Schiit Sol

kvetcha said:
what I am about to post here is the most embarrassing thing that's happened to me (in vinyl) since I pulled the cartridge rods out of my 2M Red during my first cartridge swap. This is just between us, ok?

Over the course of the last couple weeks, I had run into a few interesting data points with the Sol. To review:

1) It was taking a little more effort for the motor to get it to speed than I'd expected, and seemed to be putting a strain on the belt, even during simple procedures like speed changes.

2) While the speed was fairly accurate, the speed stability was worse than I'd expected. Since I only had the UltraDeck to compare it to, I rationalized that some variation was to be expected and that this was within spec.

3) The platter was wobblier than I'd anticipated.

4) I found that my platter speed would decrease by about 1/10th of a revolution per minute, and my speed stability would become measurably worse, when using my Big Ben record weight.

5) When free-spinning the platter, it was coming to a stop after only 20-25 seconds, which is...uh, not great.

So, figuring it's a friction issue, I lift the platter, lightly grease the bearing shaft and sleeve, reassemble. Same issue. The speed stability isn't even consistently good or bad! It's almost random!

I take it back apart. Examine the parts. They all seem fine. Finally, I decide to use a flashlight and look up into the bearing sleeve to get a look at the bearing itself. You know, the bearing that lives up in the sleeve because it's "inverted," and that's why I've never seen it on the bearing shaft itself. That bearing.

Wait, there's nothing up there but a ceramic dome. That can't be right. Check again?

Empty.

Yes, friends, I had been running this platter for a week and a half on the bearing shaft itself.

I scuttle over to my desk to root through the spare parts bag and yep, sure enough, there's a shiny steel ball bearing just sitting there at the very bottom. "Miss me?" it says.

I install the ball bearing on top of the bearing shaft along with a very light application of Super Lube, put everything back together, and give it a free spin. It takes a minute and a half to spin down! Miracles! Pop the belt back on, get the motor pod in position, run a few tests, and...well, the Sol is now measuring as good or better than my UltraDeck.

View attachment 190405
View attachment 190406

Now, in my defense, the Sol normally comes with the whole bearing assembly in one piece, but was shipped to me broken down, so there was nothing in the manual to instruct me to look for this. But boy, what an oversight.
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Late to this party…

At least there was a ball bearing. I don’t trust the MoFi’s that have a domed shaft as a bearing and no ss or ceramic ball. I’m old school.
 
The thing that was done:

I had a friend design a custom replacement platter for my Sol, which I had machined from Delrin and bead blasted.

Was it particularly cheap? No. But it gives me an extra half pound of mass, it's got a groove for the belt, and it's acoustically dead as a doornail. Pretty happy, all things considered. Wow and Flutter is measuring very slightly better than the original platter, and within spitting distance of my wife's Technics 100c.

Also added a spindle clamp over the holiday for some extra downforce without too much strain on the bearing.

IMG_5458.jpg
 
kvetcha said:
The thing that was done:

I had a friend design a custom replacement platter for my Sol, which I had machined from Delrin and bead blasted.

Was it particularly cheap? No. But it gives me an extra half pound of mass, it's got a groove for the belt, and it's acoustically dead as a doornail. Pretty happy, all things considered. Wow and Flutter is measuring very slightly better than the original platter, and within spitting distance of my wife's Technics 100c.

Also added a spindle clamp over the holiday for some extra downforce without too much strain on the bearing.

View attachment 222985
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Ffffuuuu.... I'm really jealous. That's awesome!
 
Hemotep said:
Ffffuuuu.... I'm really jealous. That's awesome!
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The finish is probably less refined than a Groovetracer or whatever, but I kind of like the rustic aesthetic, it suits the machine-shop vibe of the Sol.

It was about $280 shipped, which is...not cheap, but not super extravagant given that it's a custom-made Delrin platter.

I do have a couple of very minor tweaks I might make to a hypothetical second revision. Happy to send over the plans if you ever decide you want to have one made.
 
kvetcha said:
The thing that was done:

I had a friend design a custom replacement platter for my Sol, which I had machined from Delrin and bead blasted.

Was it particularly cheap? No. But it gives me an extra half pound of mass, it's got a groove for the belt, and it's acoustically dead as a doornail. Pretty happy, all things considered. Wow and Flutter is measuring very slightly better than the original platter, and within spitting distance of my wife's Technics 100c.

Also added a spindle clamp over the holiday for some extra downforce without too much strain on the bearing.

View attachment 222985
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That’s awesome. That table is so interesting! Have enjoyed your updates and the journey. The delrin looks sweet!
 
kvetcha said:
The thing that was done:

I had a friend design a custom replacement platter for my Sol, which I had machined from Delrin and bead blasted.

Was it particularly cheap? No. But it gives me an extra half pound of mass, it's got a groove for the belt, and it's acoustically dead as a doornail. Pretty happy, all things considered. Wow and Flutter is measuring very slightly better than the original platter, and within spitting distance of my wife's Technics 100c.

Also added a spindle clamp over the holiday for some extra downforce without too much strain on the bearing.

View attachment 222985
Click to expand...
Curious how much thicker it is than the original, if at all?
 
Slimwhit33 said:
Curious how much thicker it is than the original, if at all?
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Slightly thicker at the rim and considerably thicker along the interior (the aluminum platter is much thicker along its edge than the middle). It sits about the same height. This was intentional as the cost of getting Delrin media thicker than 1” gets out of hand pretty quickly, and I wanted it to be able to fit on the stock spindle.
 
Added a FYFAUDIO linear power supply (under $100 shipped!) to replace the Schiit wall wart. It looks *extremely* similar to the LPS that came with my Khozmo, except, sadly, the front LED is bright blue, which nixes the possibility of stacking them.

It does, however, work nicely and allow me to put my big ol’ Pangea power cable back in the system. Did some measurements before and after and wow/flutter improved slightly, but probably within margin of error of the app. If nothing else, it feels more robust.
IMG_5526.jpeg
 
kvetcha said:
Added a FYFAUDIO linear power supply (under $100 shipped!) to replace the Schiit wall wart. It looks *extremely* similar to the LPS that came with my Khozmo, except, sadly, the front LED is bright blue, which nixes the possibility of stacking them.

It does, however, work nicely and allow me to put my big ol’ Pangea power cable back in the system. Did some measurements before and after and wow/flutter improved slightly, but probably within margin of error of the app. If nothing else, it feels more robust.
View attachment 224561
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I love the extra tone arms mounted on the wall!
 
Slimwhit33 said:
Talented friend. Very cool!

Also, what’s the story with the lighted panels on the wall? Those are sweet.
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I’ll pass on the compliment! 3D design and printing is a serious hobby of his, and he seems to enjoy the challenge of trying to engineer clever solutions to the various problems I pose him.

The panels are by NanoLeaf. I believe these particular ones are the Canvas models.
 
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