The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls

Wow, great work! Thanks so much for sharing your work. I once created an Excel spreadsheet, but it wasn't nearly as good as your version. This is really easy to work with! For everyone!
Thanks,
Thomas

Congratulations! You’ve done an excellent job. The audio sample of your recording sounds great, too. My best advice is to keep experimenting with small changes and compare the results. Every cutting head design has its own characteristics, and what works well for one might lead to poorer results wit...

If it were a documentary about the work I'm doing, we could call it "The Guy Doing a Largely Unnecessary Niche Thing in an Already Extremely Niche Field" Ha Ha Ha :lol: :lol: :lol: You could also try tiger claws, turtle shells, and kidney stones, just to stick with natural, organic options. You’d s...

That's one of the coolest things I've seen here in a long time! The combination of technology and art: simply sharp as a shark's tooth!

farmersplow wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 02, 2026 8:43 am

If it works that way too, then they've done a good job.

Obviously, it doesn't work that way.

As far as I understand, only the process is patented. I can't clearly see whether the static charging of the record blank is also part of the patent. As I understand it, the static fixing was chosen to allow for changing the blanks during the automated process. I don't know if they're doing themselv...

zdenda.jircik wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 11, 2026 12:50 pm

This kind of work is for fully relaxed people..

Hey Thomas, just took a listen at your sound examples and also did a small spectrum analysis quick&dirty with audacity. I think de-essing and EQing would do wonders to these cuts - a lot of hf is missing and there is quite some dips in the 7k area. At least in the american idiot when comparing to a...

Hello Thomas, It would be so much easier to guess with the arm mounted. Maybe too easy.. :D Anyway It is so nice work and usefull device. May I ask how do you align diamond perpendicular to the groove? Do you have any marks on torque tube? I think about this topic for longer time and I have not yet...

Respect! Great work! Experimentation is everything.

Device for changing and adjusting the diamond stylus: The magnifying glass can be precisely positioned using the three micrometer screws (see video). The X-Y coordinator can be used to adjust the image left-right and front-back. The height micrometer can be used to adjust the distance to the stylus...

Device for changing and adjusting the diamond stylus: I built this device for changing the diamond stylus. It allows me to easily view the diamond and adjust it precisely when reinstalling it. The design was made so that I can use my existing microscope (which is already attached to my FP9 lathe). ...

What is this??? - Continued: Some of you will have already figured it out. Because I'm so lazy and avoid repetitive tasks as much as possible, I built this. Unfortunately, you can't avoid all tasks, but you can make them easier: . . 124_04.jpg . . 124_05.jpg . . Greetings from Austria, Thomas

What is that???: Actually, I don't have time because I'm constantly working on improving my lathe. But I thought I'd build something else for it. So I designed a few parts and milled them using CNC. Then I sandblasted them, and here they are, the parts: . . 124_01.jpg . . 124_02.jpg . . 124_03.jpg ...

Does it make sense to cut vinyl directly with a laser? Under certain conditions, yes. If it's flawless, has no background noise, and at least the quality of analog. If it's just as fast or faster, that's an advantage, but not absolutely necessary. The fact is, it's not possible to cut vinyl (or plas...

Hey Thomas, I really loved the dynamics of the recordings — from the bright highs all the way down to the deep bass. The stereo image also feels spot-on, honestly 1:1 with the original to my ears. The noise issue seems to disappear once the music gets louder, but during the quieter passages it’s st...

I'm unusually late to the party on these digitizations, but wow! Really excellent work Thomas, those all sound great to my ears. I'll be excited to follow your progress still as you keep working on your cuts. Thank you! It keeps getting better and better. Eventually, it will be better than very good.

Hello Thomas, you have so great result. The sound is nicely open and pleasing to my ears... Hi Zdenda, Thank you so much! I really should dedicate some time to learning mastering. But all my time is currently spent developing the lathe. I think that's where my strengths lie. Mastering and EQing is ...

THEVICTROLAGUY wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 06, 2026 3:56 am

ROBIN 1920.png

Fantastic support from Spinnertownblanks! The world is a better place with you in it!

displacednail: The sound is definitely better now, and the sibilance is gone. Your machine is really something. Keep it up!

(I think I should start getting into mastering myself.)