Alternative for rubber turntable feet

[greenhorn]

I got a Pioneer Pl 100 table - a rather basic one, the important point being that it has auto return so that I can fall asleep listening to some good record!

The bearing and the tonearm are mounted on a sub chassis that is suspended from the top of the turntable feet via a spring/rubber mount

This is what they look like

unfortunately, most of the rubber mounts have totally disintegrated, and the subchassis is hanging on the springs, and is generally very saggy (the rubber seems to have been the load bearing component here ) .

I was thinking of a way to fix this. replacement mounts i see on ebay are from equally old TT's, and I was thinking of something with newer rubber


The only solution I could think of was to buy some self adhesive neoprene tape, and wind it from the top to bottom of the springs.


Any Ideas would be appreciated

 

[sachu888]

DIY sand filled turntable feet - AudioKarma.org Home Audio Stereo Discussion Forums

Regards
Sachin

 

[greenhorn]

my problem is that the subchassis is suspended from the top using the rubber and spring combo. I'm looking for a stock ish looking solution

FIX THAT THING- Sugru - Mouldable Glue

this looks promising

 

[dheerajin]

Have you seen transpatent multicolour balls same size as pingpong ball. Somewhere i read that someone have used those balls as feets of TT . these are cheap balls and available at toy store. Material of these balls are very good for vibration absorption.

 

[Fantastic]

People have used squash balls. However these may be more expensive !
Maybe tennis balls would also be fine. They have an additional fiber coating too.
About squash balls: I found something interesting...
Squash balls must be hit dozens of times to warm them up at the beginning of a session; cold squash balls have very little bounce. Small colored dots on the ball indicate its dynamic level (bounciness), and thus the standard of play for which it is suited. The recognized speed colors indicating the degree of dynamism are:

Color................. Speed (of Play)......Bounce.......Player Level
Double yellow......Extra Super Slow.....Very low.....Experienced
Yellow................Super Slow.............Low...........Advanced
White.................Slow.....................Low...........Advanced/Intermediate
No dots or Red.....Medium.................Average......Recreational
Blue....................Fast ....................Very high ....Beginner/Junior

Pricing appears to be Rs 130 and upward for one.

 

[greenhorn]

guys, I'm getting the feeling that folks might have misunderstood my requirement here because i used the word "feet"

The feet themselves in my TT are solid and in good shape - unlike most TT's which use Springy feet for isolation, this one uses solid feet for the main plinth, and then a spring/rubber boot to suspend a sub-chassis on which the tonearm and platter are mounted (much like some duals and other early pioneers)

It is this spring/rubber boot which is used to suspend the platform that is damaged.

Anyway, I'm going to try repair with some elastic glue to see if it helps things

 

[Fantastic]

Yes my post was a bit OT though it was meant to suggest how to isolate the plinth from the base on which you place it. So if you use something that isn't as good as your spring/rubber boot , you could place the whole thing on a 'base' that is isolated using what others have tried. Maybe even skip the original spring assembly ?
It's a possibility !

 

[jls001]

Looks like very specialized rubber + spring assembly. Your best bet could be the fleabay. If it was like the regular spring suspension assembly like those of Linn LP12, you could easily find replacement on the 'bay.

Squash balls as footer (not for replacing the spring assembly shown in your photo! ) may or may not work for you. They didn't sound good below my heavy plinths. Neither did Isoblock footers (layers of rubber and cork sandwiched together). Cold hard metal in the form of brass or steel cones or ceramic balls sound best for my setup.

 

[Fantastic]

I would like to know what happens when you place your turntable on a 1 inch thick PU foam sheet ( or just four pieces at the corners) . You get different types of foamed sheets. You need to try them. Much easier and less expensive to do before you plunge into the search for ( possibly expensive !) replacement feet. Grey coloured sheets are apparently used in cars . I've also seen pink, green,blue and white ones and black of course. Not all are physically the same.You also have foamed rubber sheets too. Maybe after Diwali ?
Happy Diwali to everyone !

 

[Hari Iyer]

So what was the final outcome. I am also looking for some DIY isolation for my table.

 

[greenhorn]

the elastic glue solution was a bust - the glue was too hard, and it was more or less solid

The final solution was from audiokarma or vinylengine - dont recall which - I was advised to place neoprene rubber washers at the top of the mount, where the spring fits onto the solid foot, and another washer at the bottom of the spring, where the plinth rests. I ended up putting 2 washers each to compensate for the sag due to old age. Also, a very thin sheet of foam, cut and rolled it into cylindrical shape to fit in the space between the solid foot and the spring - this was to provide a small level of friction damping.

My main issue was that because of the sagging springs, the belt alignment was not proper, and parts of the subchassis were nearly touching the ground - raising the height fixed it. Reduced feedback was an unexpected bonus.
I think the way the technics suspension works is a bit different - maybe this thread will help ?
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/in...ension-also-sl-1400mk2-and-sl-1500mk2.672162/

 

[Hari Iyer]

This is what i am planning,

-Remove the spring suspension from the TT and put them on another table around 18mm thick on which the TT will rest.
- Put soft rubber balls which will be placed in the 4 holes of the TT where the original spring suspension were resting.

I did a bounce test of the above setup on the platter and found it to be okay with good isolation. Also turning the volume know full without any disk playing with the stylus resting on the disk did not give me any howling noise or feedback. Now will replace the auxiliary stand with a new good one.