I start to believe that lexan is not the best material....

Post: # 14548Unread post **fraggle** Mon Apr 25, 2011 4:38 am

When I got my stylus I had not much Backgroundnoise cutting on Lexan and Makrolon. So material is Polycarbonate.
After 5 discs I get shit loads of backgroundnoise. Def too much for a proper record.
Stylus looks like new, not chipped or dirty.
By the way i can heat the stylus as much as i want, no difference ,also with lamps no difference with polycarbonate.

So here it comes:
I just cut on a b-side of a pressed record again and it sounded really good, same stylus, same setup i did not change anything. very little noise.
WTF!
By the way Souries discs are way harder than polycabonate too.
I don't know what to do it starts to annoy the crap out of me.
Has anyone a solution for this?
Cheers

Post: # 14549Unread post **fraggle** Mon Apr 25, 2011 5:22 am

http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz338/fraggle_79/Image-5_2011-04-26.jpg

http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz338/fraggle_79/Image-3_2011-04-26.jpg

Post: # 14554Unread post **JuanPabloCuervo** Mon Apr 25, 2011 9:07 am

great images...
https://lathetrolls.com/viewtopic.php?t=2148&highlight=japan&mforum=lathetrolls

https://lathetrolls.com/viewtopic.php?t=2334&mforum=lathetrolls

Post: # 14556Unread post **JayDC** Mon Apr 25, 2011 1:36 pm

i agree, Poly doesn't sound as good as i was lead to believe. Acrylic is worse.

Mossy should make us blanks, he only owns 10,000,000,000 pressing plants..

I heard color vinyl compounds are nice to cut, and sound good, probably a lie too...

Poly is good for archival, it will keep for a long time, it sounds like an old record on the first play tho..

Post: # 14557Unread post **opcode66** Mon Apr 25, 2011 2:05 pm

I got my poly cuts very quiet. Combination of a 100w bulb in a lamp for heating the surface of the disc and just the right cutting angle.

However, I then tried to add a heating wire to my stylus. That was a bad idea. Not sure if mucking with the stylus caused the problems or simply heating it too much. I know you can bake sapphires if you apply heat with no suction on a vms. Not sure if you can bake a diamond....

After a few failed attempts to cut with the heating wire I melted a little plastic to the stylus (always looks white when melted like what is on your tip). So, I decided to give up with heating wire. I removed it and made some more cuts.

Now, I get a ton of SHHHHHHHHH in the background. I tried soaking it in acetone for a couple of days to remove any reisdual pieces of plastic. Tired again. Still lots of SHHHHHHH in the background. So, I gave up on that stylus. Going to order a new one and try again.

Post: # 14558Unread post **JayDC** Mon Apr 25, 2011 2:39 pm

never had a chance to cut sound, i only did silent test cuts myself.. I ordered a poly cut from one of the places offering the service, just to check the quality of what people are selling. Sounds like an old record, hiss and pops equivalent to some of the old dusty records from the 60-70's that are tossed haphazardly around my grandmom's basement.

gtk that even on a vms, you will get the same results..

This is not a reflection on the cutter, its the material. I think its a good product for people that want a record for archival purposes, and for scratch DJ's, since these are pretty indestructible.. Touring DJ's would most likely prefer acetates since they have a lower noise floor, and cleaner sound quality.

I think the major issue is how rough the sides of the groove are.. heat would most likely to smooth it out, sounds to me like the threshold of just right and too much is fairly small..

Post: # 14559Unread post d Mon Apr 25, 2011 2:57 pm

Not to the topic directly but the situation the same....

Had a used sapphire (used to cut lacquers not by myself) and bought a sheet of PMMA acryl. Cutted into squares by hands, tried to cut and got quite nice silent groove. Then eventually did couple of test cuts and it maybe did some mistake with cutting depth and broke the tip. Opened a box with new sapphire from adamant. The same setup, nothing changed but stylus. And SHHHHHHH loads of noise. And till now cannot understand why.Tried different angle, depth and etc. nothing helps.

btw... i cutted nice groove when cutted pmma in squares by hand. Then gave guys at laser shop to cut them and after that I am getting problems...

Post: # 14560Unread post **opcode66** Mon Apr 25, 2011 3:14 pm

I got the bg noise down to an acceptable level even for DJ'ing with. I can record the lead-in groove and first few bars of the cut and post it if anyone wants to hear.

Doesn't matter a stitch that I use a VMS.

I have no idea why I bothered with the heating wire. Had I left the stylus alone and simply used heating lamps I think I would still be cutting plastic right now. But, alas, I wait for The Shank to have stock.

Post: # 14563Unread post **cymbalism** Mon Apr 25, 2011 4:41 pm

How many did you cut before you noticed the surface noise? I think I got around 7 cut before it started rearing it's ugly head ever so suddenly, then by 15 got increasingly louder, by 28 it's time to send it back to get resharpened. I think it was around 6 or 7 hours before mine was unusable on my set up. Using heated lamp, heated stylus and very minimal pressure on the diamond too.

Post: # 14565Unread post **dietrich10** Mon Apr 25, 2011 5:06 pm

starting to have me regretting spending time getting this 2nd lathe ready...

Post: # 14566Unread post **monkey1553** Mon Apr 25, 2011 5:42 pm

Hey Opcode how many cuts were you able to do before you switched over to try the stylus heat? Just curious how long you made it before the increase in noise?

opcode66 wrote:I got the bg noise down to an acceptable level even for DJ'ing with. I can record the lead-in groove and first few bars of the cut and post it if anyone wants to hear.

Doesn't matter a stitch that I use a VMS.

I have no idea why I bothered with the heating wire. Had I left the stylus alone and simply used heating lamps I think I would still be cutting plastic right now. But, alas, I wait for The Shank to have stock.

Post: # 14568Unread post **monkey1553** Mon Apr 25, 2011 7:05 pm

Just thinking out loud here but I'm wondering if the heated stylus is causing part of the problem? I notice in one of Flo's old posts here that he mentioned not using stylus heat but just lamps. I don't notice any obvious buildup of melted poly on fraggles diamond but is that a very small nick visible in one of the shots? I can't tell for sure.

I'm inclined to try cutting without stylus heat when mine arrives. I can let everyone know how it goes. Hopefully I'm cutting more than 6 sides before the noise kicks up.

Post: # 14570Unread post **fraggle** Mon Apr 25, 2011 7:51 pm

there is a tiny little chip on the side of it you are right. i am not sure if that is the issue. but again i can cut pvc and it sounds great with that stylus. i overheated that diamond too:)

@ jaydc you definetely did something wrong poly can sound good too but just for a few cuts that/s what i experienced.

i'm just f.. sick of it really

lol
i'll write it on my winchlist:)

Post: # 14571Unread post **fraggle** Mon Apr 25, 2011 7:58 pm

@ all of you guys.
When i asked everyone "who wants blanks" about 10 people told me that they want some!
At the end only a couple got back to me!
so that was it with this idea.

Post: # 14574Unread post **cymbalism** Mon Apr 25, 2011 8:30 pm

JayDC wrote:never had a chance to cut sound, i only did silent test cuts myself.. I ordered a poly cut from one of the places offering the service, just to check the quality of what people are selling. Sounds like an old record, hiss and pops equivalent to some of the old dusty records from the 60-70's that are tossed haphazardly around my grandmom's basement.

gtk that even on a vms, you will get the same results..

This is not a reflection on the cutter, its the material. I think its a good product for people that want a record for archival purposes, and for scratch DJ's, since these are pretty indestructible.. Touring DJ's would most likely prefer acetates since they have a lower noise floor, and cleaner sound quality.

I think the major issue is how rough the sides of the groove are.. heat would most likely to smooth it out, sounds to me like the threshold of just right and too much is fairly small..

Jay I told you what you had is a sapphire man, it's not a diamond so of course it's going to do that. Those little cylinders held sapphires, not diamonds.

Post: # 14575Unread post **JayDC** Mon Apr 25, 2011 10:48 pm

well tommy, you could be right. doesn't explain the same amount of surface noise on the poly cut i ordered from a reputable company. The only difference was the depth of the groove. The one i ordered had a nice deep groove.

Post: # 14576Unread post **opcode66** Mon Apr 25, 2011 11:58 pm

For me I don't think it was the number of cuts. I think it was the tinkering with the heating wire.

I got about 15 to 20 good cuts before having a lot of shhhhh.

Post: # 14577Unread post **fraggle** Tue Apr 26, 2011 12:05 am

hmm but why should a diamond break or get worn beause of a little heat?
look i did exactly the same as you opcode:(

Post: # 14579Unread post **opcode66** Tue Apr 26, 2011 1:54 am

I think I messed up the cutting edges in the process of adding the heating wire.

Post: # 14580Unread post **fraggle** Tue Apr 26, 2011 2:15 am

ok that could be possible.
it would be cool to have tips from lathes or cnc machines.
the one made out of ceramic or similar.
the only problem you cannot get them so sharp..
that would cost 10 bucks a tip.

The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls

I start to believe that lexan is not the best material....

I start to believe that lexan is not the best material....

here some photos