The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls

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!

Hi, For what it's worth, I've added the Windows setup files to the GitHub repository in https://github.com/dn784533/vinyl_burn/tree/master/Setup%20Vinyl%20Burn/Release David Thanks for adding the setup files. Just curious what is the difference between the two files? This link perhaps explains it b...

Hi, Be aware that the Vinyl Burn program and its companion Arduino sketch may not work properly (if at all) without some rework to reflect your own lathe system's configuration. For what it's worth, I've added the Windows setup files to the GitHub repository in https://github.com/dn784533/vinyl_burn...

Even though I say it myself (and with a certain sense of déjà vu), this is looking great! Thanks for photo-documenting your construction process in such detail.

David

Thanks for photographing these - the print quality looks great! The Creality Ender 3 v2 comes in at about GBP 200 / USD 300 or so online; I didn't know that such a (comparatively) inexpensive machine could produce output of this quality. Something I'll have to investigate, I think!

Hi, Don't attempt to power any motor directly from the Arduino output pins! You'll need to power the motor from a separate D.C. supply, which should be connected to the VMOT (or VM) and GND pins on the TMC2208 unit. See https://wiki.fysetc.com/TMC2208/ . For the motor I have, I found that 10 V works...

Hi, I had the parts made by the online company i.materialise.com. You upload your STL files to their website, which checks them for any potential problems such as walls that are too thin. Once everything has been OK'd you can submit the order. It may take several weeks for the order to be printed an...

HI, The green circle does not move - this is by design. The outer edge of your inscribed image will always be at the green circle, no matter what size you set it to. Moving the Start and End radius sliders moves the red inner circle only, and its size relative to the green one will depend on the sta...