My Rek-O-Child (Record Lathe)
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My Rek-O-Child (Record Lathe)
Hi!
Here is the Fairchild 539 lathe, the photo taken from ebay who has listed in 2013 and it has sold for 1.230 Euros or 1.649$ but not by me After one month the winner removes the overhead included the cutterhead and sold it to me for 310$
i think it was a good deal
so my new project starts on August 2013 .
to be continued...
Here is the Fairchild 539 lathe, the photo taken from ebay who has listed in 2013 and it has sold for 1.230 Euros or 1.649$ but not by me After one month the winner removes the overhead included the cutterhead and sold it to me for 310$
i think it was a good deal
so my new project starts on August 2013 .
to be continued...
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Re: My Rek-O-Child (Record Lathe)
Here is what i've received
so after 70 + years it's time to disassembly it for a good clean, re lube and repaint!
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Last edited by Gus on Wed May 18, 2016 9:26 am, edited 2 times in total.
Re: My Rek-O-Child (Record Lathe)
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Re: My Rek-O-Child (Record Lathe)
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Re: My Rek-O-Child (Record Lathe)
to be continued...
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Re: My Rek-O-Child (Record Lathe)
After a good clean with many chemicals all the parts are shine like new
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Re: My Rek-O-Child (Record Lathe)
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Re: My Rek-O-Child (Record Lathe)
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Re: My Rek-O-Child (Record Lathe)
Before
it's time to check the cutterhead
After
it's time to check the cutterhead
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Re: My Rek-O-Child (Record Lathe)
First of all i didn't like the idea of Allen screw i would like to be able to remove the cutting stylus with my fingers.
what i did was to make my own screw
Also as you can see i swap the Allen screws of damping blocks with Phillips Screws because the difference of U.S vs E.U. Allen key sizes This nice document of B.B.C writes the d.c. resistance of Fairchild 541A must to be 132 Ohms that means the head works with old school 500 ohm amp.
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/reports/1948-32.pdf
After a Deep Breath... YES!!! My multi-meter writes 131.3 Ohms that means the cutterhead seems to work. 70 + years, is a good idea to recharge the magnet for how to you can read more infos at this useful thread http://lathetrolls.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5207&p=34753&hilit=remagnetize#p34753
Now it's time to find the suitable amp for the cutterhead.
To be continued.
what i did was to make my own screw
Also as you can see i swap the Allen screws of damping blocks with Phillips Screws because the difference of U.S vs E.U. Allen key sizes This nice document of B.B.C writes the d.c. resistance of Fairchild 541A must to be 132 Ohms that means the head works with old school 500 ohm amp.
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/reports/1948-32.pdf
After a Deep Breath... YES!!! My multi-meter writes 131.3 Ohms that means the cutterhead seems to work. 70 + years, is a good idea to recharge the magnet for how to you can read more infos at this useful thread http://lathetrolls.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5207&p=34753&hilit=remagnetize#p34753
Now it's time to find the suitable amp for the cutterhead.
To be continued.
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Re: My Rek-O-Child (Record Lathe)
Suitable amp for Fairchild cutterhead is UNIT 540 AMPLIFIER - EQUALIZER very rare and very expensive these days.
Third option was an amplifier and reversed 100 volt line transformer.
i found at my storeroom a new 300w car amplifier i had bought it for my E30 but never used
Second option was to build my own tube amp with 500ohm output or to find a P.A. amp with 100volt output.Third option was an amplifier and reversed 100 volt line transformer.
i found at my storeroom a new 300w car amplifier i had bought it for my E30 but never used
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Re: My Rek-O-Child (Record Lathe)
With the help of member markrob i've found the correct transformer for my amplifier and cutterhead.
As PSU to drive the amplifier i've used a 500watt P.C. PSU
1Khz @ 0db sine wave
And it WORKS!!!
As you can see my multi meter reads 22 Volts AC To be continued.
markrob wrote:Connect the 100V, 15 watt tap to the head which will be a pretty close match to a 500 ohm head. You can calculate the secondary impedance from R = (V squared) / power. In this case: 10000 /15 watts = 667 ohms).
Mark
As PSU to drive the amplifier i've used a 500watt P.C. PSU
1Khz @ 0db sine wave
And it WORKS!!!
As you can see my multi meter reads 22 Volts AC To be continued.
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Re: My Rek-O-Child (Record Lathe)
As the owner manual writes the overhead pitch work through turntable's worm and gear at 98,118,141,161 lines per inch
what i did was to remove the gears and to install direct at feed screw a stepper motor controlled at different speeds electronically via arduino
as you can see it works pretty well
Now it's time to find a powerful and stable turntable for my Fairchild overhead.
what i did was to remove the gears and to install direct at feed screw a stepper motor controlled at different speeds electronically via arduino
as you can see it works pretty well
Now it's time to find a powerful and stable turntable for my Fairchild overhead.
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Re: My Rek-O-Child (Record Lathe)
My first attempt was the Stanton SP-150 turntable with VERY powerful motor 4.5kg/cm torque very stable speed and no audible wow effect to test recordings at different speeds.
Here is a sample file embossed on polycarbonate @ 33.3 RPM with sapphire stylus and Fairchild cutterhead at 500 ohm .
Original File
http://www.lathetrolls.com/download/file.php?id=492
Embossed File
http://www.lathetrolls.com/download/file.php?id=491
https://www.youtube.com/embed/-Hyia4L1aZ8
Here is a sample file embossed on polycarbonate @ 33.3 RPM with sapphire stylus and Fairchild cutterhead at 500 ohm .
Original File
http://www.lathetrolls.com/download/file.php?id=492
Embossed File
http://www.lathetrolls.com/download/file.php?id=491
https://www.youtube.com/embed/-Hyia4L1aZ8
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Re: My Rek-O-Child (Record Lathe)
After hundreds tests on polycarb with sapphire stylus I've noticed some songs with many high frequencies as the example of the attachment file, the sound goes up and down. I think this called flutter effect if i'm wrong please correct me.
The reason is the eccentric of the platter, i measured it with Dial Indicator and it gave me 0.10mm runout. Also the wow& flutter of Stanton ST-150 is 0.10.
I have two choices the first is to build a new one platter at the local machine shop
and the second choice is to give a try to a Rek-o-Kut turntable of the 50's.
I'm going with the second...
The reason is the eccentric of the platter, i measured it with Dial Indicator and it gave me 0.10mm runout. Also the wow& flutter of Stanton ST-150 is 0.10.
I have two choices the first is to build a new one platter at the local machine shop
and the second choice is to give a try to a Rek-o-Kut turntable of the 50's.
I'm going with the second...
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Re: My Rek-O-Child (Record Lathe)
The postman knocked on the door, outside of my home was a medium size box with a vintage REK-O-KUT LP 743 transcription turntable. http://www.vinylengine.com/library/rek-o-kut/lp-743.shtml
I hate the solution of car inverter 12volt to 110v @60hz actually 63hz because of the radiation but is a cheap solution just for my tests
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Last edited by Gus on Thu Nov 03, 2016 7:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: My Rek-O-Child (Record Lathe)
So after 60 years of use it's time for restoration.
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Re: My Rek-O-Child (Record Lathe)
First of all it's very important to rebuilt the motor.
you can find information at this post http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/inside-look-of-the-death-cube.653231/
you can find information at this post http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/inside-look-of-the-death-cube.653231/
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Re: My Rek-O-Child (Record Lathe)
After complete rebuild i add three new rubber grommets.
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Re: My Rek-O-Child (Record Lathe)
Impressive work! Congrats!