DIY spinorama turntables

[TasTinker]

With discussion in various development threads on DIY spin turntables I'm picking up on Rick Sykoras suggestion and starting a thread for DIY turntable build ideas.
Most use one of the various furniture dolly offerings. Here's a different approach I took using a bolt on front wheel bearing assembly from a car. Obviously not for everyone but has the advantage of greater overhang strength, especially when doing vertical spins with floostanders hanging out to one side.

 

[TimVG]

 

[mtg90]

Here are mine:

That one uses a 20" lazy Susan bearing in a recess routed between the two discs which works well, very stable with almost no play and spins extremely smooth:

The bigger one (36" diameter, 10ft tall) uses a smaller 12" lazy susan bearing in the middle with fixed casters for extra support around the perimeter. I originally planned on just using a single larger lazy Susan bearing but the one I had ordered got lost in transit. I may update it in the future as I'm not 100% happy with amount of drag in the current setup but it does function fine.

Both designs use stepper motors and GT2 belt to mechanically spin the turntable with custom stand alone Arduino based controllers I built.

Since those photos were taken I found full GT2 belt loops of the correct length/size which allows for full 360 degree rotation on both turntables rather then the 180 degrees they were limited to before. I was originally worried about slippage using just a belt looped around the discs but found the tension of the 6mm GT2 belts on the discs themselves provide plenty of friction.

I still need to update the code to implement the full range of motion and I can switch over to my new improved controllers:

 

[TasTinker]

That is such cool lateral thinking TimVG!
I take it the front legs screw to the turntable? Also wondering if there's any tendency for the castors to pull it away from the set location as they rotate if you reverse rotation, or is that not an issue on a hard floor (or sticky pads under the turntable?)

 

[XMechanik]

Here is my take on the topic, simple and cheap.

components used:
- base of swivel chair, e.g. link
- terrace mast, e.g. link
- parallel mast mounting clamps, e.g. link
- plywood scraps for the tabletop

The mast should be sufficiently distanced from the chair's axis (using washers/sleeves) so that the rotation axis is 5-10 mm in front of the edge of the tabletop. Since the axis of rotation should be aligned with the front baffle surface, the edge of the tabletop will be hidden under the lower edge of the cabinet during the measurements.

The printed scale (link) lies on a stiff cardboard pad and it has a foam disc on top. The scale can be rotated with slight resistance relative to the base, which makes it easy to reset the pointer indication for the base setting. The pointer is made of two zips.

This is sufficient for a bookshelf, for a floorstander a support for V measurements would be needed.

 

[TulseLuper]

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Any chance you’d share the SVG for this? I also use a Shaper Origin and this looks great.

 

[napilopez]

Ugh y'all are so fancy and talented. Meanwhile this is me:

The amount of times I've nearly dropped a speaker...

Maybe if I ever start measuring speakers for real again I'll pay one of you to make me something nice.

One thing I'd like to investigate is the effect of different stands on frequency response. I'm quite sure I've had speakers measure slightly differently on different stands before, and found I got cleanest results if the speaker's baffle and the top plate of the stand was was flush with the 'mast" of the stand, or whatever you call it.

 

[TimVG]

That is such cool lateral thinking TimVG!
I take it the front legs screw to the turntable? Also wondering if there's any tendency for the castors to pull it away from the set location as they rotate if you reverse rotation, or is that not an issue on a hard floor (or sticky pads under the turntable?)

Due to the weight of the construction screwing down was not necessary. And it makes storage a bit handier. For reverse rotation I simply put the castors in the correct orientation by hand - it works very smoothly.

 

[TimVG]

Any chance you’d share the SVG for this? I also use a Shaper Origin and this looks great.

Sure thing

I don't have my computer on me at the moment but can share tomorrow. You'll need 11mm ball bearings.