new guy here a few questions

[fredbissnette]

hi all im new and just started out

i built a crude lathe from a hitachi deck and some printer parts and a small computer speaker amp and a 2 watt speaker

im using a sewing machine needle right now

im planning to emboss or cut into cdrs and laser discs

so

what weight is good for the cutter head?(to press the needle onto the cdrs)
what wattage is good for an amp to drive my cutter head?
what wattage drivers and size are good to make a cutter head?


im going to make a better head and get some proper presto needles

i have figured out how to get audio cut onto some cdrs already and my sound is very weak but i can track the grooves so i know im onto
something

cheers and thanks

[fredbissnette]

so got myself a huge sony integrated amp (120 watts per channel x4)
and a traynor pa head 75 watts

between these two i should be able to power any cutter head i encounter

im going to buy some dayton exciters to make a proper cutter as well

i have figured out the linear movement of my lath

cheers

[Soulbear]

Hi Fred,
And welcome to the Forum. I like your idea of using the Dayton Exciters, it's something I've made a Cutterhead with myself. (Check Out the Soul Sculptor Thread in the Experimenters Section to see my efforts) I haven't yet got a Lathe on which to mount my "Soul Sculptor" and Test It yet, so I'll be following your build with great interest, Keep us Trolls up to date with your Build, and good luck with it. I think you've pretty much got the bases covered with your Amps, what are you using to move the Cutterhead Carriage??
Regards Soulbear

[fredbissnette]

very cool

right now im in the process of liquidating a few things from my studio to pay for the cutter head build

im using some parts from a printer head and some various gears from another printer to move the head

im cranking by hand right now but soon ill buy a .5rpm geared dc motor and get that going

ive cut a few tracks with my frankenstein and once i got some real power running into my makeshift head i got some loudness improvement over the tiny amp i started with

im def getting somewhere

[fredbissnette]

]url=https://postimg.org/image/w2dlyehu3/][/url]

[fredbissnette]

as you can see im cave manning it right now but i am getting some good gain on my cuts

[fredbissnette]

i ordered a geared motor for my lathe to move the head across the platter

i also made a new head ill post pics shortly of my work

[fredbissnette]

2.75'' fullrange 10 watt drivers lacquered for stiffness

the driver frame triple laminated and hotglued on all egdes for stiffness

plastic cake decorating tips with twin paperclips for extra stiffness

jb weld for securing paperclip pins inside the cones

bolts thru the frame i ended up using longer ones

bolts mounted 4 per driver, hole cutouts sealed with glue for extra stiffness

cones and pins mounted to caps for extra length , cones were hot glued inside as well to add extra adhesion

cones and pins mounted to lacquered drivers with hot glue

drivers mounted to cutter head frame and pins trimmed to mount to needle rod

needle mounting rod set into pins , pins at 90 degrees and drivers wired out of phase

cone pins secured to needle rod with jb weld

wood blocks for mounting cutterhead to lathe

blocks mounted to cutterhead glued and screwed

holes in mountng blocks(mdf) for attachment to lathe

cutting needle mounted to needle rod with jb weld(im able to drill it out to mount a proper needle as this one is a singer sewing machine needle)

cutter head mounted to lathe

the whole shebang, sony amp with fan for cooling, 150 watt bulb for heating platter and disks, hitachi ht deck, turtle wax for softening disks
i can wire the head stereo or mono curently its mono wired out of phase series for 20 watts power.

cutterhead on gantry lathe

180uf cap for bass attenuation

[fredbissnette]

i ended up taking one driver off the frame as it was too heavy
this is the result of the mono head
great gain and not too bad clarity
sounds even better in my headphones than these basic computer speakers
https://vid.me/ZMcr

[fredbissnette]

gonna use this little guy that i pulled out of a box of knobs i had to mount proper needles with to my cutter head

[fredbissnette]

ordered my exciters from parts express today

will post the results when i get the new head built

[fredbissnette]

got my motor today its a 1rpm
i timed the movement at at 33rpm i get roughly 4min20seconds on a cdr
i think this will work out well

i should have my drivers for my cutterhead end of this week or beginning of next

cheers

[fredbissnette]

my lathe so far

[Soulbear]

Hi Fred,

i ended up taking one driver off the frame as it was too heavy

I'm following your build with Great Interest, your Transducers do however look a little on the "Beefy" Side :-

Fred's Cutterhead.jpg

If the Cutterhead Carriage "Pivots" on this Rail, as I suspect it may do :-

Fred's Cutterhead1.jpg

Fred is it possible to add a Counterweight?? The Cutterhead/Counterweight Combination could then Weigh as Much, and is only limited by, what the Slide Rail can Safely Carry. The "Downwards Force" of the Cutterhead could then be Offset to a Negligible Value by Adjustment of the Counterweight. This would allow the mounting of both of the Transducers without the concerns of "Too Much" Cutting Force. Perhaps the Carriage doesn't "Pivot" where I think it does though, Just a Few Thoughts Te He!! Soulbear

[fredbissnette]

i did think of this but i wanted a more powerful head so i ordered the exciters from dayton/pe they are very much lighter and i will end up adding weight to get the embossing pressure just right

ill keep us updated

the head with the heavy drivers was more of a test but i did get great gain on my disc with just one driver im looking forward to having the headroom with better drivers

cheers

[fredbissnette]

got my lathe done, exciters installed into the head i wired it out of phase mono for 48 watts rms power to test
im stoked to see how the motor for the lathe and these bigger coils in the head work.

ill post pics soon and audio tomorow

[fredbissnette]

new drivers came today 24 watt each vs my ten watt head i had=better headroom

coils covered for mounting cones

head holes modified for mounting and teflon tape to dampen needle mount tube

cones mounted on drivers

mounted to cutterhead

[fredbissnette]

did a groove test with no audio to check out how the motor for the lathe works and
i got great results the tracking is good with no skips and i got a good closed loop at the end when i shut off
the motor

ill do audio tomorow

[fredbissnette]

im getting lots of gain on my cuts and ive got the weight just about right
im going to have to really play with the eq to get just the right balance between bass and midrange

its going well

[Fatrecco]

Hey Fred, you are on a good way. I am very interestet how it sounds and the groove looks like. But I think you need more stiffness. For the head take better epoxy instead of hotglue. Mayby its possible to saturate the cardboaerd whth resin.



Fatrecco