Welcome, Newbies! Say Hi in this thread!

[Bay]

Hey trolls!

My name is Bay and I've decided to build a record lathe for my senior project in college. I'm probably in way over my head, but I'm excited to start this journey regardless! If any one has some lathe building experience that would like to point me in a good direction? I will need several lathe experts to interview for my research papers also... Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I'll be posting questions as I go along, I'm sure, but for now I'll be reading the forum and building prototype #1!

Best,

-Bay

[oldsyd]

Hi, I'm just a casual audio nerd and like learning about the tech involved. I worked in broadcast for 19 years but now do IT stuff. Especially interested in quadraphonic stuff.

[ZephyrRadio]

I have a diploma in Music Business and Technology from the College of Southern Nevada (including three semesters of Recording Techniques). I'm living back in Michigan now, where I grew up. My home setup includes 32-track digital, plus TASCAM 34 and 32 tape machines (four- and two-track).

I've acquired a Wards Airline "Radio-Recorder" (05GAA-3967B), and a Sears Silvertone unit from 1941. The Airline unit was serviced and functions, but my first few experiments didn't go well. (They skate, or squeal, or do both.) All the same I'm fascinated by the technology, and the idea of making old-school demo recordings on disc. Somehow this stuff never entered my family's history.

I don't have the budget for a full-blown lathe, but I'm hoping to find a happy medium, and a possible local niche; several area musicians deal in nostalgia. I've also got a tech who understands older equipment when I don't. I'd like to get a couple more Airline units, for more experiments and possible modifications, and learn all I can about that family of machines. Thanks.

[rainydayloops]

Hello,

I'm a musician/composer & audiovisual producer with an interest in tape and vinyl recording formats. I own a 16-track 1" multitrack tape machine, which has been exciting to maintain and record with. I've been especially interested in both lathe cutting and pressing, and would like to learn as much as time/money allows!

I'll probably be a fly on the wall, but contribute where appropriate

Thanks!

[Chasinhk]

Hi,

I have been collecting RCA & GE studio amps from the 40’s and 50’s for a while. I prefer to listen to vinyl that was made in 40’s & 50’s through a source, amplifiers and speakers all made in the same period. My main turntable is a RCA 70D which I am currently trying to renovate but it has a really noisy speed reduction bearing underneath the turntable platter. The original deep groove ball bearing was manufactured by New Departure and has a part number 3113. New Departure does not appear to operate any more.

I wonder if members could suggest where I might be able to find a replacement?

The dimensions are : 1 3/8” - Inner Dimension. 2 3/4” Outer and the Width is 15/32”

Thank you.

Chas

[OptVox]

Hi,

My name is Ennis. I am here to share my little knowledge and keep learning from those others that know more than me.

I am committed to build an analogue recording system based in laser holography, to record an optical track or a relief groove on a polymerized substrate.

I admire everyone that is skilled enough to do beautiful manual crafts including cutting a record.

[SenseNet]

Hi Everyone!
Super newb here to the lathe cutting world and very excited to learn more! My background is in music, started classical piano at age 6 and now I'm 44 and have been producing electronic music since 2015. My partner and I are DJ/Producers, and we run a few record labels; he's also a mastering engineer with 25+ years behind the chair. We had been working with Dub Studio (Thank you Henry!!) in Bristol for some special dub plate projects for the past couple of years until he decided to take his studio in a new direction. It's been very difficult to source a cutting house here stateside willing to do just 10-20 runs for our dubplate projects. However, we did find a local cutter in Asheville, NC (about 80 min away) also utilizing the T-560's. We just started using them so as to not slow down our current projects, however, we feel at this point in our journey, we are ready to take the next step and become not only label owners, producers, and engineers, but also lathe cutting craftspeople. 

We are avid DIYers and love working with our hands, especially on small tedious projects. We're also SLA 3D printer hobbyists and are no stranger to the finicky-ness of machines and the time consumption required to achieve a finished project. I understand this is going to be a very long and expensive endeavor, but when we first mentioned to each other about buying a cutting lathe, the answer was just too easy to say yes! It's one of those decisions that just feels right in your soul. 

I'd also love to meet up with other female lather cutters! How many female/LGBTQ+ cutters are even out there? Ping me back if you are! 

Peace Everyone!
Cheney aka SenseNet
www.sensenetdnb.com

[vibrantj]

Hello I just joined today while doing a Google search for lathes! I am very interested in getting started! I have been interested in vinyl records for over 30 years. I am a music producer and DJ originally from Philadelphia but currently living in Alabama. I have a friend who currently cuts my vinyl for me with a lathe but he is so overwhelmed with orders that I also want to get a lathe to cut my own records and records for others.
Much respect to all cutters!

[JennyBirdCity]

Hi! I’ve been fantasizing about purchasing a vinyl lathe for awhile now, and have compiled a group of friends with amazing skills who can help make this possible. I still feel a little in over my head but I’m hoping through this group I can get advice on where I can buy one (or the parts to build one)!

[kenzie]

Hi all!
I have a background in EE/microcontrollers and audio engineering (finishing my undergrad soon), and I discovered record lathes (and this forum) right after a dip into tape recording for some of my band's music. I saw the prices to order a cut record online and stupidly asked "how hard can it be to diy?"
I'm a few months into a lathe build (got the transport done, c code, started work on mono cutting/embossing head and plastic selection this past weekend).

I figured I'd stop lurking and make an account so I can share open source plans of my setup if I ever finish, and help others with code, filter design, motor controllers, mastering.

Kenzie

[willofdukes]

Hi All!

My name is Will and I live in the midwest. Just starting out learning about lathe cutting. Thanks for having me!

[sympatheticmoose]

Hello, I'm about to be cutting on my first lathe and I'm excited to learn and share with you all!

Peter

[Baconfeatures]

Hi everyone, I have somehow bumbled my way into a plant and have been asked if I would like to start doing cuts on the VMS80 down there as I also have experience on tape machines etc and service Hifi for my day job.
We will soon be manufacturing turntables here from an OEM supplier so I am quite interested in building a lathe to cut 7" limited runs at some point too.
Looking foreward to diving into all of this with you guys.

[tempest]

Hi everyone. Newbie here. Long-time record collector & DIY enthusiast, finally decided that this would be the year for me to learn how to cut records. I obtained a Wilcox Gay 6A10 and have been tinkering with getting it going. I'm making progress but have a long way to go! I look forward to learning from the other members here, and hopefully I can contribute a thing or two once I know what I am doing.

[fox___]

Hey there! I'm based in Portland Oregon. This forum is such an incredible community, and I'm so excited to start learning from what's already here. Hopefully, I can share my experience once I get some.

[WANCHO]

Hello, my name is Juan Salvador Martín, after a while I left the subject for other more important personal matters, I have returned to pick up where I left off. I send a greeting to all and soon I will start making inquiries.

Thank you so much!

[TipiumGrove]

Hello, my name is Sean McDonald. I’m a musician and machinist from Pittsburgh, PA. I’m in a band called The Subnormals. I have 100s of hours experience operating lathes, but sadly, not the type of lathe which cuts vinyl.. My experience has been in designing and fabricating parts out of steel, aluminum, brass, various plastics, etc. Above all, I love playing and recording music, but vinyl records and building and maintaining machines are up there as well. Pressing vinyl of my own band has been a dream of mine since I was in high school, but I’ve always assumed that you’d need Jack White-level cash in order to do so. Lately I’ve been hearing that cutting your own vinyl is perhaps a slightly more an attainable goal than I’d thought, so I’m here to check it out. At this moment in time, I’d like to either buy a functional lathe setup and learn from it as I use and maintain it, or do enough research to build one from parts. I’m aware that I probably seem incredibly naive, but that’s only because it’s true. Please feel free to critique me, I’m here to learn! And if you’re in the Pittsburgh area and you have a vinyl lathe for sale, please contact me. Thank you!!

[eskim0]

Hi Trolls! My name is Alex. I come from Leipzig/Germany and i am reading for now about 4 years all along the whole forum.
Luckily 2019 i got the chance to pick up a used souri recorder and since then the virus infected me. I made good cuts, build some stuff on my own, moved to a bigger workshop.
Get new tools for the workshop.
Also started to work in the local pressing plant here and found the job of my life.
No joke, it’s work i know but i am really happy about it.

My hobby is great but i know things giving more fun when your are not alone.
I mean the forum is great to learn but sometimes i wish there was someone near who i can meet up with to build something or learn from.

Is here anyone near Leipzig who got time and mood to meet up?

Greetings to all the busy trolls out there! -Alex.

[displacedsnail]

Hello everyone, my name is Joe, I'm a queer artist from Philadelphia. I run the zine press & DIY record label Displaced Snail. I make as much as I can in-house, mostly zines, books, and cassettes, with an emphasis on lo-fi, hi-fun releases. I have a roster of 5 artists I mostly work with, and another 20 or so who I connect with on a project-by-project basis. Once I pick up a lovingly-restored Presto 6D next month, that will include records. My first project will be to begin re-issuing cassette-only releases onto record, and my partner K and I are lining up a series of poetry chapbooks w/ 10" of the author's reading for next year. I'm not planning to make lathe cuts for hire, but you never know.

If you're interested, you can find out more about what I do at my website, displacedsnail.com. And it should be noted that I believe in free digital goods, so you can pick up my label's entire discography for $0.80 on bandcamp at displacedsnail.bandcamp.com - they literally won't let me make it free, but under a buck is pretty dang close.

I played around a bunch with a Gakken toy cutter last year and put out two releases on 5", I managed to get them sounding pretty great. Looking forward to learning to use the real thing, making lots of mistakes, and (hopefully) learning from them,
<3 Joe

[Brick]

Hi guys! New member from Spain here. Lots of threads still to read but such an awesome community! It was hard to find a niche place like this but finally I reached here, that is exactly the place I was searching for. Cheers!