11-16-2005, 09:25 PM
@Doug Houston:
I've got a WC three post changer with the BOL tonearm in my 41-616 and it all works pretty good. I hear you about the die-cast parts. I had to re-cast many of them myself as they had just about crumbled away when I got the thing. I stabilized the parts with epoxy then used them to make the molds for the new parts. The tonearm pickup was dead too so I made a new one out of a small photocell. The new pickup is much less alignment critical due to its increased sensitivity so I was able to replace the special philco tonearm lamp with a more readily available alternative.
It's about ready for it's 10 year overhaul though: the cork clutches have dried up and need replacment and the motor to turntable coupler needs to be redesigned. I wasn't able to save the original coupler so I machined a new one out of piece of bronze. However this was the wrong approach. The original had a rubber gasket which actually coupled the motor to the turntable drive mechanism, this to nullify minor misalignment issues. So the result of my redesign work was an increased warp as the turntable speed varied. I'm planning on getting the record cutter working again so this needs to be fixed.
Still, its a wonder to watch the thing handle an intermixed stack of 10 and 12" records....
I've got a WC three post changer with the BOL tonearm in my 41-616 and it all works pretty good. I hear you about the die-cast parts. I had to re-cast many of them myself as they had just about crumbled away when I got the thing. I stabilized the parts with epoxy then used them to make the molds for the new parts. The tonearm pickup was dead too so I made a new one out of a small photocell. The new pickup is much less alignment critical due to its increased sensitivity so I was able to replace the special philco tonearm lamp with a more readily available alternative.
It's about ready for it's 10 year overhaul though: the cork clutches have dried up and need replacment and the motor to turntable coupler needs to be redesigned. I wasn't able to save the original coupler so I machined a new one out of piece of bronze. However this was the wrong approach. The original had a rubber gasket which actually coupled the motor to the turntable drive mechanism, this to nullify minor misalignment issues. So the result of my redesign work was an increased warp as the turntable speed varied. I'm planning on getting the record cutter working again so this needs to be fixed.
Still, its a wonder to watch the thing handle an intermixed stack of 10 and 12" records....
