Styli damage

[Stowvinyl]

Can styli be damaged by over heating? What are the symptoms is pops 1 of them?

[Xertz]

I'm no expert, but I doubt it. The only reason I think this would happen is if the styli meets its melting point, but this seems very unlikely. If you overheat it, it could possibly damage the drivers due to the current flowing through the needle.

[rsimms3]

Can styli be damaged by over heating? What are the symptoms is pops 1 of them?

I've never read of stone damage due to overheating (if it has happened someone can attest to that) but certainly burning/bonding/carbonizing your cutting material to the stone due to excessive heat or lack of swarf management is possible. Stylus heating should always be used with vacuum, it serves two purposes - remove swarf and cool the area around the stylus. The stone in the stylus is an insulator preventing electric current transferring into the cutting head and providing some heat displacement. Buy a good microscope and inspect your stylus for flaws or burned on material.

[piaptk]

Nail polish remover will help remove cooked on lacquer.

[concretecowboy71]

I was told, but never tried cleaning with (MEK) Methyl Ethyl Ketone and steam heat from a cappuccino machine works well to bring back a stylus also.

[Aussie0zborn]

You will burn out the heating wire before anything else.
Use acetone to remove burned lacquer from the stylus.
And then use PITH WOOD to clean the stylus.
Pith wood is what jewelers use to clean the tips of their tools.
You jab the stylus into the soft wood and presto... your stylus is clean.

[emorritt]

Apollo used to sell pithwood, don't know if they do any longer. If not, a jewelery supply website may have it.

[grooveguy]

Thanks AussieO for that reference to pith wood. Decades ago, Micropoint sent a hunk along with every stylus they sold. Good to know where it can be obtained. Really does work magic.

The only problem I ever had with too much heat was changing the consistency of the damping material in the cutterhead. Webster and some Fairchild cutters used rubber damping blocks against the armature very close to where the stylus is clamped. On heads that were never meant to have heated styli, that heat can travel up the shank to the armature and change the response. Otherwise no problem.

Does anyone know what sort of adhesive is used to secure the jewel in the shank? That might be a consideration.