The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls

New video.

https://youtu.be/615_qJjEvhc?si=HG1zT7DA0zzUgpp6

Found an AM32b in the wild. Was owned by Cleveland Recording/SUMA Recording (Cleveland, Ohio) from about 1957 until the owner's son passed away in 2018. Has had a lot of modifications, not a lot of maintenance and has been in less than ideal conditions for a while. Although it is crusty, the bones a...

Here is a good representation of jobs we have cut to lacquer using a Rek-o-Kut and Grampian head.

http://www.theearnesttube.com/recordings/

There are bearings under the metal cover.

Lacquer discs have better fidelity. I have heard some good plastic cuts and durability is better for plastic. If you are cutting masters, Lacquers are the way to go either recording direct to the lathe or for reproduction. If you wanted to create a product people can play over and over with less det...

You can cut masters on anything you like as long as the dimensional standards work for electroforming and pressing. You can cut any speed you like. Presses don’t care about speed, they are just molding plastic. Between my two businesses Well Made Music and The Earnest Tube, we cut direct to disc and...

I may have a 120LPI screw that I could trade. Right now it is at my studio in Bristol VA. It will be a few weeks before I get back down there. I would be happy to check when I do get back down there.

The organization in Gotta Groove that does specialty records is called Wax Mage and is run by our friend Heath.

He has been doing crazy art records for almost 10 years now.

I was told, but never tried cleaning with (MEK) Methyl Ethyl Ketone and steam heat from a cappuccino machine works well to bring back a stylus also.

Maybe that is one reason DMM never really took off too.

Lead screws are almost impossible to find. Some body had larger sized ones on Ebay a few months ago. I think they were for a 16" diameter unit. Terry's Rubber Rollers can make you a 45 roller. He has a database of sizes. He re-did a 45rpm roller for my ROK. That lathe by the way, cannot cut lead-in ...

That price is insane.

I bought one two years ago in great condition for 1200 dollars and I thought that was high at the time. Purchased another overhead unit for about 500 on ebay.

You pinch the silver tabs at the top of the half nut and hold it for just over a revolution and then you lift the head.

If the motor is a synchronous motor, the speed is dependent on the frequency of the power coming from the wall, not the voltage. It is a bigger challenge and more costly to change the frequency of the power than the voltage, so keep this in mind. More likely is that the capstan can be machined or re...

From your video, I can clearly see the screws pushed all the way IN. You need to back those OUT to give the largest range of motion to the pivot point. By have the screw IN, you do not allow the capstan to travel all the way towards the roller. Do you understand what screws I am talking about? The p...

I wouldn't change anything until you get the adjusting screw in the right place. From my experience if you allow the rubber jam too hard against the the rim of the platter you get some speed variation. I think this is because the force against the rim is pushing the rubber out of round. You have to ...

We get great results with a suitcase Rek-o-Kut overhead lathe and a Grampian head. This was recorded live with two microphones directly to the lathe: https://www.dropbox.com/s/gv50fhdfev4ywgh/05%20Little%20Red%20Wagon%20Take%202%20Lacquer.wav?dl=0 Get what you can afford but buy the BEST you can aff...

All depends on what you want to do. Those mics are ribbon mics and most are bi-directional (figure 8). If sound isolation is what you are looking for choose a tighter polar pattern. Any microphone will work. Decide what sound you want, research mic types and go for it. If you go with a ribbon, there...