Thank Goodness for this enforced down-time!
Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2020 9:17 am
Because I've finally found the time to have a go at the slate plinth for my 401. 
I was at the Tonbridge Hi-Fi Jumble about 18 months ago and came upon a bloke selling his two piece skeletal plinth in lovely green Cumbrian slate for £130. After a bit of haggling I got it for just £100 ! It had never been used and didn't have an arm hole cut in it. It had also been hanging around for a while as it had a few scratches, but no chips - good. Well it sat under the couch in the conservatory ever since, until two days ago! I don't like skeletal plinths as there's nothing remotely attractive about the underside of a 401, so I'd ordered in some 10 x 40mm aluminium bar to make a solid middle section. The idea was to make two mitred frames so that one would fit snugly inside the other. The smaller frame would be glued to the base and the larger to the underside of the top so that the whole top section can lift off to access the workings / wiring etc. I cut the aluminium with my mitre saw - horrible stuff to cut.
The first job, however, was to cut out for the SME V. Luckily my arm came with all the original templates and guides so I could mark out the correct location. Then it was time to crack out the Dewalt and diamond core drill I use when tiling. The slate cuts quite easily but using a hand drill freehand it was difficult to keep things perfectly neat and tidy. Overall I was quite happy with the result, considering. There was some slight chipping but all covered by the spacers. I then drilled the mounting holes slightly oversize and glued in some threaded inserts for the arm screws. I spent a few hours trying to polish out the worst of the scratches then sealed the slate. Sorry, that got a bit long-winded and dull, but here's some pics.
I was at the Tonbridge Hi-Fi Jumble about 18 months ago and came upon a bloke selling his two piece skeletal plinth in lovely green Cumbrian slate for £130. After a bit of haggling I got it for just £100 ! It had never been used and didn't have an arm hole cut in it. It had also been hanging around for a while as it had a few scratches, but no chips - good. Well it sat under the couch in the conservatory ever since, until two days ago! I don't like skeletal plinths as there's nothing remotely attractive about the underside of a 401, so I'd ordered in some 10 x 40mm aluminium bar to make a solid middle section. The idea was to make two mitred frames so that one would fit snugly inside the other. The smaller frame would be glued to the base and the larger to the underside of the top so that the whole top section can lift off to access the workings / wiring etc. I cut the aluminium with my mitre saw - horrible stuff to cut.
The first job, however, was to cut out for the SME V. Luckily my arm came with all the original templates and guides so I could mark out the correct location. Then it was time to crack out the Dewalt and diamond core drill I use when tiling. The slate cuts quite easily but using a hand drill freehand it was difficult to keep things perfectly neat and tidy. Overall I was quite happy with the result, considering. There was some slight chipping but all covered by the spacers. I then drilled the mounting holes slightly oversize and glued in some threaded inserts for the arm screws. I spent a few hours trying to polish out the worst of the scratches then sealed the slate. Sorry, that got a bit long-winded and dull, but here's some pics.
