New Cartridge Alignment tool, UNIVERSAL!

Wayner · « **on:** 22 Mar 2009, 09:26 pm »

I've been busy trying to design a better "universal" cartridge alignment tool and I think I'm really close. It's made out of 110 lb card stock, printed in color. The first thing you do it put the pointy arrow over the center of the tonearm pivot. Then you can check to make sure your pivot to spindle distance is correct by looking at the scale by the long slot.

Next, you swing the arm until it goes over the slanted scale, matching your arms pivot to stylus distance specifications. That gets the stylus in the right spot, but your not done yet. Then you need to know the 2 null points for your arm speciafications. I recommend that everyone download the www.enjoythemusic.com Excel calculator. it's a fantastic tool.

After you find where your null points are, you put the small card over the spindle and set your stylus on the null point dimension. The lines on the card should line up with some surfaces on the cartridge. As you can see on the one close-up photo, I'm a smudgin off.

I'll keep tinkering with this thing, but it is promising.

Wayner

orthobiz · « **Reply #1 on:** 23 Mar 2009, 01:19 am »

Origami's got nothing on you!

Paul

oneinthepipe · « **Reply #2 on:** 23 Mar 2009, 01:22 am »

Wayner:

That is a terrific idea. As the owner of one of your tonearm-specific alignment tools, I know that the quality will be exceptional.

2bigears · « **Reply #3 on:** 23 Mar 2009, 02:15 am »

hi Wayner,great stuff,i will take one for my P9 please.

Wayner · « **Reply #4 on:** 23 Mar 2009, 09:59 pm »

Today I got out the machinist's scales to measure the accuracy of my HP printer and it did a great job scaling the geometry from my CAD software. I perhaps am off a couple of thousandths of an inch at most.

The problem I am having is this: Is this tool above the skill-sets of the average Joe? I am not saying that anyone is dumb, on the contrary, there are some very bright individuals within these circles. I am concerned about the end user and all of the things that have to be known, and then, the skill of placing the stylus on the right spots (repeatidly) to come to any sort of conclusion. I also see the tower for the VPI is a little too high and I have some interference with the centerline pointer, so I'll have to increase the height. I guess if this thing were made out of Plexiglas and had laser etching, it would be more durable, but paper works for me.

Perhaps I need a couple of "volunteers" to receive this tool and see how thing fair for them. 2Big, I assume you'll want one. Anyone else? I'll make 3, so there are 2 more to give away.

You can't have 4 or 5 beers and work with this thing. Maybe one is OK. But you have to take your time.

These are the absolute facts you have to know:

Distance from stylus to tonearm pivot. Some manuals call that "effective length". It usually is around 9".

Next you should know the spindle to tonearm distance. If you don't, it should be the overhang distance, minus the effective length.

Now this is the tuff one. You need to find out the null points of your arm. That means you have to know the offset angle. Then, you have to download the Excel program from www.enjoythemusic.com to enter in the values to determine the null points. (should be around 60mm and 120mm). You also have to know how to convert millimeters to inches and vise-versa. A nice magnifying glass would also.

Wayner

rcag_ils · « **Reply #5 on:** 23 Mar 2009, 11:03 pm »

I would be interested if you could modify it and make it a universal tonearm mounting template. I have several tonearms that need to be mounted on blank armboards, and I'll have to do it without their original factory tonearm mounting template. In the past, I utilized my Geodisc and have good result after several not so precise cuts.

The only advantage that I can see in this tool is the tail piece extends all the way to the tonearm pivot point for a better visual.

I don't quite get the slotted spindle hole, and the partial grid, then added the second piece?????????? Why not just print the grid all the way across the board, then it would accommodate various "spindle to pivot distance" all in one piece?

Berndt · « **Reply #6 on:** 24 Mar 2009, 12:00 am »

volunteer pm sent

WGH · « **Reply #7 on:** 24 Mar 2009, 01:12 am »

another volunteer pm sent

Wayner · « **Reply #8 on:** 24 Mar 2009, 11:13 am »

OK, 2bigears, Berndt and Wayne are good candidates (they PM'd me and asked) so I will send out the protractor on Saturday. Some slight assembly will be required as I want to ship it flat.

Thanks for being the guinea pigs here guys. To others, lets see how the results are before going any further.

Wayner

turkey · « **Reply #9 on:** 24 Mar 2009, 01:31 pm »

Quote from: Wayner on 24 Mar 2009, 11:13 am

OK, 2bigears, Berndt and Wayne are good candidates (they PM'd me and asked) so I will send out the protractor on Saturday. Some slight assembly will be required as I want to ship it flat.

Thanks for being the guinea pigs here guys. To others, lets see how the results are before going any further.

Wayner

That looks really useful. I'm thinking the pointer is a bit finicky, but the rest looks fine.

If I understand how this is used:

It would require extra steps in use, but perhaps requiring the user to measure pivot to spindle distance and then have a line used to point to the pivot (it would be the centerline of the slot) would work, and allow for all the pieces to be plain flat cardstock? You'd just put on some tape to hold the protractor in the right place once you get it positioned properly.

I'm just worried that the pointer would get squashed in storage.

Dan Kolton · « **Reply #10 on:** 24 Mar 2009, 07:14 pm »

Wayner,

I read somewhere that paper or cardboard stock can be a problem for use as a protractor because of dimensional changes caused by humidity changes. Not saying I believe this would be significant, but plastic was suggested (as in very thin plasticene protectors); something for consideration. BTW, is this new protractor what you'll use for your Technics SL-1200?

BobM · « **Reply #11 on:** 24 Mar 2009, 07:45 pm »

Damn I guess I'm a bit late for the trial. I'd love to test this on my Moerch arm. I've got perhaps 5-6 different cardboard and paper alignment "guides" but this one looks pretty comprehensive overall and easy enough to use and understand, if you know the basics.

A suggestion, perhaps you could incorporate a VTA guide on the side of the vertical pyramid to help with that aspect of the alignment. All you would really need are a bunch of parallel lines running horizontally so you could see if your tonearm tube is parallel to the platter or not (i.e. high or low in the back). Although with a tapered tube this still poses a problem.

Not really sure how to check azimuth using paper though.

Bob

Tone Depth · « **Reply #12 on:** 24 Mar 2009, 07:49 pm »

Hi Wayner,

If you're going to plot them, you might consider using mylar film as in for drafting. It is a lot more dimensionally stable than most cellulose (paper) products.

Wayner · « **Reply #13 on:** 24 Mar 2009, 09:35 pm »

First off, I'd like to answer a few questions about the alignment tool. First, this device was created for the love of the sport. I know many of my fellow AC'rs have struggled with this issue as I have and the industry has not provided what I would call a technically superior attempt at solving the problem, correctly.

I'm not in business, nor do I want to have a "Wayner Inc." or anything like that...at all. This thing is a proto-type. I enlisted the help of 3 guys to see if it works on their tables, to see if they can figure it out, to see if it improved their sound. What shape it ends up in or what happens after that, I don't know. Let's just take it one step at a time. Now don't get me wrong, I love all of your input. Bob, I'm going to add the VTA lines on the pointer piece, great idea!

My ultimate goal, is I'm hoping when we get the bugs out and this seems to work good, that Frank will put it in his Audio Circles as a full size PDF and you guys can down load and print to your hearts content. That is if it's OK with Frank. There are a lot of nice people that have lots of "shareware" out there and this should be one of those things. Knowledge is power when it's used by leverage or overshadowing, and that is not what I'm about. I am a geometrical goof-ball that thrives on this kind of junk. I have several U.S. Patents to prove it.

Now for some of the other technical questions. The reason there is a big long slot is that I wanted the protractor to work for a range of arm lengths. The zero reference point is at the tonearm pivot and the scale by the slot goes backwards, or from right to left. There is no point trying to align your cartridge if you can't verify the tonearm pivot to spindle distance. This part of the jig verifies that.

The second sloped scale is to set the length of the arm from tonearm pivot to stylus. That is all I want it to do. The 2nd card has to be a separate piece, because it depends on the spindle position, which varies all over hell, so it can't be part of the main card. That geometrically can't work.

If I were to make this out of a more durable "plastic" or something like that, then I'd have to charge you money to pay for all of the costs of making it and shipping it. That means almost a business, which I don't want. How better for the whole bunch if you can download it yourself, cut it out, tape it together and then throw it away if you want. If you need another one, go and get it.

There, that's the plan anyway. Unless someone wants to buy the design, I'd be all up for that aa

Wayner

strat95 · « **Reply #14 on:** 25 Mar 2009, 04:03 am »

Hey Wayner,

Is there any good source of info you could point me to (preferably on the net) that explains in detail how to set up a cartridge on a tone arm? Something that would help me understand your device somewhat better.

I don't own a turntable but have been thinking of buying one more recently, especially since I am acquiring some vinyl these days.

This techie stuff might push me over the edge to actually buy one!

Your creation has piqued my interests.

Thanks for any help.

Ted

turkey · « **Reply #15 on:** 25 Mar 2009, 12:23 pm »

Quote from: strat95 on 25 Mar 2009, 04:03 am

Hey Wayner,

Is there any good source of info you could point me to (preferably on the net) that explains in detail how to set up a cartridge on a tone arm? Something that would help me understand your device somewhat better.

There's a good overview of setting up a turntable at:

http://www.audiophilia.com/features/cartridge_setup.htm

bacobits1 · « **Reply #16 on:** 25 Mar 2009, 01:37 pm »

Ted,
Many links with good starting info here>>>

Cartridge and Turntable Setup Links
http://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/d.mpl?audio/faq.html

Wayner · « **Reply #17 on:** 26 Mar 2009, 10:55 pm »

I have made some minor improvements and the parts are cut out and will be mailed out to the 3 victims, I mean test subjects this weekend. I have included BobM's idea of including VTA waterlines on the vertical tonearm pivot pointer piece. Boys, remember to do this with the protractor on a record.

You can "cheat" and just use the small null point alignment card, but the larger cart with pointer help to prove that your numbers are good. Remember to download the Excel program and get yourself familiar with what information is required.

The last bit of advice is to do this during the daylight. I tried to align one of my tables the other night and it is hopeless in subdued light.

Frank has agreed to post the geometry on his website when we have this all done.

Wayner aa

Mariusz · « **Reply #18 on:** 26 Mar 2009, 11:08 pm »

Way cool

Wayner

Mariusz

2bigears · « **Reply #19 on:** 27 Mar 2009, 12:42 am »

yes,thks Wayner,you the man !!!!

nose to the mail box,,,,