Sillitoe Lathes

[Sillitoe]

A huge thank you to George Nikoloudis of Soundtown over here in Perth Western Australia!

http://www.soundtown.com.au

This week I ordered the parts for his lathe, the first One!

His patronage enables this project to move from the research and development phase into production model reality.

Lathe options, specifications, pricing and website coming in the next couple of months.

Follow progress here and on the new Sillitoe Lathes Instagram account.
https://instagram.com/p/BDhrGKvEH7Q/

Cheers
James

[Skint]

Well done James - exciting times!

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

[Sillitoe]

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Cheers Skint!
Lots of parts arriving now

[Sillitoe]

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Dynamic head with tweaked eq and some touches from a hf limiter (-2dB max).
1kHz tone at 7cm/sec.

Dopped chip in the middle of the track, hence the head lift... drop.

Great test track, I didn't cut the intro (out of phase stuff) because I haven't re-calibrated the depth magnet for my (much lighter) head just yet.
The cut doesn't do the song, mix or mastering justice but it shows that the head is ok.

I should be able to get the stereo and channel separation a fair bit wider in future builds.

Note- My crappy playback chain is heavy on the right channel I need to finish the boards that I'm building and get a nice tonearm/ cart mounted.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/oxaw8hco1fhixwv/my%20head.aif?dl=0

Cheers
James

[tragwag]

great progress! really looking forward to everything that comes in the future.
head looks great as well!

[Sillitoe]

Thank you Tragwag!!!
That last cut was on a Myshank black 7inch at 45rpm, lamp heat at about 40C on the disc.

The track is a remastered version from the Bad 2001 special edition release.

Cheers
James

[sakuszi]

Sillitoe, the sound is sensational! What do you use to cut the head? I did a little analysis of this signal, in general there is no background noise plate, below 30 Hz and above 13 kHz? Correlation phase is excellent! The recording sounds just as good as the original recording! Im very impressed ! Thanks !

[Sillitoe]

Cheers Sakuszi,
The cut is really not like the original, it lacks width and definition.

The playback system that I used to record the disk back into the digital domain is quite poor- the right channel is louder so the correlation is off centre.
Check out the original track on a scope, it is absolutely amazing!
I am quite pleased with the results so far.

Cheers
James

[sakuszi]

a lot depends on the original signal. I still Stockfish record , because that is my point of reference is the sound different sounds, voice, music, musical instruments, the sound of a vinyl record, the work of the German machine.
I have some problems with the sound, it is 1.3 kHz - 35dB resonates at a fairly low noise, but it is audible.
The bar is quite high, it is difficult to jump to 0 dB, above the head goes up in smoke coil drive 10 seconds 1.2 A + 3dB, and again the day job

[Sillitoe]

Haha, that's why I named this head "Smokestack Lightning"...
I need to build some with more precision, then run tests to determine their power handling.

Soon feedback also...

[recordboy]

Very exciting progress.

cheers

[Sillitoe]

Yes, very exciting!!! Thanks Recordboy!

So I adjusted the antiskate playback is a little better now haha.

I just cut this with all the same signal chain settings and no mechanical adjustments to the Smokestack Lightning head.
(I'm also using 0.5amp fast fuses for protection)
The source file was an iTunes m4a...

Sounding good.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/axizxlc7vsbx0mf/Herecomethekings.aif?dl=0

Cheers
James

[Sillitoe]

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Seems like the SP10MK2 likes the sound, steady grinning at 33.3rpm.

[Sillitoe]

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Thanks for the new boards Flo!!!

Smokestack Lightning cutterhead experiments continuing For a couple of different versions.

Also nearly finished the Wayne Kirkwood phono transfer system and elliptical eqs. Just waiting on some components.
Cheers Wayne!!!

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Cheers
James

[Sillitoe]

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I've been losing my mind finishing my technical drawings over the last couple of weeks... Many many measurements!

I'll be able to post pricing once I get quotes on machining.

All the other parts for the first build have arrived.
Updates soon!

Cheers
James

[Sillitoe]

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Digitally controlled analog Sillitoe Lathes logo.

[Skint]

Love it! The logo marries the digital and analogue perfectly.

[Sillitoe]

Love it! The logo marries the digital and analogue perfectly.

As does the lathe
Cheers Skint!

[analoghifi]

James Great job brother, Ive been getting my updates here and I gotta say Im pretty much amped myself! Keep up the good work !

[Sillitoe]

Cheers Kev!

Technical drawings are now with the machinist so I should have the parts in a week or two.
Then I'll put it all together and post some videos and options...

I've made 5 more heads and am currently working on a feedback version with complete analog chain.
The dynamic versions are performing well with FabFilter correction.

Cheers
James