Specific cutting questions to the wilcox-gay recordio

[dsinclair]

I have a Wilcox Gay suitcase Recordio

1. Being that there is no depth adjustments on these things (just put the screw in and place the stylus on the blank) what materials are good to use for blanks? I know I need some softer materials but looking for what would be best for this type of home record cutter.

2. I got this cutter fully restored from west-tech services, and it has a line in for digital audio files. What are some of the best options for equipment running into this feed in? I am thinking of just using my laptop, but maybe someone else has some ideas?

3. I am primarily recording voices (story telling). Any suggestions on cutting this type of audio versus music or other sounds?

All of this is to help me do my senior thesis project in art school. I want to cut lo-fi records and set up a record collection in a gallery space for people to experience records.

Look forward to any advice and suggestions. Just really trying to get some troubleshooting advice specific to the cutter I have.

Thanks

[piaptk]

You can use plastic picnic plates... You may have to experiment to see which ones work best. You are definitely going to have better results cutting spoken voices than you would music.

[dsinclair]

Awesome! Thanks for the helpful info on this.

Was wondering about voice recording so thats good to hear. Also good to hear about the plastic picnic plates. I saw a youtube video of that but just never tried it out.

Have any other suggestions as far as alternative materials for blanks, that would be good for cutting on a wilcox-gay recordio?

I was thinking of getting polycarbonate, nylon, and other options from plastics companies????

[subkontrabob]

2.[/b] I got this cutter fully restored from west-tech services, and it has a line in for digital audio files. What are some of the best options for equipment running into this feed in? I am thinking of just using my laptop, but maybe someone else has some ideas?

depends on your laptop (my guess is you have a mac ). But even the cheapest DA converters used in laptops nowadays are of sufficient quality (same quality like the ones in CD players). For your purpose they will suffice easily.

[dsinclair]

Great news. Thank you for the info. Yes a mac user through and through

[subkontrabob]

Great news. Thank you for the info. Yes a mac user through and through

art guys = mac

engineers = windows



good luck with your project!

[maniman]

Forget Screens of death is priceless....


Audacity Fan
.

.
Are Familiar ?



This Sure


Windows (and all the .NET for extension) and correct engineering are contradictory terms. Hehehe

[emorritt]

First, which Recordio model do you have? One of the more heavy duty units with two arms or a 'Recordette' with just a normal-looking tonearm you raise at the pivot to record? A Recordette will not work on hard plastic because the arm simply doesn't have enough weight. Probably not picnic plates either. If you have a model with two arms, there ARE depth/angle adjustments. If you raise the cutting arm and look on the pivot plate, you will see a common slot machine screw with a nut. By loosening the nut and adjusting the machine screw, you will be able to adjust the angle at which the cutting stylus is presented to the surface of the blanks. Amateur 'experts' (1940's 'audiophiles'??) knew about this because different blanks that were available differed in thickness and this adjustment made sure you always got a quiet cut if you were using a thin 'DuoDisc' blank or a thicker, more professional quality blank. Just remember to tighten the nut to maintain your adjustment.

The cutting depth adjustment is a common slot machine screw that you can see through the top of the cutting arm. If you raise the arm and look underneath, at the back of the cutter you will see a spring and a teardrop-shaped 'nut' with a hole for the spring and then a threaded hole through which the machine screw passes. Adjusting this will change the depth of groove. If the spring nut is closer to the top of the cutting arm shell, you will get a deeper groove; closer to the bottom brace holding the machine screw will give you a shallower cut.

[dsinclair]

I will have to look at more, but its what you say...a recordette because its a normal looking tone arm with no depth adjustment. You just pull it up into place for the drive screw to hook onto it inside and then place it on the blank.

Are you saying that there might be a way to adjust the the depth on this possibly? What softer materials for alternatives would you recommend for this machine? I just got some steel needles as well as a sapphire.

My friend uses a presto and cuts on polycarbonate, is this soft enough or you think to much to ask for on my machine? I am really just trying to find out what would be the best types of materials to use for this machine, also that would be better than possibly just using a film or thin sheet. You have any suggestions?

Thank you all for your input. This blog is awesome.

[dsinclair]

Like the stuff about the macs and pc

[JayDC]

art guys = mac

engineers = windows

I think its more like..

rich = mac

smart = pc

These days your just buying the operating system and exterior design when you buy an over priced mac, they all have the same parts inside..

Not all pc users are on windows, some of us are using linux..

Watching all my mac friends having issues with 10.6, i am glad i didn't buy into what the trend is.. Building the PC is half the fun of owning one anyways..

[emorritt]

There really are no adjustments on a Recordette; it's too basic of a design. Even on a lacquer disc, the grooves are quite shallow. I wouldn't recommend adding weight just to increase the depth because it may damage the cutter/cartridge. Might work on picnic plates but again with very shallow grooves. You might also try X-ray film or a similar plastic. Any Presto recorder would have a larger head and consequently the ability to cut a deeper groove and possibly work with polycarbonate. A two-arm Recordio may also be able to cut on different materials, but not a Recordette. The arm is just too lightweight. Anyone ever had luck with plates, poly or film on a Recordette? I just don't see how it could work well considering the light arm...

[dsinclair]

Cool. I will try those out. Just got a friend in the medical field to get some X-ray film for me to try out. Thank you for the input

[Self-lather]

Hey,

Go to the hardware store and grab a small sheet of Lexan (Home Depot and Lowes carry it). You won't regret it! Surprisingly noise free.

-Thomas

[JayDC]

what part of the store?

[opcode66]

where they have plexiglass

[dinoclub]

Hey, I've been searching for hours and can't find an old post.

Dude was trying to heat up his steel styli with an x-26 and talking about different mods and seeing how well it worked before frying that crystal head.

Anyone find or remember this??? Link me

[dsinclair]

I will have to try that. I am going to test on some window film as well and see how that works.

Also, to anyone who has a record cutter like mine with no pressure control, you can put WD40 down on a lacquer disk, or use a heating mechanism, and it works great. Sounds great to so dont be afraid to at least try this and see if it works for you.

Tried the plastic plates thing and that actually works really great to. You have to flatten the part you cut out for the disk though. I have been using some heated photo presses at school to flatten them and that works pretty good, but of course there are other methods I have heard that are really simple.

[tragwag]

im curious how things are going with your recordette?
mine has just started to work and im gathering my resources to try different things out.
for me, cd-r's and odd types of plastic have worked best, though the type of picnic plates i bought were not so good.
i have a friend who works at savers (like goodwill) and he's going to get me a number of laserdiscs to try out.