The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls

Maybe someone could chime in here, I'm interested to hear this as well.

I got a homebrew lathe with a presto 1C... ruby stylus. Hard to say exactly how deep I'm cutting, but it seems like a pretty decent groove. Maybe the problem is the plates I have are very thin, almost paper thin. Maybe I'll shop around for some thicker ones. Do you have the stylus straight up? What ...

What brand plates are you using? I have some (Solo maybe?) that are square, but have a rounded part in the middle that I cut out. As far as noise, I'm just cutting grooves with no signal... and it sounds like a very worn out record. Nothing I'd feel comfortable playing with a good stylus. Like I sai...

I've been doing some experiments cutting plates.. have you ever got a silent groove cut into one? Every one I've tried has a fairly loud "sssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" kind of sound. Do you heat your stylus? It seems like the chip coming off is pretty good now at least... nice strands that wrap around th...

I've tried using those plates with a ruby stylus... got a ton of noise but not much else useful.

Do you mount the stylus in backwards? What sort of angle do you use? Does it actually cut or emboss?

What are you using for a stylus?

The first thing that pops in my mind is that the stylus is starting to get dull.. are you actually cutting or embossing?

I think it depends on what you're trying to accomplish... if you're going for no-maintenance, pro-sound, maybe diamond is the only answer. If you're experimenting, I think markrob's experiments with lapping high-speed steel might be a more reasonable alternative. If a person could cut a full side wi...

So is this something that you will be offering for purchase? Any idea on pricing? Does the shape of them make them last longer on plastics than other sapphires?

In another post on here, it was said that if the grain of the diamond isn't taken into consideration, that's when they prematurely break... are these stylii made in such a way that this isn't a problem anymore? I know that's one reason that's prevented me from getting a diamond so far... the uncerta...

Is diamond really the only material that will cut polycarbonate? If diamonds are so hard to get, and so expensive, and all these other ideas that have been posted here are a "waste of time", is there something else that could be used that may be cheaper to facet/machine for cutting pc?

I could send them an email, however I'm not sure what angles/cuts would be needed. I remember this message being posted a while back: https://lathetrolls.com/viewtopic.php?t=1580.html , but the pictures don't work anymore. Is there another place where this information is that I'm just not finding wi...

Is there any reason why something like part #JMP-100-90R on page http://www.diamondtool.com/scribes.html couldn't be used? It seems to me that something like that would be specifically made for lateral motion on materials a lot harder than polycarbonate.

Check this out:

youtube.com/watch?v=xfHWbQxZBro

I have a Presto 6D lathe, and 1C cutterhead, all reworked and ready to go. Problem is, I have no turntable that has enough power to drive the lathe (I only got a lightweight beltdrive). Does anyone have a lead on a presto turntable, or at least one with enough power to drive a lathe?

thanks!
-aaron

From what I hear, the impedance doesn't matter for quality. As long as the impedance is matched to the amp, it (supposedly) won't make a difference if it's 4/8 or 500 or 150 or whatever.

-aaron

You may want to contact Bruce Leslie at Pro Recording (216)662-1435. This guy is an encyclopedia for presto stuff and is currently rebuilding my 1-C head. He can rewind them for something besides 500 ohm, such at 16 or 8 ohm so you can use any old power amp you want. He will also replace the damping...

I'm looking for a working, magnetic cutterhead in the lower range, ie Presto.

thanks.

-aaron

Does anyone have any close-up pictures of the cutterhead of this thing? I'm really curious as to what it looks like and how it works...

thanks
-aaron

Hey everyone, I'm Aaron, I am also from Minneapolis, MN. I ran across this site while I was collecting info about cutters/lathes. I've been designing a lathe, and once I get a few things done in a couple of months, I will begin building it. It's sort of based on the technics attachment type of cutte...