Tuesday, March 15, 2011

How do we connect this?

Jeff brought over the harvested bread machine motor and we got it working with the transformer and a simple on/off switch. The trouble we ran into is that the shaft coming out of the bread machine motor is too short to come through the cabinet.

We have the original spindle from the turntable and we need to figure out a way to get them connected. Jeff picked up a piece of all-thread that will give us the correct distance. Now, we just need to figure out how to attach all 3 pieces together.

Ideas we have are coupling clamps, threading the spindles and connecting them via coupling nuts, a quick little weld.... or maybe just some glue and masking tape :P

Another thing that we noticed is that the motor is a bit too quick for our purposes. We have found a ton of simple circuits to slow it down and will have to incorporate one into this unit.

What we need....

Tap and die set
DC Motor Speed Control Circuit
Reducing Coupler Nuts
On/Off Switches
Female Panel Mount BNC Connector (for lamp)


Sunday, March 6, 2011

Vacuum Cleaner and Bread Machine Motor


We got pretty lucky this week and I scored the perfect vacuum from Goodwill for $7 and Jeff got a bread machine which he harvested the motor from.



The vacuum is rather small and quiet but should have enough force to clear the fluid and debris off the records.



This is the usable motor with transformer from the bread machine

Friday, March 4, 2011

Some Sourced Parts and Planning

So, I was able to score a sweet Sherwood turntable that a smashed stylus for $4.99 at goodwill! It has nice spring loaded feet, is direct drive, has the dust cover and slip mat etc.



Also, I scored a small Ikea style nightstand that will fit everything perfectly. (It's the one Jeff is sitting on in the picture below)

We took apart the turntable and isolated the motor, synchro lights, power transformer and platter. This is all working and usable but the torque on this motor is just too low. Even with some pressure from the cleaning brush, we can stop the motor from spinning all together.



After some research it looks like we can get into a very fitting motor out of a bread machine that will have the proper RPMs as well as much more torque to spin the platter.

Another piece to source from the thrift stores!! One of my favorite things to do ever