Regentone 99FM bowed record deck plinth

[Tedzed1]

Hi All. currently working on my Regentone tablegram at the mo.
I have done all the electrical work on the chassis, and now need to move on to the record deck.

Only problem is the supporting plinth is quite bowed, and I was wondering the best way to go about remedying this, would it be feasable to try and straigten it out, or would a new plinth be better, the original one seems quite plyable.

Or possibly some supporting battons fixed to the underside to give it some support.

Sugestions will be most welcome.

[Joe]

It looks like there's room to brace it. I'd be worried that a new one would quickly end-up in the same state.

- Joe

[Radio Fixer]

It may not come back flat though, worth a try. If you make a new one is MDF stiffer than ply?

But what to brace it with? Not much room for any but small timber which will probably take up the bend or bend itself. In the past for sagging shelves I have used steel square tube from B&Q. Its very stiff of course and available in various sizes. You could drill through the baseboard into it and tap the holes. Then put screws, with washers, maybe where they don't show like under the deck itself.

Gary

[pwdrive]

If replacing with ply then go for decent quality stuff eg: birch or preferably marine, not sure how thick your original is, with the cut out mdf might sag especially if in a damp atmosphere.

Lawrence.

[camallison]

It's hard to be certain from the photos, but that looks like 12mm ply and must be carrying a fair weight plus damp to make it bow like that. I would be tempted to go with Gary's suggestion of the square tube and hidden fixings and the original base. Whatever you use in sheet form alone would only suffer the same fate after a while I suspect. Just a month ago, I did a similar bracing job on the back of a speaker case that had bowed and spoiled the tone - in that case, I used a couple of pieces of 1 x 1/2 channel I had going spare.

Colin

[Tedzed1]

Thanks All, will se what I have to hand to try bracing it first, and see how that goes.

[tiv48]

you could try turning it up side down the plinth i mean.
you can staighten ply but it means steaming it
rob t