Making Phonographs in Modern Times

[JimN]

Turntables may not be real common, but they're not hard to get. I see some for sale on Amazon for $39. Also, according to this YouTube video, 18% of physical music sales is vinyl: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuC-mmm5_qk

The video also says that Sony is getting back into the vinyl record business.

Jim Nichol

[Django]

I may have missed this information, so please ignore this if it has been covered. Is the motor intended to be mechanical or electric? Is the reproducer intended to be purely acoustic? If the desire is to produce a machine that can play various records, new and old, cylinder or disc, then a machine that uses current technology would probably be more cost effective and versatile. There are people that just collect records and have no interest in the early machines. As a mechanical engineer and former tool and die maker it pains me to say that my suggestion, for what it is worth, would be to avoid mechanisms as much as possible and keep your parts count low. Molded, machined, cast or stamped parts tend to add a lot of cost and wear out and require maintenance. An electronic unit with the fewest number of mechanical parts would probably be the best way to go.

[Victor A]

To answer your question Django, I intended to have an electric motor at first, and that spring motor idea I had mentioned was just something I was toying with. I had thought of it so it could work on both formats without needing two motors. Albeit, as you have mentioned, a lower part count and less machined items would be quite important. Thanks for your input on this project.