Melted Plastic On Stylus

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Tremdall
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Melted Plastic On Stylus

Post: # 48342Unread post Tremdall
Sun Nov 05, 2017 2:02 pm

Hi, I have a nice newbe question here... hope someone can advise...

I looked under the microscope to my stylus which apparently is covered with melted plastic.
Can someone advise me how to get the stuff off the stylus without damaging the stylus?

Thanks...
Once the gargoyle had withdrawn and unlatched his suckers from the topside of Tremdall's agonizing torso, a profound slumber would overtake him, as though from the labor of many days.

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Tremdall
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Re: melted vinyl on stylus

Post: # 48343Unread post Tremdall
Sun Nov 05, 2017 2:43 pm

To be more precise, I have stylus cleaner. Just like to know when I apply the stuff, how long it has to stay on the stylus and how to proceed from there. Will it fully dissolve the plastic and can I simply wipe it with a cloth?
Once the gargoyle had withdrawn and unlatched his suckers from the topside of Tremdall's agonizing torso, a profound slumber would overtake him, as though from the labor of many days.

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Tremdall
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Re: melted vinyl on stylus

Post: # 48344Unread post Tremdall
Sun Nov 05, 2017 3:21 pm

Once the gargoyle had withdrawn and unlatched his suckers from the topside of Tremdall's agonizing torso, a profound slumber would overtake him, as though from the labor of many days.

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idecable
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Re: Melted Plastic On Stylus

Post: # 48365Unread post idecable
Mon Nov 06, 2017 11:47 am

Yes Acetone is your friend. And take all the time in the world while cleaning it, never touching the diamond with your hands. Using the microscope.

I like to use cotton swabs from MG Chemicals cleaning, with the stylus cleaner from myshank.com, it's an eco friendly solution and it works.

Acetone will work, use in small quantities, ensure you have good ventilation. It will slowly melt that plastic. You don't want to breathe the fumes + it's a great fire hazard. It's good to keep your stylus clean between few cuts.

Don't use heat on the stylus when starting out the learning curve. Bad vacuum with cause problems like this when heating the stylus, and you can save you ass easier without using stylus heat when beginning.

You need to have your vacuum system top shape, and I mean 200% top shape.

You need to master that portion out at first. :!:

Your vacuum should be 2mm before your stylus, and about 1.5mm above the disc. It has to be able to stay at same position all the way from one side of the lathe to the other. Take your time tuning this up. As you open up the container and remove the cut PVC, ensure the tube movements has not messed your brass tube position.


I hope you work it out! Keep us posted of your progress!

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Tremdall
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Re: Melted Plastic On Stylus

Post: # 48392Unread post Tremdall
Tue Nov 07, 2017 3:18 pm

idecable wrote:Yes Acetone is your friend....
Much thanks!

Yes, I soon found out the suction is very important. Emptying the container every new cutting day.

I've indeed taken my time cleaning the stylus. I've used the bottle I got from Souri. It's prob acetone. It took me hours to get rid of everything. Perhaps it was already clean after a few strokes, but it's def clean now :D
Indeed, under the microscope check, & then dipping a small painters brush (very soft hair) in the solution; stroking the stylus & softly pushing a cotton swab around the stylus to remove the grease (swabs are nothing special btw, simply the cheapest make-up swabs from the drug store; hope this wasn't a too bad idea...); check again under microscope, etc.

I in fact, since today, clean the stylus straight away in between each cut. Because I noticed a lot of pretty extreme surface noise on the later cut records. Even at the end of each LP B-side there's more noise, but maybe this is simply because it's closer to the centre of the record?

Anyway, since the hours long cleaning of my stylus for the first time, it's super shiny again and absolutely no noise in the cut! I love my VR!

I never use the stylus heating. TBH, I don't understand the benefits of it? Maybe you can tell me? I simply keep the blank disc temperature between 40-50 degrees with a big lamp (a 400 watt halogen which I attached to the VR). Do I get a better sound with stylus heating?

Yes, slowly learning to cut here. Will post my experiences at LT. But even as a total newbe, it's surprising how good results I get. Simply by setting up the VR the right way & following all the steps one by one, the sound is really excellent. Warm & Analog.
I still have a little wow in the beginning of 12" records. Need to find a solution for that, but I'm convinced this will work out fine soon. Smaller formats work fine by themself.
Once the gargoyle had withdrawn and unlatched his suckers from the topside of Tremdall's agonizing torso, a profound slumber would overtake him, as though from the labor of many days.

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idecable
Posts: 18
Joined: Wed Jul 26, 2017 9:17 pm

Re: Melted Plastic On Stylus

Post: # 48407Unread post idecable
Fri Nov 10, 2017 12:41 am

Tremdall wrote:
idecable wrote:Yes Acetone is your friend....
Much thanks!

Yes, I soon found out the suction is very important. Emptying the container every new cutting day.

I've indeed taken my time cleaning the stylus. I've used the bottle I got from Souri. It's prob acetone. It took me hours to get rid of everything. Perhaps it was already clean after a few strokes, but it's def clean now :D
Indeed, under the microscope check, & then dipping a small painters brush (very soft hair) in the solution; stroking the stylus & softly pushing a cotton swab around the stylus to remove the grease (swabs are nothing special btw, simply the cheapest make-up swabs from the drug store; hope this wasn't a too bad idea...); check again under microscope, etc.

I in fact, since today, clean the stylus straight away in between each cut. Because I noticed a lot of pretty extreme surface noise on the later cut records. Even at the end of each LP B-side there's more noise, but maybe this is simply because it's closer to the centre of the record?

Anyway, since the hours long cleaning of my stylus for the first time, it's super shiny again and absolutely no noise in the cut! I love my VR!

I never use the stylus heating. TBH, I don't understand the benefits of it? Maybe you can tell me? I simply keep the blank disc temperature between 40-50 degrees with a big lamp (a 400 watt halogen which I attached to the VR). Do I get a better sound with stylus heating?

Yes, slowly learning to cut here. Will post my experiences at LT. But even as a total newbe, it's surprising how good results I get. Simply by setting up the VR the right way & following all the steps one by one, the sound is really excellent. Warm & Analog.
I still have a little wow in the beginning of 12" records. Need to find a solution for that, but I'm convinced this will work out fine soon. Smaller formats work fine by themself.
>>Emptying the container every new cutting day.

I do it every 3 or 4 cuts.

>>I in fact, since today, clean the stylus straight away in between each cut

Every 6 cuts or so is not too bad. But every cut is a bit much. Also careful never leaving any drop of acetone on the transducers.

>>Because I noticed a lot of pretty extreme surface noise on the later cut records. Even at the end of each LP B-side there's more noise, but maybe this is simply because it's closer to the center of the record?

Check alignment of everything. Several threads on here covering this up.

This is assuming the stylus position is properly aligned on the cutter head. If I were to take a bet, carefully evaluate the alignment of the overhead. Take a record and put a straight line across it, reaching the middle perfectly. Then check where that line on the record aligns on the position of the stylus at the beginning of the record, and hold that position. Then move the cutter head somewhere closer to the middle of the record, and verify if the stylus is still reaching out at exact spot where the line reaches. If not, there's one problem.

Always take reference notes/measurements before changing any calibration. You want to make it easy on you to rollback anything when needed, testing one change at a time.

>>TBH, I don't understand the benefits of it?

Stylus/disc heat is for surface noise elimination. Before going into stylus heating, work out full calibration.

I am still trying to find out the perfect temperature myself. I use a 100 watt lamp even tho I think it's a bit much, I have to keep it away by a feet or so. I can only imagine how strong a 400 watt must be.

>>Do I get a better sound with stylus heating?

Less surface noise, lots of info about it on the forum. Look it up! My best advice go very :lol: easy on that dial.

>>I still have a little wow in the beginning of 12" records. Need to find a solution for that, but I'm convinced this will work out fine soon.

Another thing well covered on this forum. You might be putting too much weight on your stylus.

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Tremdall
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Re: Melted Plastic On Stylus

Post: # 48408Unread post Tremdall
Fri Nov 10, 2017 6:00 am

idecable wrote:....
Thanks for the info

Yes, I've made sure the alignment is perfect.

The weight of the cuttinghead is already very light. When I make it lighter, the groove vanishes at some points or the stylus of my recordplayer skips...

I may begin starting to use stylus heating very carefuly. I read somewhere on LT that even by only putting it on and keep the dial fully to the left (0), it may help getting rid of the noise.

The 400 watt lamp is of course extremely hot. I have placed it about a foot away, but the lamp only shines on the disc partly & I monitor the heat constantly. When heat is rising too fast, I simply adjust the angle after about 5 minutes or so, aiming it further from the VR. This way I can keep it around 43 degrees Celcius constantly.
I had a problem previously with the normal lamp which came together with the VR. It literally exploded when I moved it. Glass everywhere and I was lucky it didn't hit my stylus or me. Of course, the error lies with me and not with the VR design, since it's always risky to move a hot lamp too often. Nonetheless, I chose to get rid of the lamps from that point on and only use a big hallogen, which I used anyway for the overall room temperature. Positive thing is now, that on some parts of the room it's a bit cooler. Working for hours in a room of 28-30 degrees really exhausts me :D
Guess those are 'the little problems of a vinyl cutter'...
Once the gargoyle had withdrawn and unlatched his suckers from the topside of Tremdall's agonizing torso, a profound slumber would overtake him, as though from the labor of many days.

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idecable
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Re: Melted Plastic On Stylus

Post: # 48418Unread post idecable
Fri Nov 10, 2017 7:23 pm

>>Yes, I've made sure the alignment is perfect.

I hope you sort out the issue! Do you spare stylus to compare.

>>The weight of the cuttinghead is already very light. When I make it lighter, the groove vanishes at some points or the stylus of my recordplayer skips...

Noted.

I will experiment with the resistor mod on MK2 and see if it helps me cut 12 inches.

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KNOP
Posts: 94
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 12:06 pm

Re: Melted Plastic On Stylus

Post: # 48422Unread post KNOP
Sat Nov 11, 2017 11:34 am

I did the resistor mod a while ago,
At 45 it worked out fine but at 33 i had speed hunting issues. Its an easy mod and easy to undo ofcourse.

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Tremdall
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Re: Melted Plastic On Stylus

Post: # 48461Unread post Tremdall
Thu Nov 16, 2017 5:10 am

KNOP wrote:I did the resistor mod a while ago,
At 45 it worked out fine but at 33 i had speed hunting issues. Its an easy mod and easy to undo ofcourse.

Thanks...
I think it's best for now (for me) to live with the torque issue. After some months more I'll think about buying the precision motor.
I heard there will be a little morewear on the stylus, but no more wow issues.
Once the gargoyle had withdrawn and unlatched his suckers from the topside of Tremdall's agonizing torso, a profound slumber would overtake him, as though from the labor of many days.

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