The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls

A client of mine wants to reissue an LP that was originally issued decades ago; he has no master tape, and the only copies of the original material are on an LP or a CD made from that LP. I intend to make a disk-to-disk copy, but am wondering, for my own interest if nothing else ... Would it be poss...

Wood? Cute, but you can see from the photomicrograph that wood would not make for a clean cut. Besides, in my limited experience with laser cutting of wood, the cut edge should show scorch marks from the intense heat. These grooves look like they were cut with a stylus. I doubt if this method would ...

I just looked at the bottom of the home page, seeing "there are 107 users online, including 7 registered users". Interestingly, 5 of those 7 "users" are software bots: "In total there are 107 users online :: 7 registered, 2 hidden and 98 guests (based on users active over the past 60 minutes) Most u...

The problem with trying to cut a side using a worn or cracked stylus is, even if you do everything correctly you'll still wind up with an unusable cut.

So if I'm gonna record a hipster band, do I absolutely need to use a PBR can, or will Dos Equis do in a pinch?

Westrex 3D II head:


Underside view (left to right): Vacuum nozzle, advance ball, stylus wrapped in heater wire, advance ball support arm.

Nice cleanup on that machine!

Note the +18dB rise in power as you approach 20KHz on the RIAA curve. If you have been doing initial setup at 500 or 1000Hz, you'll need to turn your reference level down about 20dB (that's 10/1 voltage), otherwise you will toast that cutting head in very short order. Take it from me...

I've spent the last year or so restoring and operating a Scully lathe with Westrex heads & electronics. The top expenses I have seen are: - cutting head repair from overload (occasionally) or wiring mishap (more likely). Those coils go <ffft>just like that! $600 / repair. - electronics repair from o...

How deep are you running your stylus at +6dB? With any significant out of phase LF material level you can expect to see your cutting needle flying out of the groove unless you set that stylus deep... I've ruined more than one side getting too enthusiastic with my levels, only to find the groove disa...

That's how the Westrex is adjusted too, by spring. Since there is an advance ball for setting the groove depth, my limits in setup are mechanical: at one end, the stylus may be too light, not have enough weight behind it to stay buried in the groove; alternately the weight is too great, causing the ...

Scully lathes also use aluminum platters. The Westrex head magnets are so strong they would be unworkable in the presence of iron or steel. Imagine attempting to mount the head, only to have it pull out of your hand and crush your finger in the magnetic vice grips of Westrex against steel platter. O...

Consider the function; you are cutting a groove of lacquer on an aluminum substrate; you don't want to cut too deep or too shallow. Like Goldilocks' porridge, you want it just right... I would guess that the same general stylus weight would be appropriate for any stylus/head combination that uses an...

According to the Westrex manual I work from, correct cutting stylus pressure is in the 50-75 gram range. I bought a spring style gram scale off eBay for $4 (similar to a fish scale), it does the trick. If you make it too light, the stylus will wander off the disk with any non-flatness; too heavy and...

One thing I learned is that operating and maintaining a record cutting lathe is a whole different experience than running tape or digital recording systems. It all comes down to that stylus in the groove; if it's not a perfect cut you're just wasting your time (and a whole lotta money).

Of course, if they'd made the original record with an Astatic cutter, you wouldn't need a deionizer...

Bodine 1/4 hp motor:

Deke, do you have photos of parts and assemblies you may have questions about? I might be able to give you some hints via the internetz.

I had chip spillage happening a few weeks ago, similar to your situation. I suspect that static electricity may have been a factor, as it was late winter and everything was very dry.

I suspect there's more to this story, but still... I wouldn't want that kind of reputation getting around if I were him.