how to check cutting head handling power?

[sat159p1]

Is there any way to check maximum handling power of old cutting heads like Presto 1D, 1C, RCA...?

[socialroots]

Dont know the proper,more technical more precise way,but with my audax i just pushed the level til i blew so many 0.5amp fuses n marking the volume knob on my amp to get a ruff idea of how high i pushed it when the fuse blew then set that value as the max. Load. Im sure i can push even more if i switched to a 1amp. Fuse,but ive never felt the need to cut at a higher level cuz i was already achieving satisfactory volumes on my cuts. Thats cutting with diamonds on myshank pvc blanks,but if i embossed on the same blanks,then the max volume on the cuts were always a bit lower. I cut with a 110lpi feedscrew which gives m less time but i can cut at higher level without overcrowding the grooves. Im sure Markrob can giv you tips on a more precise technical way to measure the max load that your cutterhead is able to handle.
Maximum respect,
Patrick

[tragwag]

good ideas there patrick! I should try that.
I just use the Ultimate Test Record to get my 0dB level (ref +4dbU) on my playback system,
then cut a bunch of different source material until it's at that level.
I also have an LED meter in parallel with my cutting amp (for the Presto 6N system)
I use the Mackie Big Knob's multiple outputs for that

[handcut]

There's some good info in the 1-D manual about it's power handling. It's on here somewhere.

[soeffingodly]

https://www.lathetrolls.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1796&p=47835&hilit=presto+1d#p47835

[aaronjl]

Some great advice.

Another strategy:
Turn it up until you smell something burning, then back off a little.

In all seriousness, the general fuse advice I've lived by so far (and cut a fair number of records without blowing a cutterhead yet... knock on wood) is:

For a Presto 1C/1D, use a 1a fast-blow or a .5a slow-blow. IDEALLY, if you wanna do some digging and wire something up, a .75a circuit breaker is supposedly a great way to go (as per Todd M, who rewound a bunch of heads for me a few years ago), but I've not done that yet.

Past that, since these cutterheads don't have the same authority as, say, a Neumann, I've always experimented on pushing them to whatever level they "go" on. Blow a fuse? Back off a hair from there. Some cutterheads on some tracks will sound noticeably distorted well before they blow a fuse... so back off. I'm a newbie compared to many on here, but I've had the luxury of owning eight different 6Ns with 1Ds/1Cs. I cut with all of them before having them rewound, and had a bunch of them rewound. Other than heads rewound by the same person, there's so much variability between heads that it's really hard to say what their power handling even "is" this many years out, even for ones that have the same marked impedance and are from machines with serial numbers fifty away from each other.

If anybody knows real-world evidence numbers on this, it's Kris D and Piaptk, masters of the art of making these things as loud as possible.

[andrew93]

I think the manual should have nice info. However they do tend to keep a safety margin. Have this in mind and you will be safe.