Custom P3 Bearing/Hub Assy. & Acrylic Platter pic.

[Vinyl-Addict]

I thought I'd post a screenshot of my DIY Rega 25mm thick Acrylic platter and Stainless/Aluminum bearing hub assembly for my P3.
The hub is very much like the P9 except I chose to use a ball bearing. The P9 does not use a ball bearing.
My platter is 9mm thicker than the "Sheer Audio" platter you see advertised at Musicdirect. I do not use the felt mat so I machined a counterbore to contain the record label.
For the bearing/hub assy. I chose to use stainless steel and integrated a hardened steel pin inside the axle which rides on the ball bearing. I surface ground the contact areas for a super smooth low friction platform. No VTA changes resulted in this modification.
Benefits include speed stability due to the near perfect concentricity of the new bearing/hub, the standard Rega plastic hub is not perfectly round, in fact I found flat spots all over mine. Bass is also tighter and cleaner with the acrylic platter. I find myself cranking up the volume level because everything just seems smoother due to these 2 upgrades. I also have a Heavyweight and Cardas arm rewire, short of an outboard motor I've pretty much modded this TT out.
The cart. is a Koetsu Black. Last year when my Aurum Beta-S met its untimely demise I had intended to upgrade to a better TT so I bought the Black with that in mind.
Anyway, a couple of members asked me to post a picture so here's one.
I can offer more if anyone is interested.

http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/fsmillie@pacbell.net/lst?.dir=/Rega-pics&.src=ph&.order=&.view=t&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.com/bc/fsmillie@pacbell.net/lst%3f%26.dir=/Rega-pics%26.src=ph%26.view=t

[Cafe Jeff]

It's a beaut...
Do I hear a cottage cottage industry brewing? Jeff

[teaser5]

Curious: Did you do the arm re-wire yourself?
I hear it's a bear
Thanks
Norm

[Vinyl-Addict]

Norm, I had it done. I actually traded my stock RB-300 arm for a new arm with the cardas wire already installed. The new arm actually tracked better than the old one too. I think they charge around $80-$100 to install it for you. :)

[teaser5]

I have to admit that I don't understand a lot of this stuff. Much of the technical stuff frightens me. I have seen the page of P3 tweaks in the Music Direct flyer and have pondered some of them. I believe they too offer a bearing hub assembly. If I am not mistaken you need to check the VTA if you make that switch. Is that correct and if so is that the case with your assembly?

I would like to improve my P3. It kind of strikes me as kind of like a Honda Civic. It's really basic and reliable and if you want to you can really fix them up. Or you can spend a lot of dough and just buy an Accura. I don't really know if that's a fair analogy but it seems to me that the next step up in TT is a lot of money and that's why I decided to go with the phono stage as my next upgrade.

So do you do this stuff yourself? Are you marketing these upgrades?
Thanks!
Norm

[Vinyl-Addict]

I would like to improve my P3. It kind of strikes me as kind of like a Honda Civic. It's really basic and reliable and if you want to you can really fix them up. Or you can spend a lot of dough and just buy an Accura. I don't really know if that's a fair analogy but it seems to me that the next step up in TT is a lot of money and that's why I decided to go with the phono stage as my next upgrade.

Smart move, a good phono stage will definitely enhance your LP playback system.

I have seen the page of P3 tweaks in the Music Direct flyer and have pondered some of them. I believe they too offer a bearing hub assembly. If I am not mistaken you need to check the VTA if you make that switch. Is that correct and if so is that the case with your assembly?

I haven't seen anyone offer an upgraded bearing/hub assy. for a P3.
I made mine because I did'nt like the plastic Rega piece. I took it into my shop for close inspection when I made my 1st platter. I could see that the platter was running out or running eccentric to the bearing because at the Rega factory, they pressed the cap on crooked. I did'nt notice it since I always had the stock glass platter with the felt pad on top.
When I measured it with a dial indicator, it was out of round by 0.008 and the hub itself was not pressed on perpendicular to the bearing axle. You get what you pay for and Rega makes some attempt at accuracy but the assembly process is only as good as the sum of all parts.
Anyway, I wanted to see if I could increase the performance of the P3 by machining my own hub. If you have the belt riding on an eccentric surface it will not run at a constant speed so I made sure that this aluminum hub would be a step up from the plastic Rega. I also made sure that it was the same height as the stock Rega and it is so no VTA adjustment was necessary.
My machine shop is located in heart of the Silicon Valley and business has been pretty slow so that was a good reason to make use of my equipment. I have thought about manufacturing these items but only if business remains slow.
As far as other upgrades to your P3, I would try the Heavyweight counterweight, check out what MF said about in Stereophile last month, FWIW. If you plan on keeping the RB-300 arm when you upgrade your P3 someday consider the Cardas rewire. That is a big step up from the stock Rega. You can send in your arm to the Rega distributor here in the US and have it back in a couple of weeks. :)

[MMM]

VA, is your new sub-platter/hub the same diameter as the original plastic one, or is it slightly larger to correct these turntables from running appx. 1% too fast? I've tried the masking tape method with some success - I put one layer of tape around the (original) sub-platter, which seemed to reduce the speed error for 33 1/3 by maybe about 1/3 or so. Have to experiment with another layer or two of tape to try and get the speed close to dead-on accurate.

[teaser5]

This thread has been really helpful for me. I have a lot of trouble with much of the technical side of music reproduction and this has made it a little bit clearer for me. Gotta me more hands on I guess.

Thanks a lot!
Cheers~
Norm