The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls

Hey, JJW, most commendable progress on this. Thanks for including the MP3 of the source track for comparison; your lathe cut sounds quite promising indeed. I was expecting more of a difference between the cut and the embossing, your embossing stylus geometry must be just about optimum. The embossing...

Very nice, Mr. Inspector! I really like the methodical and well-documented way you have approached this. If the sonic results are at least halfway the equal of the cosmetics, you will have a real winner... and one that can be duplicated by other dedicated Trolls. Many thanks!

Very good, Tasos. While you're at it, you also might consider eliminating the spaces in your email address at the bottom. I'm sure that most seasoned email users know that the @ is not separated fore and aft, but making that footer look more like the one in your icon would be good, I think. I know, ...

Good catch, FP! 18mm is more like it... or, if you're anti-metric, 5/8 to 3/4 inch.

Not sure about you, Angus, but I've tried all manner of modern, 'high-end' expensive cartridges for playback of 78s. I keep reverting to my VR-II. It's nowhere near as compliant, but it sure tracks better and, to me, sounds better than today's cartridges, both for shellac pressings and (for sure!) w...

Hi, Angus! Thanks for sharing this experience, and even more-so thanks for doing this public demo. Chances are you may well have inspired future Trolls! I can't find mention of what speed you were embossing at; the one video on your Facebook page looks like 33-1/3. If so, that's really quite accepta...

That might well work; motors always pull a hunk of power when they're stalled. Alternatively, if that supply can be made variable, it could start out at 4 to 5 volts, which will make the motor turn, and then ramp up to full, or to whatever current the 15A (HA!) supply will put out. Same goes for sho...

Decades ago I was faced with finding a vacuum pump to pull the chip away from my hot stylus. I'd already burned-out my mom's Eureka canister vacuum and needed something to replace it... both my mom's Eureka and one for my own 'smelly experiments,' as she called the delightful aroma of freshly-cut la...

Good info, thanks jjw! I have one of Epos' styli that I just haven't had the time to evaluate yet, but am getting to the point of being able to devote more effort to disc recording and would certainly love to try yours as well. A good number of you embosser-guys have shown very promising results, de...

Wow, that's a find, thanks for posting! We've got to find a replacement for lacquer blanks, but DIYing them seems like an invitation to oblivion... either fire, explosion or poisoning. With the range of plastic sheeting available nowadays, it would seem possible to find some material that can be cut...

That embossing from December sounds remarkable. What stylus and blank was that? Particulars, please. Bravo!

A couple of quick questions for the 'stepper brain trust' if I might. In the cases cited here, is the stepper coupled directly to the leadscrew, or is there either a gear train or belt between the motor and the load? Also, regarding those Zeelo 'vibration dampers,' do they simply isolate motor vibra...

Perhaps we should take a cue from the various mono cutterheads that gave reasonable and predictable results all those years ago. Most had damping very close to the stylus tip; that is, the damping was tightly-coupled (or a low-impedance relationship) with the stylus. Most homebrew stereo cutters uti...

Right you are about that! I tried putting feedback around a Presto 1D once, but most of the feedback came from magnetic coupling with the drive coils. Something like a capacitive pickup would have done better, but the 1D was developed for open-loop service and did pretty well for itself as it came.

Yes, exactly. And that's what I mean by 'holdover.' Actually a sound at that frequency that remains (ringing) after the legitimate sound ends. Generally a term used for bass frequencies where an actual 'tone' can be heard after a drum beat, for example; nevertheless, happens at any frequency and jus...

I think you hit the nail on the head, insofar as the piano wire is concerned. I didn't use piano wire, but a small diameter rod, which (judging by a pink noise test) has its own resonances... and in directions other than the driver is aiming it. I especially like your coupling to the voice coils. Th...

Hello, Estrada, thanks for sharing this. Beautiful work, especially given the restriction of hand tools, and the audio quality seems remarkably good. Do you use as much EQ as in the write-up to achieve these results? Sounds quite smooth, although the stereo 'soundstage' does not appear very wide. As...

Sorry, Jerry, didn't see this earlier. Did you get the beast working? That fuse ought to be a standard-for-the-time 3AG size, about an inch and a quarter long, a quarter-inch nominal diameter. Home Depot has those, they're pretty common. I take it that the tubes aren't even lighting up?

Good reading, MegaMike, thanks for the link. As for a 'historical page,' I thought that's what Steve's Website actually was!

Remarkably good, in my opinion. Seems to track well (no skipping) even though the groove is probably pretty shallow. Good work; keep us updated for sure!