The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls

Hi, if you're using the lathe purely for embossing (rather than cutting) then the dashpot is (possibly) not required. I included one in my design to cater for a later move to cutting: because the downforce on a cutting stylus is only one-quarter to one-third of that used for embossing, the whole arr...

Hi - yes, I'm afraid I drew these diagrams initially for my own benefit, so the drawing conventions are a bit non-standard! The green 10K component is a 10 kilohm potentiometer (three-pin variable resistor). The one I used was a small square box occupying 3x2 pin spaces on the board, although it onl...

Just thought I'd chip in here once more with some updates to my project. As some of you may be aware from my YouTube video from a few weeks ago, I have over the summer taken a tentative step into the world of cutting records, as opposed to embossing them. Firstly, in order to cut records, I needed a...

There was a very brief run of 7-inch records a few years ago, which yielded a few minutes of lo-fi video on one side, the other side being a more conventional sound-only cut. Special equipment - I think built around the Raspberry Pi - was required to interpret and display the video signals. https://...

Correction: the belts I used were nitrile, not neoprene.

David

Hi Jim - in answer to your queries: 1 - yes, I'm embossing just now, and the counterweight is carefully set so that the total downforce on the Presto stylus is about 40 g as recommended by the manufacturer. (I have - briefly - attempted cutting, on PETG with a diamond, but I don't yet have a swarf r...

Hi all - in response to the people who have requested extra photographs of my lathe, here are several, taken from various angles: IMG_20250128_114705038.jpg IMG_20250128_114644223.jpg IMG_20250128_114633175.jpg IMG_20250128_114625082.jpg IMG_20250128_114611895.jpg IMG_20250128_114607990.jpg IMG_2025...

As one who (occasionally) produces embossed records for public consumption, I've had to consider the issue of player compatibility. The very first discs I made with my most recent lathe, about three years ago, played fine on my own Lenco/Shure setup, tracking at 1.75g, but would not play at all on a...

are the 470 ohm resistors still required for the photointerrupter circuits on top of the 470 ohm resistors coming off 5v to the limit switch headers on the linear rail controller digram? Same question for the nearby 10k on the linear rail diagram. You will still need the 470R (R1) on the small phot...

Hi Dave, I had a quick rummage through my notes and found a couple of diagrams, which I hope may be of use. Both show designs on stripboard, with the strips of conductive track running left-to-right. A red X means the track on the back must be broken at that point. This is the one for the photo-inte...

Very encouraging results, South in Cuts. I'm embossing on poly using the Presto sapphire, and have found that if circumstances are favourable, the recorded result can definitely come out 'wider than mono'. I'm hesitant to use the term 'stereo' as the effect I get is not really true stereo, but it do...

Hi, First of all, welcome to the Lathe Trolls site, and well done with your project to date. From the pictures it looks as though you've made a really good start on this. I hope I can make a few suggestions / hints that may be of use to you. If the turntable in the first picture is the one you're us...

Hi Dave, The 330 and 390 capacitors on the hand-drawn diagram are indeed uF. I had read somewhere that a 100 uF or so cap may be placed between 5V and GND to smooth out the supply to an Arduino; the 330 and 390 uFs were just two spare caps I happened to have that were near enough. Depending on your ...

Hi Arnold, Here's some places where you might find what you require: Pulleys: https://www.motionco.co.uk/grooved-pulley-20mm-round-belt-p-458.html Depending on the diameter of the shafts of your linear rail and motor, you may need either or both of these: https://www.motionco.co.uk/bore-reducer-bore...

Lukas - please see PM.

All - my latest turntable platter driver script is uploaded to Github, in https://github.com/dn784533/lathe_guide/tree/main/Arduino/TT_2023.

David

Hi both, It looks, from the first picture above, as though the torque tube is upside down; in my recording head design, the torque tube has its stylus hole bored at 18º off vertical (trailing angle). I designed it this way because, in my earlier heads, this had proven to be an optimal angle for embo...

I've been embossing on polycarbonate with my new lathe for about two years now, and to date have had great results using PIAPTK sapphire styli, with good fidelity and practically noiseless grooves. I order the poly in sheets and cut out the discs by hand using a circle cutter; this is much cheaper t...

Hi Lichar - you'll need to review and possibly alter a couple of constant values in the Vinyl Burn software. Find the GenMethods project and go to the General.cs module. Within this module are several constants used by the program. The only two you might need to change are: public const int StepsPer...

Well, I've found it. This is my hand-drawn diagram for the linear rail controller circuit of my lathe. It is designed for stripboard, with the strips running left-to-right. The view shown is of the top of the board. LR_controller_circuit.png As I drew the diagram for my own benefit rather than anyon...

Somewhere I think I have a hand-drawn schematic for the wiring that I used for the Arduino/driver and limit sensor/IC circuit. I'll attempt to find and scan it this weekend!