Using cnc router for a custom made lathe

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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Playdoughboy
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Using cnc router for a custom made lathe

Post: # 47687Unread post Playdoughboy
Thu Aug 31, 2017 4:48 pm

Hi all! Like many of you I have been obsessed with vinyl for quite a while and the idea of making my own has been in my head for a long time. First of all, I wanted to say thank you all for all of the fascinating information on this forum. Reading all of the posts on here is very encouraging. So, I've been playing with an idea of building a lathe using a cnc engraving router. Has anyone done this before? Thoughts?

Something like this...
https://www.amazon.com/MYSWEETY-Control-Engraving-16x10x4-5cm-110V-240V/dp/B01NBVXO0V/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1504212417&sr=8-3&keywords=cnc+router

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markrob
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Location: Philadelphia Area

Re: Using cnc router for a custom made lathe

Post: # 47688Unread post markrob
Thu Aug 31, 2017 6:00 pm

Hi,

If you are looking at using that to cut blanks, that should work fine. If you expect to cut audio, I'd say no. What do you have in mind?

Mark

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Playdoughboy
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Re: Using cnc router for a custom made lathe

Post: # 47699Unread post Playdoughboy
Fri Sep 01, 2017 10:14 am

Hi Mark, thanks for your reply. I was thinking of mounting the CNC on top of a turntable and using it as a carrier for a cutter head.

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markrob
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Location: Philadelphia Area

Re: Using cnc router for a custom made lathe

Post: # 47707Unread post markrob
Fri Sep 01, 2017 12:56 pm

Hi,

That should work. But it seems like overkill. You only need to move in one direction (maybe two if you count head drop). Also, you need to be sure that if you go with a stepper drive that it does not modulate the grovve due to stepping torque cogging. That will for sure require 16X or better microstepping or as some have done, pure sinewave drive.

Mark

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gold
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Location: Brooklyn

Re: Using cnc router for a custom made lathe

Post: # 47710Unread post gold
Fri Sep 01, 2017 1:10 pm

Would using a CNC router let you use G-Code for vari groove automation. There are lots of off the shelf solutions for that. Is G-Code up to the task?

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Playdoughboy
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Re: Using cnc router for a custom made lathe

Post: # 47712Unread post Playdoughboy
Fri Sep 01, 2017 1:26 pm

markrob, the idea was t remove the y axis (the table platform) and only using the x/y movement for tracking and head drop. The other thing is what gold mentioned - using the G-Code to control movement speed and do lead in/out/lock grooves. But I am not sure how stable the construction would be and wanted to see if anyone has done it before.

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sat159p1
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Re: Using cnc router for a custom made lathe

Post: # 47730Unread post sat159p1
Mon Sep 04, 2017 11:22 am

Idea is good, but CNC machines will have a lot of mechanical noise when it's moving. I mean, A LOT. So using it for cutting will probably destroy your stylus fast and you will have a lot of bg noise on the records.

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TheCrates
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Re: Using cnc router for a custom made lathe

Post: # 47732Unread post TheCrates
Mon Sep 04, 2017 3:43 pm

Image


:D

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boryo
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Re: Using cnc router for a custom made lathe

Post: # 47740Unread post boryo
Tue Sep 05, 2017 1:34 am

I've read somewhere here that stepper motors used in CNC machines are not good for cutting records. I think Flo Kaufman wrote this but can't find it

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