Question .. riding cutter head?

[mischmerz]

I understand that most MONO lathes have the cutter head (the stylus) riding the lacquer (feel free to jump in if I talk nonsense). It follows the contour of the lacquers and is able (within limits) to deal with small changes in material or warps. The depth of the groove will be adjusted by modifying the force that pushes the head and stylus on to the lacquer. Now I was wondering about more modern Stereo heads on advanced cutting equipment. Are they still "riding" the lacquer or are they fixed to cut a specific depth ? That of course would required the lacquer to be super flat and perfectly equal in regard to the width of the material.

Thanks for explaining it to me.

Michaela

[Jccc]

Cutting heads usually have a “Advance Ball” which is mounted in front of the cutting needle.
It is mounted slightly in front of the shank and rides on the laquer or what ever medium you are cutting on. It keeps the Shank at a constant depth from small warps in the medium you are cutting.

[Phinster]

OR..on Neumann's they use a dash pot, a depth solenoid and a hold back spring to accomplish the same thing.

[mischmerz]

I am currently cutting with a Rek-O-Kut in Mono. I recently purchased an old "National" lathe which I am current restoring, because I wanted to have a lathe with a fixed head traction mechanism that allows me to control the cutter head movement independently from the platter speed. Every part is now soaking in degreaser and I am thinking about the mounts for my Grampian head. On the Rek-o-Kut the stylus pretty much rests on the lacquer and spring loaded force in combination with the counter weight determines the force the stylus exerts on the lacquer. This can be replicated on the "new" lathe and would work well, but I want to go Stereo at some point in time and I was wondering if this simple mechanism would also work for Stereo. I don't think I have ever seen an "advance" ball on Souri's system, so - but of course - I may be wrong. How should I construct the cutter head mounts ?

Michaela

[grooveguy]

One of my Presto 1D cutters came with the company's advance ball mechanism, the little jewel ball could be mounted on either side of the stylus for inside-out or outside-in cutting. I tried using it but found the lathe worked as well without it. The right counterbalance and a spring to set depth of cut seem to work just fine. My latest stereo head works as well without one too.

Michaela, where did you find that National lathe? Have never seen one before. It reminds me of the Radio-Tone lathe but looks much better made.