Rek-O-Kut refurb

Good lord, Wardweb, it must be nice having hands of gold! That is gorgeous!

 

Fiddlefye there are several other items you may use for damping the plinth; rope caulk, sound deadening mat like Dynamat and Eastwood's sound deadening spray.

 

I was thinking of Dynamat for the bottom of the deck casting and possibly the platter as well. Sound deadening spray is a new one to me, I must be leading a sheltered existence. Cool! I have seen acoustic glues, though I haven't tried them yet. It did seem to me that having the deck tightly tied to some mass would be a good thing as well.

In total I seems to me that the main issue with the B-12 is going to be two-fold. There is the basic battle of a non-suspended deck to be fought in terms of environmental/acoustic feedback and for that the plinth needs to filter and absorb the vibration. Then there is the special issue of the Rek-O-Kut in having that beefy motor. Both needs must be addressed, though clearly there is a wide area of cross-over. I think the bearing is excellent to begin with and in good shape shouldn't be a source of noise as is the case with many tables.

So, I figure that some extra mass of appropriate density(ies) in the plinth will help take care of the environmental issues and also absorb some of the motor vibration as well. Good motor mounts, idler rubber and bearing and the deck damping should help with the top end.

In the end I'm hoping the B-12H can become my 'A Team', replacing the Thorens TD-125, Ariston RD11s or Technics SP-15 in the number one system around here. I'm really fond of the idler sound and if the vibration issues can be dealt with successfully I think it stands a really good chance. Your work is giving me some inspiration and any and all ideas are welcome. Sorry if I'm thread hijacking!

 

You're good: a major part of the hobby/passion/obsession is sharing the knowledge and joy with others.

 

Indeed it is!

This Rek-O-Kut project is going to be fun methinks. Some thought needs to go into what arm(s?) to mount before I get too far in. On hand I have a Fidelity Research FR-24 MkII, Sumiko MMT and SME 3009 S2 Improved. None have the appropriate spindle to pivot for the existing hole and would require either an additional board on the back or surgery to the deck. Cosmetics on the table are very good, so I'd rather avoid hacking up the top, though I'm not completely discounting the idea. In the back of my mind also is getting an Eminent Technology II arm and mounting it in back or the wood Grado you're using. I'm partial to MC carts and would probably mostly run such, though having the potential to switch quickly would be useful. Any suggestions?

 

I recently purchased a very nice-but-unrestored, mono-wired Rek-O-Kut Rondine Jr. L-34, with a 16" Model 160 tonearm. I purchased this for use with a Denon DL-102 HOMC mono cartridge that I was able to buy for about 1/2 price on eBay; the seller of the Denon realized after 30 minutes of use that a 12g cartridge was not a good match for his tonearm, LOL.

This is a pretty early example (s/n 8609), probably from around '55 or '56, I'm guessing. It has the square motor and lighter platter common to the earliest ones.

The turntable arrived in fairly clean condition, but was very noisy and played with a lot of rumble, as I anticipated it would, but it held accurate speed and the arm tracked just fine, so its basic integrity is solid.

A few nights ago I tackled the first stage of the restoration, and was able to make some significant gains. I removed the idlers and soaked them in soapy water for a few hours, then reconditioned the edges with some fine sandpaper. This is just a temporary measure; eventually the idlers will be sent to Terry Witt or Ed Crockett for rebuilding.

While the tires were soaking, I unbolted the bearing well and popped out the ball bearing (which was blackened and had an uneven surface). I flushed the well with naptha and gave it a good cleaning with lint-free swaps; it was pretty filthy in there! Once I got that good and cleaned out, I reinstalled the well and popped in a brand new .25" diameter ball bearing that I got from a local bike shop. I filled the well with some 3-in-1 oil just enough to submerge the ball, and that was good to go.

I switched on the motor and cleaned off the drive pulley with some naptha and Q-tips. The pulley was very rough to the touch and was blackened by oxidation and rubber residue. I removed tons of black gunk and went through probably a dozen Q-tips cleaning it, but it was very smooth to the touch once I was done. I may give it another pass with some metal polish.

I used some more naptha to clean off the idler spindles, washers, and c-clips, put a drop of oil on the spindle, and reinstalled the idlers. I will probably replace the washers later on, per Art Dudley's recommendation in his Stereophile blog posts about his own L-34 rebuild.

Next, I turned my attention to the platter. I wiped down the inner rim and bearing with naptha, and cleaned off the red rubber mat with soap and water. I drizzled a little oil on the bearing and popped it back into the newly cleaned and oiled well. (I still need to polish its outer edge, for appearance's sake.)

I have found some more improvement by replacing the stock red mat with a DIY cork mat; it smoothes out the top end in a good way. I'm going to see what happens if I cut the cork to the same shape as the stock mat, and use the two together (to preserve the vintage appearance). I believe that I can adjust the height of the ROK arm to compensate.

My first challenge was installing the DL-102. The front of the cartridge hit the "lip" at the front of the headshell, and could not be installed correctly. My solution was to put some thick brass washers between the headshell and cartridge, to shim it so that the cart could clear the headshell obstruction. It worked like a charm.

The end stub on the arm was drooping due to the disintegration of the dampening material between the arm parts, so I superglued it into the correct position.

The 60-year-old run cap (.047 uf, 600v) on the motor was replaced a couple of nights ago. To my surprise, it seems to have helped reduce some of the rumble, but I am still hearing a slight pop when the motor is switched on. I'm not sure what's causing that now, probably the contacts need cleaning.

New motor grommets have been ordered; I found the correct type on eBay for about 1/2 what Esoteric Sound charges. I'll probably send out one of the idler wheels for rebuilding within the week, and then send the other one after the first returns.

I've spent some time listening to my mono LPs and 45s on it and I am very impressed. My initial servicing had made a huge improvement; rumble was probably 85% reduced and the dynamic slam & overall performance was wonderful. It was just so much fun to listen to! I can now see that this combo has a lot of potential, but it really needs a good, solid plinth to move up to the next level.

Building a plinth is a bit intimidating to me, because I have next to no woodworking abilities, although the tools are available to me. But this seems fairly straightforward: cut sheets of plywood to size, mark the cutout patterns, drill/cut the openings, and glue it all together. I may also look into paying someone to do the cutting and belt-sanding for me; I still need to give it some thought.

One thing that works in my favor is the top of the plinth is not affixed to the sides and lifts right off; perhaps the glue dried out? I can use the top as a cut-out tracing pattern for the new plinth that will eventually be made.

 

Very nice indeed.

 

Wardsweb rewired the tonearm on my Rek O Kut TT, very nicely done. I'd love to have a nice heavy plinth made for my table. Right now I am using the ROK platter and bearing on a 2" thick plinth but I am using a small modern motor. I'd like to use the original motor but I don't know how there could never be some rumble with them. I wonder if anyone has ever made a separate (outboard) platform for these motors? Mine is a belt drive.

 

Rumble yes, but a lot of those clunky vintage arms are very musical with the right cartridge.

 

That's serious.

 

I did some more work on my L-34 today. My wife is a metalsmith and has some serious metal polish, so I spent some time really working on the platter bearing, platter rim, and pulley. It made a definite improvement. At 33RPM, I can just barely hear some rumble. (It is higher pitched - and therefore more audible - at 45RPM.) Keep in mind that I am still using the 60-year-old idler wheels and a lightweight hollow-box plinth. Once I have the tires rebuilt and make a proper multi-layer plinth, I expect and hope that the noise will largely go away.

I am very pleased with how the Denon DL-102 mono HOMC mates with the 16" Rek-O-Kut Model 160 arm.

 

Serious, yes, and I'm sure it sounds great but...
it is completely devoid of any of its vintage aesthetic charm.

 

I agree

 

One man's "heavy rumble" is another man's "musical"!

I'd rather have a well-designed arm like the SME V or something like that any day. Those Rek-o-kut arms were like 3 pounds or something. Very primitive, no VTA adjustment, lousy shielding, not good. Perfectly workable if you're in a broadcast situation 40-50 years ago; not so great today.

 

Ok, I'm of the semi old school 70's Pioneer turntables and the like.
I don't mean ANY offense at you guys, but what is your interest at an old Idler driven TT with an obviously cluncky mass loaded
tone arm? This thing looks like it is made to play 78's. How can such a mass laden tt play vinyl without totally diggin the grooves out.
Really serious here. Please educate me.
the beave

 

Because if it was set up correctly it didn't dig the grooves out. It's not the arms that make them noisy, it is basically the huge motor. Get the motor to stop transferring noise and they are fine. I use a vintage arm with a vintage cartridge, the tracking weight I use is 2 grams.

 

I am with you on the rumble, that's the biggest problem with these TT's. About the arms, I don't have a ROK arm but I do have an Empire arm from the same time period and it's fine.

 

I also think it is also like car collecting. You can buy a modern efficient car but you still like tinkering with something that makes more noise and isn't as slick. I am guessing most people with these old tables also have a more modern TT. I have 4 modern tables and one from the 70's and then my Rek O Kut. I have 4 modern switchable arms and 3 old clunky arms. If I sold the arms I could probably get more for 1 or 2 of the clunkers.

 

Ok, thanks for the information. The tone arm just looks so archaic and HUGE that i'm thinking.....
'can I see this tracking the beatles white album??'.
It's just so massive compared to modern day tone arms.
the beave

 

They are huge but 2 grams is still 2 grams. I must admit I feel uncomfortable if I use more than 2.5

 

I'd love this baby!

 

I'm doing 3 grams with the DL-102. It's what Denon recommends, it's fine.

 

Once you hear one, you will understand... They sound BIG and BOLD, with explosive transients. A very exciting way to listen to records.

 

Was that originally a record cutting lathe from the '20s??? (Note the logo in the illustration at the top.)