Stylus Heating for Presto K8

[VinylFiend]

Hi all,
Trying to figure out the best way to heat the stylus on a Presto K8. Want to try diamond cutting into PC
Some say you don't need to heat the stylus - just the blank
In my (albeit limited) experience - the results of heating just the disc are horrible - I am using a heat lamp that puts out enough heat to warp a PC disc if left alone.
Is there a reliable way to hook up heating wire, or a heating unit type setup for this?
Are there any other cutters out there getting good results from heating just the blank?
stylus is new and free of damage.

[apoklis]

you have a k8 and a new diamond and want to cut PETG plastic . be careful . The diamond needs only 10 to 12 grams of pressure to cut instead of 35 grams to emboss on polycarbonate with a sapphire.
You don't need heat . Heat is for cutting lacquers. i cut petg without heat and they sound great. If you still want to add heat use one of these boxes connected to styles.

heat.jpeg

[VinylFiend]

Thanks mate for the reply! appreciate the tip on pressure. I'll be sure to watch that carefully.
Have Polycarbonate discs (not PETG) and tried cutting on the K8 with gentle heat (desk lamp) & new stylus. Got an audible result but the surface noise was shocking.
keen to cut PC as I have those blanks on hand, but if it's gonna kill my stylus i'll have to rethink that.....
I'll have a look into one of those boxes for sure. Thanks again.

[leemichael]

We sell stylus Heat systems, dual switchable voltage 110-220 volts

https://www.instagram.com/p/DCv6n9WN__B/?igsh=czAyd2poMDJueWc=

[nikkigracetoronto]

tbh yes from my experience heating the disc results in absolute crap results.

heating the needle itself - fucking gold. literally we've got arguably better results than pressed records. YMMV.

I have a modified presto 6n with a TKV cutter head and a regular MyShank diamond needle, if that's worth anything.

[VinylFiend]

My cutter head is a 5-C.
Seen a bit of info from seasoned cutters discouraging cutting into PC.
Are you using PC blanks or other?

[nikkigracetoronto]

Yes, so if you are diamond cutting; you certainly want to avoid polycarbonate discs, always use PETG.

[Thelatheofus]

tbh yes from my experience heating the disc results in absolute crap results.

heating the needle itself - fucking gold. literally we've got arguably better results than pressed records. YMMV.

I have a modified presto 6n with a TKV cutter head and a regular MyShank diamond needle, if that's worth anything.

What type of plastic are you cutting ?

[VinylFiend]

Yeah i'll leave the PC to embossing, will rig up some sort of heating contraption like the one above and attempt cutting using PVC/PETG

[nikkigracetoronto]

Massively late reply, my apologies. We were creating our own PETG discs, but there appears to be something slightly different and *far* better about the MyShank blank discs. Despite the additional shipping costs (we are in Toronto), we still find the absolute best results with the MyShank disc + needle combo.

As with everything in cutting - YMMV.

tbh yes from my experience heating the disc results in absolute crap results.

heating the needle itself - fucking gold. literally we've got arguably better results than pressed records. YMMV.

I have a modified presto 6n with a TKV cutter head and a regular MyShank diamond needle, if that's worth anything.

What type of plastic are you cutting ?

[Retrosmith]

Nikki.....are you cutting on a k8? What cutting head?

[Flim63]

He posted earlier he's using a 6N with TKV head

[C-Pilote]

Hello, I got a fully modified presto K8 and using a TKV cutting head with new drivers upgrade and I can confirm that my cuts are
Alway better and better ..I solve the vacuum
Sound that the diamond pick it up ..and listen
Back the cutted records is a pleasure!!
Especially for the ears!
It took almost 3 years to achieve to good results!
I’m really happy with MY SHANK stuff!
I stopped heating the shank cause I got
No good results with.. just cutting and vacuum and I get good result! But I should get another try with my heating system..another fact
I changed the platter and the bearings for a
New old stuff one and more it turns flat less you getting trouble too.
For static I leave a little desk humidifier
Close of the lathe and I making circles with a plasma lighter
Around 1 inch over the blank from center to outer edge and it kills the static plus I add a little tea spoon of baby powder in the vacuum tip and hose to kill static friction and got no issue at all.
I can cut a bunch of lp’s back to back with no troubles.

But I can’t calculate how many headaches I got learning this crazy discipline !

Cheers!
Chany