Vanrock/Atom + Manual (was Hello from Tokyo!)

[Big Al]

Hello, my name is Al.

First off I would like to say big thanks to Steve and all members past and present for sharing an amazing wealth of knowledge and experience on this site!

I have read through nearly all the posts here and have learned a lot.
Its great reading through and seeing the development / progression with lathe cuts, experiments with different types of materials, techniques etc..

It took me a while to get my head round the concept of 'embossing', at first I couldn't get it but it eventually became clear.

So here is the 'Vanrock' as shown on the Japanese Lathes thread.



Fantastic portable suitcase lathe, from the 80's I believe.

Might well be the perfect beginners lathe as it is very easy and straightforward to use.

7' only and mono, with a choice between 33 or 45 and with built in RIAA EQ, and compressor if you use the 'auto' input.
The head is stationary and the platter moves from left to right for cutting.

Comes with a 'disk stabilizer' that screws down and holds your disk securely to the platter for cutting.



So here we have the controls.

Standing moves the platter into the cutting position ready to cut.
Fast forward is for your lead in groove.
Recording is cutting.
Ending is for the runout and locked groove.
And then Stop returns the platter to the beginning position so you can remove your disk and listen!



Here's the head with screw at the top for connecting the heating wire to heat the stylus.
Stylus size is long shank presto size.
You can also see the little brush which works pretty well at keeping the swarf away from the head.

Here's some images from the user manual.



Love the drawings



Stylus changing and troubleshooting tips.



Happy customer!



Front page, love the futuristic design - amazing!

I haven't managed to find out any info about the company (Oogi Denshi) who manufactured these, but they also renamed it later as the Atom 101.

Would love to find out more about the history and the reason for the two names as both models are the same apart from the name.
I am pretty certain that the Vanrock came first as the manual for the Atom is pretty much the same as the one for the Vanrock but the name has changed to Atom - but interestingly some of the pictures inside still show it as Vanrock!

Here's the specs.



So at the top you can see the frequency response for the head - 60 Hz to 8Khz.
The head itself has quite a big peak in the 1 - 2K region, but EQing the source material to compensate works.

I am able to emboss Polycarb disks, by simply turning the stylus backwards!
I didn't use the heater for this, I heated the blank instead.



Here's a rip of a polycarb cut of a demo from my band 'Otonoarukikata' that I'm working on at the moment

http://www.divshare.com/download/25822512-ded













And I thought that the Vanrock / Atom was one of the smallest portable lathes until I found this!



The Hara Recording Devices M180. Even smaller, lighter and more compact than the Vanrock / Atom.

When I got it the idler wheel had a dent causing a dull thud when cutting, which seems to be quite a common problem with these Hara lathes, so I am having it rebuilt at the moment, I'll report back with more pictures and info when I have it!

[tragwag]

sounds great! congrats al.
Glad the blanks are working out well,
-TB

[rsimms3]

Love the Japanese cutters! I've seen pictures elsewhere here on the board but don't remember reading that the platter moves to cut instead of the arm for the Vanrock. Your sample sounds really nice. I'd love to see a full scan of the instruction manual if you would be willing to scan/share, just looking at the pictures you posted is interesting to see how it was marketed and explained to the end user. Thanks!

[Big Al]

Here's a scan of the manual.

[Big Al]

And here's the sales / promo sheet for the M180 Disk Recorder.





Pretty sure this came before the Vanrock / Atom and was possibly the inspiration for it as well, as there are similarities between the two machines.

[Big Al]

And here's the manual for the Atom. Only have a photocopy of this one....

You can see that it is the same as the Vanrock manual, apart from where the name has been changed to Atom!
And on page 8 if you look closely you can see that they have forgotten to change the name on the picture at the top, hence why I think that the Vanrock came first, then the name was changed to Atom.

[Steve E.]

Fantastic!

See also:

Japanese Lathe (Hara Recording Devices)

Japanese Portable Lathes of the 1970s

[lucien]

Hello,

Thanks for the pictures and the scans.
Here is a blog with a lot of pictures of the mt-180 : http://blog.goo.ne.jp/vrc-tezuka/e/e076059a40ff20854e54a36f20ce8f5d

[studiorp]

Wonderful lathe, I love japanese lathes, more interesting this blog and pictures, thanks Lucien.

[Big Al]

Ha yes that is actually my machine on the blog.
The blog is run by a guy who does repairs and was servicing my machine!

[bookwar]

I am the owner of 2 machines by this factory.
this

and this


and 7" i am selling.

[Casanova]

Hi bookwar, where could I find a lathe like the bigger one you have?

Thanks.

[luke13]

Hello friends, anyone know where I can repair a vanrock recorder or have a contact for a Japanese company that can repair it? I find one in very good conditions but in the recording position no moves horizontally, I think is the sensor that does not work, because the other positions are functioning normally.
I thank in advance for help and collaborations

[Jacu1]

I am replying to this post because the images of the Vanrock (Atom) 101 lathe user manual were not view-able.
This request has probably been made before, and replied to - and I apologize if that is that case - but can anyone point me to getting a copy or a pdf to the lathe user manual?
I would very much appreciate it - Jer

[gDavis_wax]

Message me...I, painstakingly, created an English Translation of the Manual.

Happy to give back to the community.
-GDW

[Jacu1]

Painstaking indeed. Can I get link to that translation of the manual. I too have the original manual in Japanese. Would be so grateful -Jer

[Jacu1]

Hey AL! Thanks so much for your post. Can you refer me to a US source for PolyCarb blanks. The shipping from France is a killer. Thanks - Jer
ps: The Trolls have all been wonderful - I really appreciate this forum.

[EposLab]

[quote="bookwar"

[/quote]
Hi bookwar!
Can you please tell me which model is this?

[woodhog]

[quote="bookwar"

Hi bookwar!
Can you please tell me which model is this?[/quote]
It looks like a Hara 705 according to the book that came with my 705 - II

[rubenr]

Please, re up the manual.