Make a Lathe out of a printer!!! Yay!

This is where record cutters raise questions about cutting, and trade wisdom and experiment results. We love Scully, Neumann, Presto, & Rek-O-Kut lathes and Wilcox-Gay Recordios (among others). We are excited by the various modern pro and semi-pro systems, too, in production and development. We use strange, extinct disc-based dictation machines. And other stuff, too.

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alienmanstk
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Make a Lathe out of a printer!!! Yay!

Post: # 3931Unread post alienmanstk
Mon Dec 08, 2008 5:57 pm

Ok, so I checked out the DIY lathe on youtube, and noticed this user who wrote that they were planning on building a lathe, using a printer! I asked the user more in depth instructions, and here is what they sent me. It was informed to me that I was allowed to tell others this information, so here it is, and comments/ideas would be great!

Run through:

Presently, this lathe project is a "idea- by-logic" in trying! At this stade of the project, I gathering the most inormations as possible for the transfer of the voice (or sound) to mechanic energy that will transfer it to the cutter (grooves) as the one of this guy jbmuko with the hand driven cutting table within the cutter head made from a speaker within a "pop can" bottom and aluminium dowells thats works fine despite a warpy sound due to the unaccurate hand drive system.

The solely drawback of the jbmuko's system it's his hand turntable driving system thats "grooves" the record in reverse (from the end to the begining as a CD instead a normal vinyl record from the begining to the end, the center of the record perhaps due to unavailability of necessary mechanical parts as gears and right driving screws ect.) that's a detail but the major problem is the poor acuracy due to unstability of hand driven systems.

In fact, the human force is unstable despite a rigourous precision driven by the brain! The power of the arm's muscles that turns the hand mechanism fluctues and makes the turning too slow or too rapid. As you know, cutting a record whatever the intention "pro" or "for fun" needs the most stable cutting speed as possible for better results!

Linear tracking turntables work like a record cutting lathe (in the same order of scanning the disc for better precision read) The cutting arm that holds the cutter scans in line from right to left and left to right to complete the job! The project I plan to build, works like this.

If you have remarked, any inkjet printers whatever the make, print the paper by scanning the sheet exactly as a record cutting lathe from the right to left of the sheet and vice-versa. Logically, an inkjet printer can do this job with an incredibly performance and accuracy if it installed in the right manner on the cutting turntable and the using right driving motor.

Using an inkjet printer to build a record cutting lathe gives ideas to anyone who loves the vinyl record cutting to build its own while it contribues to save the planet indirectly by recycling an inkjet printer for it! Any do-it-yourselfer who collects parts for building or creating anything will save excess material from the printer to use it in outcoming projects. In this case this is a Canon BCI that should be used instead the Lexmark du to the loss of parts accidently! But the canon is better than Lexmark to build lathes!

We don't need of the electronic circuitery nor the paper feeding mechanism to build this! All of this material is in excess and should be taken off. Solely the printing head mechanism (within the ink cartdridge that build the cutting head base... I recommend you to have at least ten or more empty ink cartdridges to engineer your cutting head because you will do several tests and scrap many ones until having the right way!) is needed within the structure and the printing head receptacle (the box where the ink cartdridge is installed to print) to have the cutting system.

It's very easy to disassemble an inkjet printer because it is "snap togrther" assembling technology thats permit to disassemble it without the risk of breaking any part but we must have the observation sense to see the disassembly order. We must take off all PCB's from the printing head (flexible or board), paper guides in the bottom of the printer.

When we have solely the printing head mechanism, we should replace the stepper motor for a synchronous one (often like an electric timer or clock in appliances as ranges, clothes dryer ect.) at 8VDC to 10VDC or more preferably Hayden (HSI) Big Inch Motor (Catalog or model Number: 33717-03) a very small motor with a gear box command mechanism like a clock that will replace the printer's stepper one!

A stepper motor for building a cutting lathe is too powerful and the strokes from the magnet should cause irregularities in your work as voice or sound strokes while your record playing! We must also take off the belt's gear (or pulley) from the stepper motor to install it on the shaft of the Big Inch Motor. This adaptation work should need some ingineering from you in order to adapt your synchronous motor to your printer assembly.

The ink cartdridge should hold the cutting head (not build at this time) within a system similar to the jbmuko's one but, at the difference, it will be built in double for experiencing "stereo" sound! Actually, I seek the best way to build the cutting system avoiding using solely the air of the vibrating cone of the speaker but quite directly on the coil as a professional one.

Once our cutter built, we should choose the right turntable synchronous and the most stable as possible as a transcription table in radio stations! Presently, I will use a genuine swiss Lenco L75 turntable thats is very heavy and should not transmit vibrations of the motor to the cutter while cutting. Presently the cutting assembly (the canon printer assembly) is in construction and I seek for the best solutions to get it functional!

The Printer with the cutting head should be assembled to the Lenco L75 turntable at the right of the original tone arm bolted to the each side of the turntable like a linear tracking turntable but this time, it will cut records instead playing it. The original tone arm should stay in place to test or play our records as a Neumann VMS 70 one but in the case of the Neumenn, the tone arm is completely at the left of the lathe!

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flozki
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Post: # 3934Unread post flozki
Tue Dec 09, 2008 6:03 pm

hello.
i did some testoverheads with old inkjet printers...from time to time i try to make a 100 percent trash lathe...or the $1 lathe still a dream....
i have already big collection of the linear feeds of those printers.
if you use HP inkjet then they have a dc motor. i disassembled around 10 printers during last 3 years. all of them had regular dc motor instead of the stepper. with a toothbelt to move the carriage. and an optical encodersystem.
so you can use that to make a regulation for the slow carriage movement. maybe it would be too complicate so. use a gear reduction. or a motor already with gear reduction.
best is to watch out for older hp printers...the newer ones have much more plastic and its not so easy to use without much additional mechanics.

a lenco75 has not enough torque.....use a technics sp1200. thats the minimum you should go for....

happy bricolage
f.

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Internet
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Joined: Sat Oct 28, 2006 10:18 pm

Post: # 3935Unread post Internet
Wed Dec 10, 2008 4:34 am

Please guys, try to find a way to make picture discs while cutting (lol)

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alienmanstk
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Post: # 3936Unread post alienmanstk
Wed Dec 10, 2008 5:28 pm

hey flozki! thanks for your reply! so what you are saying is that the motor that moves the ink jet, moves too fast? Ok, in that case, the motor should be replaced with what kind of motor? Also, when you susspend this over a turntable, how much pressure should the cutting head have on the blank disk? Probably just needs to be experimented on. Thanks for your reply! Anyone out there should give this a try!!! Oh, flozki, any easy, and almost free way of making a cutter head?!!! thats would be a dream come true!!!
Thanks!

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alienmanstk
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Post: # 3938Unread post alienmanstk
Fri Dec 12, 2008 11:39 pm

So, Flozski! Could you post some pictures of your $1 lathe, with the printer parts! That would be great! If you can remember what type of motor you replaced the one that comes with the printer, that slows it down to make a lenghty record ( all of 5 minutes a side would even be a miracle!)
Thanks so so so so much! If anyone else knows how to make this, or has ideas, please post them! I think we need a section on here for HOMEMADE lathes!!!! How great would it be!
Keep this alive! -Sam

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alienmanstk
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Post: # 3947Unread post alienmanstk
Sun Dec 14, 2008 8:52 pm

Got any pictures flozski?

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Steve E.
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Post: # 3957Unread post Steve E.
Tue Dec 16, 2008 8:30 am

you guys are nuts. in a good way. I need a picture.

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Simon
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Post: # 3959Unread post Simon
Tue Dec 16, 2008 10:09 am

We all need pictures....
Happy to learn something new.
Wanted: Stylus for Presto, Mono heads Grampian, Fairchild, Presto, Fairchild 740 lathes, Presto 8n, 8d 8dg lathes or parts or Presto or wot ever recording Amps, PM me what you have for sale.

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d
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Location: Lithuania

Post: # 8593Unread post d
Tue Apr 20, 2010 3:34 pm

Hey!!!

Any news? How is the project going? Do you have any results?

I have dissassembled HP printer 630C model and in fact it can be used for the lathe traction. In this model is a DC motor, and no way it will work with this kind of system of its speed. As voltage is low it will loose his strenth...
I'am thinking about DC motor from microwave ovens. It runs at 5RPM as I could find on our local electronics shop. Well it can be slow enough...needs testing on it.

What do you think about electronic magnets of any kind for drivers in cutting head? Does anyone tried it?

Don't loose a will power on such things! ;)

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d
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Post: # 8608Unread post d
Wed Apr 21, 2010 2:55 pm

Hello again,

as I see nobody wants to share images. So I took some pictures of parts that can be used for transportation of head.

Notices are that most of a stuff except printer cartrige transporter, are from russian "heavy metal" machines. I dont know really where they were used. In one picture there is quite precise transportation mechanism (you maybe will not believe - it weights about 10 kg) and in other the motor with reduction 1:20 I think, it runs from 12VDC.

In some time I think I'll try to make a transportation from any of these stuff.

Now thinking mostly thinking about cutting head.

so here is a link: http://picasaweb.google.lt/dovilis/Vinylcut?feat=directlink

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