The farmer and his plow - When I set out to build a record cutter

[Mark Thompson]

After all this, are you still married to the same woman? If so, you better purchase a nice gift for her!

[newcross]

thank you for the excellent write up! im interested in hearing how it goes moving forward! keep us posted please!

[farmersplow]

THX

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your participation! I would like to note that this is very important to me because I have been working on the project for over a year and have no contacts. Unfortunately, my close environment is not familiar with this matter at all.And yes, I still have the same woman by my side. Although she sometimes gets impatient and doesn't find all the stuff lying around very pretty, she still stands by me.And even though I've never seen a proper record cutter in the flesh, I'm optimistic (by nature).

[farmersplow]

2022_03 Cutting tests with the new diamond stylus

The time has come. The diamond stylus is installed and the first tests begin. To be more precise, I have only made a few test cuts.
Reason:
While I was still waiting for the diamond, I did several tests with the Caruso board. Thereby there were several times feedbacks what had led to the death of four loudspeakers. Although I had mounted fuses with a safety circuit on the speakers (the fuses and the speakers died).

Endstufe Vorwiderstand Sicherung.png

Since one speaker went up in smoke after every other attempt with the diamond stylus (especially when I recorded a bit louder with higher frequencies), I gave up on this cutterhead.

I built a new Cutterhead with larger speakers.

[farmersplow]

2022_03 Cutting tests with the new diamond stylus


Nevertheless I would like to show the results:

First picture: cutting test with different frequencies in the range from 1kHz. The result is sobering. High background noise (the extraction works only partially and the contact pressure is also too high). Positively I see only that a stereo effect (left right channel distinction) is recognizable.

The frequencies one after the other:
1kHz stereo; left; right;
2kHz stereo; left; right;
4kHz stereo; left; right;
10kHz stereo; left; right;
12.5kHz stereo; left; right;
16kHz stereo; left; right;

2022_02 cutted diff frequences high stereo left right.jpg

2022_01 cutted Frequenzes high.png

I recorded the signal (as mp3 - because the quality is not very good anyway):

2022_01 cutted Frequence Test high stereo left right.mp3

[farmersplow]

Further results:

Second image: cutting test with different frequencies in the range up to 1kHz. The result is sobering. High background noise (the extraction only works partially and the contact pressure is also too high). Positively I see only that a stereo effect (left right channel distinction) is recognizable.

The frequencies one after the other:
250Hz stereo; left; right
125Hz stereo; left; right;
100Hz stereo; left; right;
80Hz stereo; left; right;
63Hz stereo; left; right;
31.5Hz stereo; left; right;
20Hz stereo; left; right;
16Hz stereo; left; right;

2022_02 cutted diff frequences.jpg

2022_01 cutted Frequenzes low.png

I recorded the signal (as mp3 - because the quality is not very good anyway):

2022_01 cutted Frequence Test low stereo left right.mp3

[farmersplow]

Third & Fourth Image:

Attempt to cut with music (Green Day). Also sobering. High background noise:
"Normal recording volume" & "Overdriven recording volume".

Sometimes the suction works, sometimes not. I still have to work on that!

2022_03 cutted Green Day 04.jpg

2022_03 cutted Green Day 05.jpg

I recorded the signal (mp3):

2022_01 cutted Green Day 04.mp3

2022_01 cutted Green Day 05.mp3

And a short Video of the cutterhead during recording:

20220312_155533.mp4

[farmersplow]

2022_04 CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW CUTTERHEAD

So I decided to build a new, better cutterhead! - This time with the resonant speakers and V-spring.




2022_04 The speakers

For the resonant speakers, I first had to solve the problem of replacing the hard metal ring (which centers the coil) with something softer.
To do this, I first detached the coil from the metal ring. This can be done quite easily by putting the part into an acetone bath (nail polish remover). Attention. Only the metal part, the coil itself should not be in the acetone!

20220317_223143.jpg

A short video of the process:

2022_03_17 Spule von Lautsprecher entfernen.mp4

In the next step, I cut a speaker spider from an old speaker and glued it to the coil (epoxy resin). I then put the coil (centered) back into the speaker and glued the outer edge.

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After that I quickly made two carbon cones (this time without holes like in a Swiss cheese), which I again glued to the coil body.

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[farmersplow]

2022_04 The lighting

Of course, this cutterhead also needs lighting! I have cast the LED's again in epoxy resin:

(you see already, epoxy resin has become my friend and companion).

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[farmersplow]

2022_05 The case of the Cutterhead 2

Unfortunately I didn't have much time in April.
But in May I was able to mill the aluminum parts for my case with my small milling machine:

20220515_114214.jpg

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[farmersplow]

2022_05 The torque tube with V-spring

Friends, I can tell you, building a torque tube like this is pretty difficult! But I finally got it together.
First of all, the correct drilling angle for the stylus has to be taken into account, as well as the later angle in which the tube is positioned. Accordingly, the "cross cut" must be made at the front to hang the speakers. In addition, the inclusion of the V-spring and the retaining wire at the rear.
I was close to despair, because my little cutter had to cope with it (- that's all I have).

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[farmersplow]

2022_05 Assembling the cutterhead 2

This is then the nicer and more satisfying part of the job. Put all parts together!

Some holes are already a preparation for the magnetic field isolation and the feedback coils. But first the head has to work without these additions.
A big monster the thing has already become. In contrast, the first cutterhead was really dainty.

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20220619_134830 Cutterhead eingebaut.png

I don't know what you guys think about this? I like my cutting head and I think if it sounds as good as it looks, then it's all good. (You see, I am proud of it).

[farmersplow]

2022_05 Cutting trials with the new Cutterhead 2

Finally, the new cutterhead is ready. I installed it right away. I have some concerns about the quite stiff speaker spiders (can the coil move sufficiently? Especially at high frequencies?).
How the results look like, I will report soon.

To be continued.

Greetings from Austria
Thomas

[PMST]

Absolutely brilliant thread and excited to read more!

[inspector77]

Incredible work, inspiring, thanks for sharing

[drdub]

Hey Thomas,

really interesting project - seems like your in it big time with a lot of effort.
Thanks for the ideas with the adhesion mat and the temperature controlled reptile heating lamp!

If you wann see some cutters and get inspiration - make sure to stop by at cutting studio in austria/fieberbrunn.
It would be really interesting to drink a beer with you and talk about your ideas/knowledge and you can take a look at our vinyl studios running daily.

-Markus from Dr. Dub

[farmersplow]

Hey Thomas,

really interesting project - seems like your in it big time with a lot of effort.
Thanks for the ideas with the adhesion mat and the temperature controlled reptile heating lamp!

If you wann see some cutters and get inspiration - make sure to stop by at cutting studio in austria/fieberbrunn.
It would be really interesting to drink a beer with you and talk about your ideas/knowledge and you can take a look at our vinyl studios running daily.

-Markus from Dr. Dub

Hallo Markus, es freut mich, dass ich jemanden wie dich noch inspirieren kann. Ich hatte im vorigen Jahr verzweifelt nach Rohlingen gesucht, um meine ersten Schnitte machen zu können. Niemand hatte auf meine Anfragen reagiert. Nur euer Team von Dr. Dub hat mir zurückgeschrieben. Obwohl ihr selber wenig auf Lager hattet, habt ihr mir zehn Rohlinge verkauft - ich war überglücklich und konnte starten! - Das vergesse ich nie! Danke dafür.

Auf ein Bier komme ich gerne - und so eine Schneidemaschine in Natura zu sehen - bei der Arbeit wäre echt toll! Vielen Dank für die Einladung. Tirol liegt nicht gerade um's Eck, aber ich versuche eine Möglichkeit zu Finden bald zu kommen. Da melde ich mich noch vorher bei dir.
Liebe Grüße aus Wien - Thomas

[farmersplow]

Absolutely brilliant thread and excited to read more!

THX

[farmersplow]

Incredible work, inspiring, thanks for sharing

THX

[farmersplow]

2022_05 PAUSE

Thank you for your interest in the post. I was also very inspired by this forum last year and could take many details from other contributions. Therefore, I feel the need to give something back.

Unfortunately I had to go to the hospital for two weeks in May and then my dog died at the beginning of June after 14 years of faithful companionship. This has slowed me down a bit in my enthusiasm. (Today it goes already again).