I am about to order Brinkmann 12.1 for my Clearaudio Master Solution. Unfortunately, I have to organise a custom made tonearm base for the arm. I know where to have it machined, I just need to come up with a design.
Here’s a prototype (not in the correct angle), built highly professionaly with a pencil, a length of thread, a satay stick (unused), piece of cardboard, scissors and a short ruler with a picture of Snoopy
The drilling instructions for the arm base are in page 25-26 of the Brinkmann analogue manual:
What concerns me is the three M3 holes 120 degrees from each other. My understanding is that one attaches the mounting socked to those holes, and then the arm goes to the mounting socket. The arm can be rotated in the mounting socket and locked in place once exactly right. Therefore, the M3 holes are not critical relative to the direction to the arm as long as they are a correct distance from each other and from the hole to which the mounting socket is installed.
The only thing I did was make sure that the stylus sits about 0.2 inch or 0.5 cm over the turntable spindle. The rest is handled by geometry and the laws of physics… Continue what you are doing with the cardboard, make that arm and see for yourself.
Thank you. I have to order the arm from Europe which will take a while so I have a plenty of time to get the board ready. The Brinkmann seems fairly straightforward to set up anyway. I’ve been using tangential arms for the last two decades so haven’t set up pivoted arms for a while.
It is kind of fun. Now… where did I put that shopping list? Need a 3D printer.
Downloaded FreeCAD software for my Mac but cardboard is a bit easier to use. CAD software requires a considerable commitment to learning or one can’t get anything out of them.
It’s always good to use the least expensive and most representative when doing prototype mockup. Cardboard, poster board, duct tape, hot glue, pins, etc. all help in that department. You can move to digital media realm really easy later but having the real life sized example takes a lot of kinks out of the chain really quickly.
