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Connoisseur BD1 kit project circa 1973

acass

pfm Member
Way back in 73/74 a British HiFi magazine featured a DIY project for an Acrylic turntable using a Connoisseur BD1 Kit and a SME 3009 MK2 improved arm. I built this project but could not find the Acrylic plinth so I used what I think was MDF with Formica or similar top and bottom. I added a Shure V 15 III and it was very musical much more so than the Fons Q30 that came after it with same arm and a Stanton 681 EEE.

Is it possible to find the Magazine article with today's wonderous internet and can a BD1 Kit be cobbled together with new parts or parts salvaged from off the internet?

I have spent the last 2 days reading through Connoisseur- Lost Classic and am no where near the end or up to part 2 so I still haven't got to any upto date info.

If anyone wants to step in and enlighten me I'm all ears, well 1 ear actually a virus got the other one.

Cheers Alan.
 
A BD1 kit was my second turntable after I'd finished butchering my dad's poor Garrard Autochanger when I was 13. I fitted mine into a damaged (unused) slate gravestone from a friends dad who was a stonemason and built my own arm for it in metalwork classes thanks to a brilliant Czech teacher. I mounted it on tennis balls - one day it rolled off its table and nearly landed on my Dad, completely splitting a floorboard and saved only by the carpet. Great fun to play with though.

I did some searching a few years back and I think I found the article to which you refer, but I'm not sure if I copied and saved it. I will try hunting it down later. There have been occasional examples of BD1's and BD2's available on Ebay over the years so worth keeping an eye open for one. I suspect a Rega platter would work well on it with perhaps a more forgiving and lossy plinth, perhaps sandwiched high quality plywood.

John
 
I have a BD1 gathering dust in the back room. It’s in a box plinth cut for a 3009 and has a proper lid though that’s become somewhat discoloured. I don’t want much for it but I could do with the space tbh.
 
John,
If you could copy and PM it that would be great. I was thinking a solid piece of Maple would be good or Bamboo I think they both have the required properties.

Chops,
if you live in the States I will gladly take it off your hands, if not I think there will be a voltage problem plus shipping is an arm and a leg.

Alan.
 
John,

I'm part way through the thread Sugden- connoisseur-lost-classic it's 33 pages long and then there's Part II so it could take a while for me to get through. I easily get side tracked, some-one mentions something and off I go like a dog in the woods.

I'll PM you my email address, all information is good information.

Alan.
 
Hello Alan,

@Tony L's last post link to part II has gone dead. Link to 'Sugden Connoisseur - lost classic? (part II)', post #1 here.

P.S. Let me know via PM if you still need a copy of the article in question.
 
Way back when, in the first few posts of orig thread, I’d posted these scans from a couple of then-ancient, small-circ UK mags I’d happened-across:

<link deleted by request of author: 10Jun2021:4.30pm>

turns out the author was member ‘eguth’ here, and he took /great/ (and rude) exception to me posting them, even though they were, back then & to all intents & purposes, given-away-free. And not necc of any use even so; certainly not proprietary.

That was 15 yrs ago; so here they are again. Worth exactly what you paid for them, likely… but perhaps worth a giggle for antediluvian interest.

M.
 
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Way back when, in the first few posts of orig thread, I’d posted these scans from a couple of then-ancient, small-circ UK mags I’d hapened-across:
http://www.acoustica.org.uk/misc/ARSugden.zip

turns out the author was member ‘eguth’ here, and he took /great/ (and rude) exception to me posting them, even though they were, back then & to allintents & purposes, given-away-free. And not necc of any use even so; certainly not proprietary.

That was 15 yrs ago; so here they are again. Worth exactly what you paid for them, likely… but perhaps worth a giggle for antediluvian interest.

M.
Ah, those were the days, Martin.

I do miss the original thread title having included the '...or shiny turd?' bit, myself.
 
While I was going through Part 1 and Part 2 of the Connoisseur thread which amount to 1000 plus posts I saw mention of the Ballbearing bearing for the Platter. Does anyone know off hand what size ballbearing is used as I don't seem to have one on the deck I just bought. Also I see ballbearings come in various metals ie: Stainless Steel, chrome Steel, Unobtainium etc does anyone have a preferance?
 
While I was going through Part 1 and Part 2 of the Connoisseur thread which amount to 1000 plus posts I saw mention of the Ballbearing bearing for the Platter. Does anyone know off hand what size ballbearing is used as I don't seem to have one on the deck I just bought. Also I see ballbearings come in various metals ie: Stainless Steel, chrome Steel, Unobtainium etc does anyone have a preferance?
I suspect that Unobtainium balls will be in short supply.

The manual refers to 'hard steel'. These always seemed to be pretty close to standard Rega ball size which is 3/16".

As the belt rides a groove within the platter, if we assume that the motor is hanging at the correct height (good O-rings or the later motor suspension design?), then the correct ball size will raise the platter such that the bottom edge of the platter groove aligns with the ridge between the 33.33 and 45rpm pulley grooves. One way to determine this would be to fit the platter sans ball and measure the difference in height between the lower edge of the platter groove and this 'land' between the pulley diameters. See Fig. 3 in the manual here.

P.S. The Nylon pulley is press fit onto the motor spindle and can be persuaded to shift up/down.
 
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I posted this in the wrong thread so I just moved it.

I'm having trouble with my spindle length, I think I better quickly explain that. The BD1 parts I am using were mounted on a 3/32" steel plate so the motor spindle was not a problem but now I am mounting it on a 3/4" Bamboo board I'm coming up short. Even if I Router out half the board's thickness I don't think the spindle will come through far enough to allow me to securely mount the white drive pulley. Is there any way of adding some length to the spindle or does anyone know of a 110v 60Hz replacement motor with the same specs as the original that may have a longer spindle?

Way Back in the 70's when I built a BD 1 kit I didn't have this trouble, I'm sure everything was just fixed to the underside of the piece of 3/4" Formica shelf I used as a plinth.

Another problem I can see is keeping the motor spindle plumb when I hook up the drive belt. I can see there is a hook on the motor to attach a rubberband to so the pull created by the drive belt can be equalized but what tension is needed and where does the other end affix to? I think I may have to just jury rig some device for it, a piece of dowel with an off center hole in it

All comments most welcome, thanks for your help so far.

Alan.
 
The original motor is a bit of an odd-ball, being as it is a single phase unit. This isn't to say that a similar substitute can't be found with a longer length, same diameter spindle, however, I don't have an original to hand with which to compare at present.

I must say, though, that it doesn't seem logical to reinvent the wheel here; that is, unless one really doesn't like to look of the original motor board metal. In which case, there are lots of alternative parts about with which to build a bespoke turntable.

il-794x-N-2033943415-6i3l.jpg


In the right plinth, the old BD1 can have a certain vintage elegance about it. And, they've always been difficult to fault on sound quality grounds.

il-1140x-N-2033943307-ijd3.jpg
 
Interesting.
My BD1 kit was single speed.
Forward, or reverse, Bob?

Seriously though, BD1 was always billed as a 2-speed deck. They didn't all have the mechanical speed change buttons though. Those that didn't required lifting the hinged pulley cover and manually moving the belt.
 
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Another problem I can see is keeping the motor spindle plumb when I hook up the drive belt. I can see there is a hook on the motor to attach a rubberband to so the pull created by the drive belt can be equalized but what tension is needed and where does the other end affix to? I think I may have to just jury rig some device for it, a piece of dowel with an off center hole in it
BTW, Alan, motor azimuth is maintained by a rubber O-ring that is routed round that hook and clamped to the underside of the motor board. The latter is achieved via a small curved metal tab that is fastened via a nut onto the thread of the tiny screw that sits roughly on the line between motor spindle and main bearing spindle. You'll notice the head of said screw in the first photo in post #15 above. It is the smaller screw offset slightly to the left of the larger one (the latter of which provides motor grounding and holds the plastic cover of the junction box on). I say 'roughly' on the line as the mains junction box to the motor crowds things a bit under there. The curved metal tab puts the point of O-ring connection to motor board pretty close to being on the line, though. Regardless, it is important to get the hook of the motor pointing straight at the platter bearing centre.

20180403_172351.jpg
 
Hi Craig,
you say in your post "..the latter of which provides motor grounding and holds the plastic cover of the junction box on." I've been wondering about the earthing/grounding situation as it only has a 2 wire supply cord , live and neutral (blue and Brown) from the wall plug. Was the grounding path supplied via the tonearm cables and possibly the person putting the record on. 110v in the States is not too bad but UK's 240v could have Grandad popping his clogs.

Alan.
 
Looking at the first picture in post#15 I see a brass screw head between the on/off switch and the platter bearing, what does it do. I have a hole but nothing to fill it.
 


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