The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls

Nice SEM images! Can you tell me or point me to more about "the rip and drag process". It seems to me that this must not be endemic (as "stick-slip" is for violin playing) given the smoothness of the walls in the first image in your nice reference but does appear in the third and fifth images. Also ...

Left Chl Groove Wall (003).jpg, attached, is a photo of the left channel of a test record. Does anyone know why the striations running vertically in this view are there? Are they endemic to LPs in general? What do they sound like on playback?

Fantastic. Thanks so much! I have learned a lot. E.g., breakage is the main mode of failure with age.

Man. Thanks! Goldmine. From where is ruby_stylus_D abstracted, so I can read the rest? It gives a direct qualitative answer to my quantitative question: "the stylus cuts a groove length of 1.4 km long, slowly wearing out and *dulling* the cutting edge". Is it reasonable to interpret "dulling" as inc...

Thank you! My comparison was between the *tip* of an AFM stylus where there is a 2D radius and the (45deg) *edge* of a cutting stylus where there is a 1D radius. I.e., I was not comparing tip to tip. Apologies! Referring to http://www.discolathe.com/.pdfs/cutting%20styli/replacing_styli.jpg, what do...

Thanks so much! This answer hits a number of nails on their heads. My question was misguided in the sense that the burnishing facet reduces the relevance of the question substantially if not to zero. I am an applied physicist and metrologist who listens avidly to LPs. I come from the perspective exp...

Thanks so much! Does anyone know the radius on the cutting edge between the face and the burnishing facet, perpendicular to that edge for new and used styli? In http://www.discolathe.com/.pdfs/cutting%20styli/ruby_stylus_D.jpg it is shown as a slightly obtuse angle with an infinitesimal radius which...

What is the radius of curvature of the cutting edges of new and used cutting styli?