richard higgin's lenco

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cressy
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#1 richard higgin's lenco

Post by cressy »

to save myself from going completely mad i decided to to build something. piking around in the spares box produced nothing of any real use for an amp so i turned my attention to the lenco i got off richard last owston.

i'd seen a lenco built with a ptp top plate and laughed my head off at the price that was asked for it, so i though 'how hard could it be?'

turns out, that with some thought its not that hard, but it is time consuming and complicated.

so we started with a hacksaw and a stripped down lenco

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then we build it back up in order to take measurements and have thoughts on how to build the plinth

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i decided to keep it simple and used 18mm mdf in layers, making the cutouts in each layer for the levers, motor and other bits that drop down.after a days worth of arseholing about and creating many tons of dust i ended up with this

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in order not to see the edge of the platter i made a trammel for the router and cut a trim ring. i then added a little sticky out bit for the on off switch bushing to mount into. this needs more work on shaping it. once the ring was fixed in place concentric with the platter i used a trimming bit with a bearing to make the cutout for the speed change lever

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then built it back up again

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we now have this. next job will be to put in a bearing support at the base using a bolt that can be wound up underneath to press against the cap on it, and sort out mounting the origin live ol1 arm off the jbe

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you can see the spiked feet and the large circular mounting plate for the bearing support on the underside. this was the centre of the trim ring, and it seemed a shame to waste it, plus it will add more mass.

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onwards!
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pre65
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#2

Post by pre65 »

Nice one Ant. :)
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Greg
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#3

Post by Greg »

Yep, I'm equally impressed. Nice job. Well done Ant ðŸ‘￾
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#4

Post by IslandPink »

Nice project !
Already showing signs of serious shoddiness.
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ed
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#5

Post by ed »

outstanding!
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#6

Post by Dave the bass »

Shoddy!

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#7

Post by steve s »

Dave the bass wrote:Shoddy!

DTB
Cant disagree there dave..

we all must have a few lenco's stashed away, that one looks quite something now Ant...well done
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#8

Post by Richard Higgins »

Nice job Ant.

Glad to see it's being used.

Cheers Richard
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#9

Post by cressy »

ive now got it going with the arm off the jbe. i need to lower the arm at the bearing end as its about 3 mm high for my liking, not that it makes much difference with the adc cart, the bottom edge of the stylus is just about parallel with the with the record surface. i had to mount the arm at an angle so it just about clears the on off switch without looking as if its just been bashed on.
everything works as it should.
not a bad effort for the princely sum of 12 quid for the materials and 45 quid for the lenco.
oh and it doesn't rumble either
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#10

Post by cressy »

some pictures

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Image

Image
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cressy
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#11

Post by cressy »

i put the sl15 on the lenco today with fingers crossed. it got bashed when the jbe got trashed by parcelforce. on checking it, it appears that its beak touched the plinth when the arm came adrift and not the stylus. so at least one of its 9 lives was used up but its still ok. its much nicer with the ortofon on it than the adc, although the output is too still low even using mikes on loan xlps phono stage. i shall have to get something else at some point.
im in no hurry to swap back to the jbe at the moment. still need to put the beaing support in but im waiting for a screw in threaded insert so that will have to wait for now
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#12

Post by Mike H »

Wow!! :shock:
 
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#13

Post by cressy »

So after a couple of days messing about and listening to the big ugly brute a few impressions.
It is an absolute sledgehammer in the bass, with huge clout, the overall sound with the ol arm and adc cart has immense body and solidity. ive put the adc back on as i discovered the ortofon body has come adrift of the mounting plate and the suspension seems to have some issues so its probably had it. The top end could be better, i might try drilling into the underneath with a large forstner bit and filling the resulting holes with lead shot or sand or something to add some different material to affect different resonant frequencies within the plinth. Or it could be a characteristic of the adc to be a little coarse at the top. We'll see.
The speed stability is superb, i havent had to do anything to the mechanicals at all bar a quick inspection.
Put something loud on and its brilliant, put something that requires a subtle touch and its not quite there yet.
But i hasnt half got some clout

:lol:
Its really enjoyable clout though
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#14

Post by cressy »

it does classical very well, the solidity and body is very welcome, holst planets is spinning at the moment and is very enjoyable, i might put some rachmaninov on in a bit..................................
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#15

Post by Mike H »

Any chance it'll be at Owsters?
 
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