The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls

Hi There,

A friend is selling his lathe on ebay: An HMV Portable Disc Recorder - model 2300

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/163523545852

Perfect for a project to fix up.

I say this as I bought my MSS lathe like this and got it working really good embossing in 4 months and diamond cutting in a year.

Hello, Earlier this year I recharged the magnets in my MSS cutter-head and got great improvement. 3 months later the loudness and quality has decreased. Does anyone know when you recharge old bar magnets does the magnet strength stay for a long while or decrese quickly. There might be another reason...

Thanks I'll give it a go, and maybe increase the volume during the cut.
I was also thinking of replacing the magnets in the head too as they are old.

Nik

Hi cdslaten1s Did you find that this worked? what volts did you get up to? My cutter-head is also about 5 ohms. I have a 0.25 a fuse and have been having the input audio signal from a track about 3-4 volts. (But i haven't tried the sine wave). The fuse hasn't blown yet. My playback sound on the reco...

Hello everyone I have an MSS machine with MSS cutterhead. I have been cutting with a myshank diamond on myshank blanks. All is going well, apart from I notice the playback sound wasn't that loud compared to a 7 inch single from the 1980's. About 66% of the volume. Perhaps this is normal and the best...

Hello, I am also based in UK, and I got my lathe from the UK on ebay. They don't come up very often. I got a 1959 MSS lathe (British made from Reading) . I think Sugden (from UK) also made lathes. I remember there being a lot of import TAX and postage on lathes from the US. Here's My MSS in action, ...

Hello I have recently started cutting after a year and a half of embossing with my MSS lathe. Tests are going well; I have been making silent grooves and they sound pretty good (quiet) apart from a slight low rumbling. I have turned suction off for a split second and think the rumbling reduces. I do...

hi there.
i tried stylus heating with embossing and it made no difference. also heard that heat going up my steel stylus can damage the cutter head. (if you use steel stylus). with the diamond the wires are wrapped around the stone. anyway used a hot lamp and it worked a treat.
best
nik

Hi There, I have had success with embossing with steel cones. and i just angle the head a little bit, (I can only do it a bit on my MSS head). But I guess if you can angle it at all you'd get problems I put about 3oz weight on needle (using a fish for fishing weighing scale). I spray WD40 on the dis...

Hi There, that looks great. Can you tell me have you ever done stylus heating with embossing.? I have recently installed stylus heating. The embossing needle gets hot, which is good, but when embossing polycarbonate, it has no effect on the playback sound. Do you know if stylus heating and embossing...

Thanks Gus, Does this mean that when you put a wire around a diamond stylus it goes around the diamond part and not the shaft? Would you get some heat transfer into the cutter head with that too? I did see somewhere on the forum a while back, someone suggesting to wrap the wire around the metal shaf...

I mean foolish

Hi There, I have had reasonable success embossing with my MSS lathe. I bought it a year ago, and have been working on it ever since. With the idea of one day cutting with a diamond, (I have not made the leap and bought a diamond stylus yet), I have made and installed a stylus heating system; a contr...

thanks!

for Heat lamp I used a bulb that is normal used for keeping reptiles warm. they get very hot. I presume you have got something by now. I'm not sure if mine is getting the disc hot enough i think its about 28 c or 82 f. Do you know a recommended temperature? I haven't got a heat gun, but am using one...

Hi there, I made a video on the youtube of my first attempts with embossing onto polycarbonate, using a steel stylus. I bought the MSS lathe last year and have been steadily working on it. Very pleased with the results so far, though embossing for me seems to make a quiet groove. I had to boost the ...

Hi Soulbear thanks for this, I will search the forum on this subject. I have looked much at the forum yet,as I didn't know enough to ask any questions, if that make sense. The more i read the more I understand what everyone is talking about.

Nik

or if you are cutting would you do it with something else than poly carbonate?

Hi again, is embossing less permanent than cutting? and are there any draw backs to embossing? if not then i'd be happy to emboss on poly carbonate. On Normans website it says you cant cut poly carbonate only emboss.
nik

Hi Soulbear, Yes I am in UK, North East London. I was happy to see a lathe for sale in UK as so far they had all been in the states. I am looking forward to it arriving. It says it comes with the original amp. At first I thought it meant I was buying 2 lathes, but one box is the amp. I hope it works...