worst cutting/calibration accidents. top 10 ranking!

Topics regarding professional record cutting.

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leo gonzalez
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worst cutting/calibration accidents. top 10 ranking!

Post: # 11366Unread post leo gonzalez
Fri Nov 12, 2010 8:16 pm

how about starting a new topic about accidents, failures, like "what's the worst that has ever happened to you while calibrating or cutting"...

has anyone ever ignited the chip or a lacquer while cutting? has that actually ever happened to someone?

can't imagine anything worse than that.

my worst (almost heart attack): having the head with low freq oscillating so bad that it literally stalled the lyrec motor!

ohhh, there was a tornado in brooklyn a few months ago. all the relays on the master console triggered on! another nice one! leds going on like xmas tree lights!

i'm thinking about all the things that can go wrong and actually end up happening.

hypothetical accidents welcomed too maybe!

like dropping your morning coffee or acetate container on a fresh new batch of lacquers? maybe that's happened to someone?

there must be funny (not so!) ones on the plating, pressing side too.

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MEGAMIKE
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Post: # 11374Unread post MEGAMIKE
Sat Nov 13, 2010 10:48 am

falling asleep cutting drone metal...
"its like heavymetal at 40bpm".

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cymbalism
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Post: # 11375Unread post cymbalism
Sat Nov 13, 2010 11:40 am

Eq'ing everything, getting everything perfect ready to cut, test cut sounded great, went and had a smoke prior to cutting then started cutting and did the whole side of an acetate only to realize I didn't switch the head back on so I cut complete silence for 23:00.

Needless to say that will not happen ever again :)
all the best!
- tommie 'plan 9' emmi
poly-cut lathe cuts / cymbalism recordings

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cymbalism
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Post: # 11377Unread post cymbalism
Sat Nov 13, 2010 11:45 am

Another one

My diamond bit it and I was trying everything I could think of to see if maybe the angle was wrong or something and I adjusted it to another angle, turned on the vacuum and tried cutting another degree then noticed the stylus was gone. I looked everywhere for like an hour and when I gave up I was putting a sapphire back in and noticed the diamond was stuck in the suction tube with the point sticking out right in front of my eyes.

Felt really stupid and extremely pissed at the same time for wasting an hour looking for it :)
all the best!
- tommie 'plan 9' emmi
poly-cut lathe cuts / cymbalism recordings

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petermontg
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Post: # 11389Unread post petermontg
Sat Nov 13, 2010 4:46 pm

cymbalism

the first one made me laugh

fair play

am new to all this so no horror stories yet, but ill pass them along when they do happen

peter
Peter Montgomery
+353(0)894926271
peter(at)petermontgomerymastering.com

Stereo cutter head wanted. Send email or smoke signals.

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The Shank
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Post: # 11414Unread post The Shank
Mon Nov 15, 2010 9:47 am

cymbalism wrote:Eq'ing everything, getting everything perfect ready to cut, test cut sounded great, went and had a smoke prior to cutting then started cutting and did the whole side of an acetate only to realize I didn't switch the head back on so I cut complete silence for 23:00.

Needless to say that will not happen ever again :)


hahahaha, that happends to me maybe 3 or 4 times

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Bonati
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Post: # 11430Unread post Bonati
Tue Nov 16, 2010 7:21 pm

The first time I tried dicking around with the suspension box on the VMS70 I adjusted the suspension WAY to loose and the head & stylus just fell and dug all the way through the lacquer and started scraping on the aluminum substrate. 15mil groove anyone?? Happens to everyone, right? (Right?)

Another one: while inspecting a freshly cut lacquer in the microscope I accidentally reached around and grabbed the back of the tonearm instead of the microscope focus wheel and sent the cartridge skating & scratching across the entire surface of the lacquer, ruining it. That was somewhere around 2:30am. Ugh.

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dietrich10
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Post: # 11432Unread post dietrich10
Wed Nov 17, 2010 7:55 am

I tried to calibrate my sx74 drive level, feedback etc on my own before I even made a cut. I overset the feedback and poof....blew the head.
The only good out of it was that the day before herr grundy tested it and resistance was not good. I believe -5/6 feedback only being achieved on the tests
cutting lacquers-vms70 system

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Bonati
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Post: # 11442Unread post Bonati
Wed Nov 17, 2010 6:08 pm

dietrich10 wrote:I tried to calibrate my sx74 drive level, feedback etc on my own before I even made a cut. I overset the feedback and poof....blew the head.
Holy shit that's a nightmare. It's scary what little happens when a head blows. For the insane amount of money it costs you to repair the head there should at least be something awesome and dramatic that happens: a giant explosion that sends you flying across the room into a bookcase, let's say, or maybe the head bursts into flames and catches your arms on fire. If there's no entertainment like that then I'm just not getting my money's worth.

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opcode66
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Post: # 11445Unread post opcode66
Wed Nov 17, 2010 8:00 pm

How about a little rolled up flag pops out and unrolls to reveal the words "You're Fucked" in big red letters.
Cutting, Inventing & Innovating
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dietrich10
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Post: # 11450Unread post dietrich10
Thu Nov 18, 2010 6:59 am

or at least smoke or turn red.
all that happened was that it would trip the breakers every down I tried to drop it
cutting lacquers-vms70 system

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cymbalism
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Post: # 11451Unread post cymbalism
Thu Nov 18, 2010 10:44 am

opcode66 wrote:How about a little rolled up flag pops out and unrolls to reveal the words "You're Fucked" in big red letters.
I vote for this to happen :)
all the best!
- tommie 'plan 9' emmi
poly-cut lathe cuts / cymbalism recordings

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d
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Post: # 11452Unread post d
Thu Nov 18, 2010 1:25 pm

cymbalism wrote:
opcode66 wrote:How about a little rolled up flag pops out and unrolls to reveal the words "You're Fucked" in big red letters.
I vote for this to happen :)
Blown head or the flag? :D

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dietrich10
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Post: # 11453Unread post dietrich10
Thu Nov 18, 2010 3:57 pm

Bonati wrote:The first time I tried dicking around with the suspension box on the VMS70 I adjusted the suspension WAY to loose and the head & stylus just fell and dug all the way through the lacquer and started scraping on the aluminum substrate. 15mil groove anyone?? Happens to everyone, right? (Right?)
reggae cut?
cutting lacquers-vms70 system

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cymbalism
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Post: # 11454Unread post cymbalism
Thu Nov 18, 2010 4:22 pm

d wrote:
cymbalism wrote:
opcode66 wrote:How about a little rolled up flag pops out and unrolls to reveal the words "You're Fucked" in big red letters.
I vote for this to happen :)
Blown head or the flag? :D
The flag, definitely the flag
all the best!
- tommie 'plan 9' emmi
poly-cut lathe cuts / cymbalism recordings

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d
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Post: # 11455Unread post d
Thu Nov 18, 2010 4:50 pm

Well... I am trying to build a head similar souri's. had a lot of testings with drivers, got some of them blown...
Thought, that I must have a branded head, to see how it works, to experiment with, understand the tention and damping etc etc.

Bought Audax H4. It was 500 ohm. The first day tried to cut, not much of course with conventional amp, so rewinded, mesured - looks good.

The second day tried to cut... Sound level was very low.... More power! Still quite low... more power!--- POOOFF. It was a very dense white smoke.... It was not the coil but the coil holder. It just burned out. :)

Head is again in working condition and working nice for experiments.

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Dub Studio
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Post: # 11725Unread post Dub Studio
Wed Dec 08, 2010 8:23 am

Too many to mention, I have thrown out boxes of messed up plates in the past.

3) This one was an accident but actually sounded quite cool. I was monitoring a vinyl cut through the turntable tonearm and accidentally patched it into the mastering console, it acted like a tape delay. Luckily it was on the last few seconds of the track so it faded into nothing in a few seconds and sounded really cool. The client loved it ;)

2) Intern accidentally lowered the stylus down with too much force on an acetate and it gouged into the substrate. On later inspection, a piece of molten aluminium was found welded to the tip of the stylus.

1) During an attended session (with a client that had driven hours to get to the studio) I once reached for the manual pitch controller and grabbed the stylus heating controller instead. Gradually increased the heat until the stylus dug into the dub and snapped off, at the shank. :shock:

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subkontrabob
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Post: # 11735Unread post subkontrabob
Thu Dec 09, 2010 12:16 pm

Dub Studio wrote: I once reached for the manual pitch controller and grabbed the stylus heating controller instead.
classic! I've accidentally increased stylus heat instead of adjusting microscope light brightness, fortunately nothing bad happened.

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