Open Source Cutter: Home Groove ?

[CutR]

A while ago whilst researching online i came across a project for an open source cutter which could be built for around $500 using 3D printed parts and other bits. The cutter called “Home Groove” which comprises of an overhead unit which is supposed to attach to any turntable.

This could be quite useful for anyone looking to get into home cutting on a budget, although the problem being is that all the links to the files and parts list are not accessible from the project website, i’ve tried contacting the creators of the cutter but have not had any replies back from the 3 people i tried to contact.

In any case i thought i would post about it here just in case anyone could shed some light on this, or perhaps knows one of the creators to get hold of the files and parts list so anyone could actually build this thing.

Cutter in action:


Playback clip:

Quality don't sound to good.

[KNOP]

Cool find. The cutterhead seems to be a needle glued directly to a vertical speaker. That would probably not sound very good. A budget open source lathe should definately be of great help to a lot of people. But 500 euro for this machine does sound a little steep....

[soeffingodly]

If you're going to drop $500 for this why not invest a bit more and get something "not home brewed?"

[CutR]

I'm not a wealthy fellow by any means, but personally i think the $500 price point for a working lathe is pretty reasonable considering most of the lathes i've seen up for sale are if not double or more than the price of the home groove. And these are for non-working lathes, so after paying $1 - $2K+ just to obtain the thing to establish whats not working and such. Then you have to spend another $???? how much to get the thing actually working.

[soeffingodly]

I'm not a wealthy fellow by any means, but personally i think the $500 price point for a working lathe is pretty reasonable considering most of the lathes i've seen up for sale are if not double or more than the price of the home groove. And these are for non-working lathes, so after paying $1 - $2K+ just to obtain the thing to establish whats not working and such. Then you have to spend another $???? how much to get the thing actually working.

I am not flush, either. I saved (and researched) for a long time before I jumped in the record cutting pool. But sometimes it is worth the extra money to know it works. And what happens when you reach the limit of the home brew joint and you need to upgrade anyway? My feeling is better starting out with more sure footing and a higher ceiling. That said, I am not an engineer and I don't have copious time to be messing with machines in my downtime to bring them back to life. I don't mind working on them to keep them running or to solve problems. But between work, life, teaching martial arts and everything else I'd rather be spending the time learning to cut records rather than troubleshooting and building something to get me to the point where I can learn to cut records. Don't get me wrong there is something fun and exciting about building your own lathe. For me it just doesn't make sense. I've purchased the cheaper television before and ended up having to spend more on a Samsung which I should have done in the first place. I apply that logic to a lot of electronics purchases. Typically you get what you pay for in that arena. Unless you are someone with a great engineering mind and/or a fantastic tinkerer. In that case I can see something like that being a fun, rewarding project. I also don't have the work space available like that, either.

I paid 2K for a portable K8 lathe with rebuilt 1C head. (including shipping and insurance) Also included were a bunch of extra needles and a huge stack of blanks. (7", 10" and 12") And the "How to make good recordings" book. Everything works like a champ, amplifier included. Needed some work in terms of replacing the grommets and some other worn out rubber items but those are a given as they are less effective as time passes. I've gotten some pretty decent cuts from the K8. From the video, I'd say any I've done on that K8 unit are head and shoulders above what I heard that unit cut.

So for 3 times that cost I have a solid, battle tested portable Presto lathe with a good, rebuilt mono cutting head and working amplifier for the iRIAA curve. With accessories. I paid a bit more because I wanted to be sure 100% it worked. And it did out of box.

Similarly, when I got my Presto 6N I paid a little bit more but I knew 10000000000% the unit was gone through and that it worked properly and produced great cuts. It also came with a 1C head that was rebuilt and sounds fantastic.

My half a cent. For what it is worth.

[KNOP]

What I meant is that while I think the idea is really nice, but with 500 euros in parts you could get a better product by making some good design decisions and some r&d. I really like cutting records but the learning curve is about as steep as the monetary barrier.