Thorens TD-180 Restoration

I've been building, rebuilding, and refurbishing turntables for a couple of years now, and in my constant striving to improve each new build I have learned a lot about woodworking and finishing.  This latest rebuild maintains all of the original functionality of the Thorens TD 180 that was its foundation, and adds improved vibration dampening, a hand polished gloss black lacquered top and beautiful zebra wood outer frame.  The pictures below will walk you through the process of transforming this basic black production unit into a highly customized show piece.

The final product - more final images below.

Zebra wood and a hand-miter saw.

A comparison between the old and new.

I learned a lot about joint work in trying to
make the zebra wood striping appear continuous.

The top plate was duplicated with a router
using a circle-cutting jig, and then a
pattern-cutting bit.

Test assembly before finishing.  I've decided on a lustre finish
lacquer for the zebra wood, and a glossy black for the top plate.

The piano-gloss black had to be wet-sanded using eleven progressively
finer sandpaper grits, and then three stages of polishing compound.  All
together, the finish took me about 30 hours of labor.

Finishing in progress - you can't see it from here but at this stage there was
still a fine orange peel texture to the black lacquer.

Here are some additional final photos.  A few minor tweaks such as adjusting the speeds for accuracy, and setting up the cartridge properly, will get this beauty ready for delivery.  I'm not sure I will pursue the piano-gloss black in the future, but I am much more informed about professional finishes, and that will improve each new turntable project.

Thanks for stopping by,

Brian

Detail of the speed control switch.

The zebra wood plinth contrasts very nicely with the gloss black.

I added a Grado moving iron cartridge to ensure quality audio reproduction.