file. What size side channel (regenerative) blower in terms of HP / Watts, flow rate, vacuum pressure is recommended.

[lulu]

Hi,

the pocket in the middle was too big and the suction was too strong, so the blank warped down, I had to put supports and reduce the suction, it took some fiddling, but now it works pretty good. The depth is just 1mm. I use old ELMO Rietschle side channel blower.

platter.jpg

blower.jpg

[farmersplow]

Hi,

the pocket in the middle was too big and the suction was too strong, so the blank warped down, I had to put supports and reduce the suction, it took some fiddling, but now it works pretty good. The depth is just 1mm. I use old ELMO Rietschle side channel blower.

platter.jpg
blower.jpg

That looks great! Great work!
(I like the dashpot - I guess it needs more oil than my car ?) - Joking aside, it looks very good.

[Joel]

Hi,

the pocket in the middle was too big and the suction was too strong, so the blank warped down, I had to put supports and reduce the suction, it took some fiddling, but now it works pretty good. The depth is just 1mm. I use old ELMO Rietschle side channel blower.

platter.jpg
blower.jpg

Thanks so much for the update and pics. Everything with lathes seems to take fiddling. Im prototyping a vacuum pattern with gluing 1/16 gasket (rubberized) cork to the platter. Im finding the turntable platter of my Reloop has a .010 inch up/down wobble to true up as it affects the groove depth. Anyone experiencing this?