Fraim alternative glass shelf retainers

[albany]

I have a wooden rack in which I plan to place 10mm glass sitting on ball bearings on each shelf rather like the Naim Fraim. Spare Naim top and bottom ball bearing retainers are available to buy but for 9 shelves it amounts to a tidy sum.

Anyone tried more modestly priced alternatives to the Naim retainers who could share their experience ??

 

[Bob F]

Some have used a fitting by Pegler, it's a blanking disc for compression plumbing fittings. Not sure how to load an image. See pegleryorkshire.co.uk and search model reference 37a.

 

[Dozey]

I think Vuk used to use nuts.

 

[uncl_nigel]

I'd have spray painted appropriate washers or Danish small change (they have some cute coins with holes in the middle)

 

[albany]

Thanks for the responses. The main problem as I see it is to keep the glass shelf on the ball bearings. Naim supply a circular clear plastic ring that sticks to the underside of the glass and locates over the ball bearing. So is there an alternative ??

 

[uncl_nigel]

Thanks for the responses. The main problem as I see it is to keep the glass shelf on the ball bearings. Naim supply a circular clear plastic ring that sticks to the underside of the glass and locates over the ball bearing. So is there an alternative ??

Corn plasters ??? Not joking

 

[Suffolk Tony]

Thick-wall clear tubing of suitable diameter, cut into rings and superglued in place. The self-adhesive quality of the Naim items doesn't last long - I had to re-glue all mine. Nothing is designed to make me swear more than the terrible crash you get when trying to move a bit of kit, and the glass falls off the balls, one of which unerringly finds the hole in our floor that takes the speaker cabling.

The ball and nut arrangement, “Ball-nutters” as they are known by some, are pretty good.

 

[albany]

Thanks for that. I did have a Fraim when I had a Naim system so have had the frustrating experience of looking for disappearing balls. However being a bit of a tinkerer I'm curious to find out if a glass on ball arrangement on my wooden rack will actually have any impact on sound quality. Ball nutters and tubing should be an inexpensive way of finding out. I currently have the glass shelves sitting on atacama pads.

 

[hifi-dog]

Thanks for that. I did have a Fraim when I had a Naim system so have had the frustrating experience of looking for disappearing balls. However being a bit of a tinkerer I'm curious to find out if a glass on ball arrangement on my wooden rack will actually have any impact on sound quality. Ball nutters and tubing should be an inexpensive way of finding out. I currently have the glass shelves sitting on atacama pads.

i use the naim glass, cups n balls on an isoblue rack and can say the glass on wood does provide more snap and focus

 

[Rk19]

Thanks for the responses. The main problem as I see it is to keep the glass shelf on the ball bearings. Naim supply a circular clear plastic ring that sticks to the underside of the glass and locates over the ball bearing. So is there an alternative ??

They don’t stick for long. Just drop off.

 

[nws56]

Been in a very similar situation to the OP ; attempting to create a Fraim on the cheap.
The ball nut thing is a good starting place - it's cheap. Well , if you already have M6 nuts and some 3/8" ball bearings it is.
Gave an improved sound with one layer of glass , and even better with a second layer immediately on top of it with ballnut support again.Reminiscent of Mana
from yesteryear but nobody needs to know ... it's only experimental after all. Tried 6mm balls but not as good.
At this point I tried introducing brass compression blanking caps to hold the balls . It certainly sounded different, and it's always going to be system dependent whether you prefer it .
Lived with this arrangement for a while before substituting all the metal for ebony pyramids of similar height ; this gave the sound I'd wanted all along.
Another layer of glass and pyramid (making 3 in total ) improved things further and if I'd had more glass I would have kept going.
Perhaps I should mention that the only thing living atop this concoction is an elderly CD player , and if it wasn't so damned sensitive to what it's sitting on
then I wouldn't need to be faffing around like this in the first place.
Take your time, evaluate slowly , and maybe have fun !
Nicholas.