It's been a long, long time since my Lenco L75 gathered dust in a forgotten corner of the house. It has been silently crying out to be transformed into (hopefully) a beatiful swan.
I got the plans for the cutout from here in Lencoheaven (note: in case you need one, send an email requesting a plan for non-commercial, DIY usage). This template has to be printed to scale on an A1 sized page. In may case, one dimension matched exactly but the other dimension of my print was longer by 5 mm. I checked for slacks in the top plate and decided this is not serious enough so went ahead with it.
This single page plan contains the design for all layers, plus instructions on how go about building the plinth. It also contains important information on what parts to modify on your Lenco L75. It is a 6-layer design - layers 2 to 6 are 18 mm, layer 1 thickness may vary depending on your model of Lenco. In my case, I measured 10 mm.
The first important thing in building a plinth is to decide the outer dimensions. Since 2 foot sized boards are easier to get than smaller sizes, I bought 2' x 2' boards, and from there decided on the final length and breadth for the plinth. Considering that the CLD plinth for my TD124 is 22" wide and about 16 an 1/2", and offset to one side leaving space for longer tonearm on one side (wrong side, actually since the extra space is next to the tonearm), I decided to center the turntable on the plinth in the left-right dimension so that space is there for an extra arm (or two
). Since I won't be using the front of the 'table to mount an arm, I decided to leave just 2 inch of space in the front and about 4 inches to the back. With this consideration, I arrived at 23 inch x 19 inch. It is fairly big and quite heavy.
Next decision was what materials to use for the layers. The design from Lenco Heaven is a pseudo-CLD for Baltic Birch plywood of 18 mm thickness. I decided to be a bit more adventurous and started searching for available materials. I found a shop selling tons of acrylic sheets of various thicknesses and shades. The required 18 mm thickness was available, but I decided to go one step further and use two layers of 10 mm acrylic. I couldn't get aluminium sheet so I decided to simply stick to plywood and MDF for the remaining layers. Sandstone is still a future option as the bottom most layer as it will not require any fancy-schmancy cutouts except for the outer cuts.
Below are some pictures of the work in progress.
1. The layers cut to 24" x 24" and marked.
2. The sheets stacked up - thickness is bit more than 3 and half inch. The layers are 18 mm marine grade plywood, 17 mm MDF sheet, 2 layers of 10 mm clear acrylic sheet, 18 mm marine grade plywood, and 17 mm MDF sheet - this is not the final order of the layers.
3. Marking round edges:
4. Drilling guide holes to insert saw bit. The saw bit is really slim and has very sparse teeth but cuts like a demon possessed. The acrylic sheets were quite hard and and two saw bits bit the dust. Plywood was easier and MDF was a cakewalk.
5. The second layer being cut - note the blurry movement of the sawing machine. The guy who did the cutting was really skilled as his daily job is to cut intricate designs on wood, plywood or MDF sheets. The accuracy of the cuts boiled down to how accurately I had marked the cut out lines.
6. Assembling the layers after the cut. The greenish top layer is 10 mm thick water-proof MDF and it turned out to be much harder than the 17 mm MDF boards I had bought earlier. I had not bought the top layer as I did not have the thickness measurement. As I was stepping out from the workshop to a nearby plywood store, the workshop owner offered me this green MDF. As it was of the right thickness and looked rather fancy, I decided to use it.
7. The layers in proper sequence. Top to bottom: 10 mm MDF, 18 mm plywood, 17 mm MDF, 10 mm acrylic, 17 mm MDF, 10 mm acrylic, and 18 mm plywood.
8. Here's a view of the cavity for the sizable motor:
9. The whole assembly:
Next steps:
1. I am awaiting the arrival of the Origin Live Silver III tonearm to modify the tonearm base of the Lenco L75
2. I am also awaiting the arrival of an SME 3012 arm from Delhi to decide on the position of second arm base. This was not part of original plan but since the layers are not yet glued together, it can still be done easily.
3. Gluing will happen only after step 2 above.
4. Need suggestions on which MC cartridge to buy, beside the Denon DL 103R. Can't spend too much here.
Will update with pics as the project progresses.
I got the plans for the cutout from here in Lencoheaven (note: in case you need one, send an email requesting a plan for non-commercial, DIY usage). This template has to be printed to scale on an A1 sized page. In may case, one dimension matched exactly but the other dimension of my print was longer by 5 mm. I checked for slacks in the top plate and decided this is not serious enough so went ahead with it.
This single page plan contains the design for all layers, plus instructions on how go about building the plinth. It also contains important information on what parts to modify on your Lenco L75. It is a 6-layer design - layers 2 to 6 are 18 mm, layer 1 thickness may vary depending on your model of Lenco. In my case, I measured 10 mm.
The first important thing in building a plinth is to decide the outer dimensions. Since 2 foot sized boards are easier to get than smaller sizes, I bought 2' x 2' boards, and from there decided on the final length and breadth for the plinth. Considering that the CLD plinth for my TD124 is 22" wide and about 16 an 1/2", and offset to one side leaving space for longer tonearm on one side (wrong side, actually since the extra space is next to the tonearm), I decided to center the turntable on the plinth in the left-right dimension so that space is there for an extra arm (or two
). Since I won't be using the front of the 'table to mount an arm, I decided to leave just 2 inch of space in the front and about 4 inches to the back. With this consideration, I arrived at 23 inch x 19 inch. It is fairly big and quite heavy.Next decision was what materials to use for the layers. The design from Lenco Heaven is a pseudo-CLD for Baltic Birch plywood of 18 mm thickness. I decided to be a bit more adventurous and started searching for available materials. I found a shop selling tons of acrylic sheets of various thicknesses and shades. The required 18 mm thickness was available, but I decided to go one step further and use two layers of 10 mm acrylic. I couldn't get aluminium sheet so I decided to simply stick to plywood and MDF for the remaining layers. Sandstone is still a future option as the bottom most layer as it will not require any fancy-schmancy cutouts except for the outer cuts.
Below are some pictures of the work in progress.
1. The layers cut to 24" x 24" and marked.
2. The sheets stacked up - thickness is bit more than 3 and half inch. The layers are 18 mm marine grade plywood, 17 mm MDF sheet, 2 layers of 10 mm clear acrylic sheet, 18 mm marine grade plywood, and 17 mm MDF sheet - this is not the final order of the layers.
3. Marking round edges:
4. Drilling guide holes to insert saw bit. The saw bit is really slim and has very sparse teeth but cuts like a demon possessed. The acrylic sheets were quite hard and and two saw bits bit the dust. Plywood was easier and MDF was a cakewalk.
5. The second layer being cut - note the blurry movement of the sawing machine. The guy who did the cutting was really skilled as his daily job is to cut intricate designs on wood, plywood or MDF sheets. The accuracy of the cuts boiled down to how accurately I had marked the cut out lines.
6. Assembling the layers after the cut. The greenish top layer is 10 mm thick water-proof MDF and it turned out to be much harder than the 17 mm MDF boards I had bought earlier. I had not bought the top layer as I did not have the thickness measurement. As I was stepping out from the workshop to a nearby plywood store, the workshop owner offered me this green MDF. As it was of the right thickness and looked rather fancy, I decided to use it.
7. The layers in proper sequence. Top to bottom: 10 mm MDF, 18 mm plywood, 17 mm MDF, 10 mm acrylic, 17 mm MDF, 10 mm acrylic, and 18 mm plywood.
8. Here's a view of the cavity for the sizable motor:
9. The whole assembly:
Next steps:
1. I am awaiting the arrival of the Origin Live Silver III tonearm to modify the tonearm base of the Lenco L75
2. I am also awaiting the arrival of an SME 3012 arm from Delhi to decide on the position of second arm base. This was not part of original plan but since the layers are not yet glued together, it can still be done easily.
3. Gluing will happen only after step 2 above.
4. Need suggestions on which MC cartridge to buy, beside the Denon DL 103R. Can't spend too much here.
Will update with pics as the project progresses.
