Cutting stylus life

[mossboss]

They are at a premium price and they do not sell direct so it is Tape from the uk and it than becomes more expensive If any one thinks Apollo is dear don't worry it is still an OK price by comparisson even though they are still up there (in my view) at the limit Talk about killing the goose that lays the golden egg Phewwww One needs to wonder what these people are thinking of when they monopolise an obscure segment of a market that flies under the radar of the authorities Still the US buyer is still looked after by Apollo and the rest of the world gets s....d on prices About 40-50% more by the time it gets there So consider yourselves Lucky all you US of A people for the moment any way One never knows when the worm will turn
Cheers

[dietrich10]

Here is what we do that seems to work extending stylus life as well as getting a good cut every time (He He tangue in cheeck)
Use a 2-3 K tone as your cutting input or wherever your own listening range is best
Do a test cut on the very outside with the playback arm on the lacquer, Stylus heat just on minimum Listen back to the cut as it happens
Increase heat until noise level gets to a minimum go a bit past on the pot until there is no further improvement
Cheers

lost me a bit on this part. I was too believe too much heat=noise?
Tip on cutting dubs I finally put in to effect. I use styli that Im used for 20+ hours on them now.

In the beginning I thought every stylus was bad after a few hours ,that i was messing something up and losing high end so far

fun days of questioning every move while i learn still

[mossboss]

Hey
Here is another (better?) explanation
Get ready to cut, preheat t/table, lacquer, etc, set up lathe ready to do a cut
Use a bit of music you know well or use the tone generator instead in a range that your hearing is at it's best Or if you already spend time on the music and know what it should sound like use it
Set stylus heat to a minimum
Do a test cut on the very outside of the lacquer
Once you got a full circle Place the playback stylus on the cut and listen to the background noise WHILE you are cutting
Increase stylus heat until the background noise get's less and less It will get to a point where there will be no more improvement to background noise with any further increase in stylus heat
Back off the stylus heat potentiometer a little bit and leave it there
This will than be the optimum heat setting for that lacquer in the prevailing conditions at the time this lacquer is/was cut
Do that with every lacquer you cut, make sure is done on the very outside and no where near where the pressing shop needs to form the metal to suit the die as it introduces week spots causing split plates
It may be best to do a practice run on a couple of test lacquers to get the idea once you get it it should not take any more than 3-4 revolutions to get it right to start off with, than down to 2-3 once proficient
There is plenty of room for that Do drop and lift the head doing this If you want to keep on going and do the cutting the actual track Dont run the head it into the cut with spiral or fast so as to start cutting the track(s) This introduces weakness in the metal parts as well Be kind to the pressing fellows
I am not sure if this is clear However it seems to be (to me)
Any way if it is not I will have another go at it (any help out there?)
Cheers

[dietrich10]

One question is can you cut with NO heat on the stylus as this starting point?

[cuttercollector]

One question is can you cut with NO heat on the stylus as this starting point?

I have no experience with pro heated styli lathes, but it is possible to get a quiet cut with no stylus heat on a Rek-O-Kut style machine, I have done it.
I am not sure if optimal setup for no heat in terms of stylus angle etc. is optimal setup for noise and stylus life when stylus heat is introduced into the equation.
Do you optimize for the most quiet groove then add heat to lower it more?
Not for each disc, but when you install a new stylus for example or do the initial setup of the head.
With some lacquers and styli I was able to get down to the noise floor of the turntable with no heat.
With the first lacquers and styli I tried without too much regard to stylus angle, it was horrible. I had far better results for my quietness of blank groove with a Recordio with non-microgroove stylus.
Also, how does any of this pertain to stereo vs. mono in terms of needed groove depth and the interaction of groove depth with stylus angle, noise, and stylus life with or without heat?

[Third]

When I visited Transco many years ago, Fred did say that they bought the aliminium blanks from a manufacturer and simply coated them with lacquer. He did also say that local studios would send their badly cut lacquer discs back for recycling... the discs were placed in boiling water to strip the lacquer coating and then they would be re-coated and sold as new lacquer blanks provided the disc was still flat.

I understood the Apollo story as being that Capitol Apollo's aluminium disc supplier bought the Apollo business from Capitol Records and so they should know something about making blank discs.

We still dont have any supply details for MDC Japan. Perhaps Third can fill us in and post MDC's contact details in a separate post.

i think protape in the uk supply ours

[mossboss]

One question is can you cut with NO heat on the stylus as this starting point?

Of course you can But why? Keep in mind the formulations on the lacquers are optimised for stylus heat
Most blanks in years past as well as the cutters used by most people here do not have stylus heat and they do get a "good" cut in relative terms given the limitations of their equipment heads amps etc
By the way there are plenty of instances that the heating element has "cooked" on the cutting stylus half way on a cut unbeknown to the cutter with acceptable or good results or a complete dissaster Even when you see the amp meter on the stylus heat at a big fat zero and you have started cutting there is no point in stopping is there? You do know you have no stylus heat anyway Than of course a whole host of questions need to be dealt with Do you send the lacquer to the plating shop? Do you play it back and listen to it? Do you just do both and put down to experience and do another cut and so on so on
Cheers