Marathon for the development of a DIY cutter in 20 days (and the opening of the first record cutting service in Ukraine)

[diy_cutter]

Hi all!

This post is more of a topic reservation, as while I helped my wife to put the children to bed (the youngest is not yet 2 weeks old) - today 03/03/2023 is coming to an end. This is important because I allocated exactly 20 days for the process of creating a workable stereo recorder in order to officially present the first recording service in Ukraine on 03/23/2023. I nurtured this idea for more than 10 years, changed my place of residence several times and now I am here - Kyiv, Ukraine. Initially, all this was planned to start exactly a year ago, but the war began. But now is not about that…

In this topic, I will carefully document the entire process of the next 20 days, and naturally at the end of this, it will become clear whether I succeeded in my plan. I will immediately note most of the nuances and I will be extremely honest with you. I plan this project as a charity project (at least in part), because I want to make another contribution to the development of the economy of my country, as well as help the victims of this war.

I have a business and a source of income. It is not related to recording records, but it is related to various machines (I have a small tool shop with lathes, CNC, laser cutters, coil winders and transformers, etc.), high-precision mechanics and electronics service (there are many electronic equipment, oscilloscopes, generators, microscopes, etc.), sharpening equipment and much more. In general, I have all the opportunities and resources to do this. One thing is not enough - time! I am the father of four children !

I have already collected a lot to start building the cutter. I will be documenting this in detail as I plan to make at least 3 variants of stereo heads, test them, make mechanics and other stages. At the output in twenty days, I want to get a working device that can cut records in stereo for money. I will also carefully record my expenses. I will buy spare parts and components as locally as possible, in my country.

Perhaps someone will remember, but once I already started building a DIY cutter - https://www.lathetrolls.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3641

But then there were many different events in life that did not allow everything to be completed. I really count on your support, I am very inspired by many respected trolls of this forum. Below I will post a photo of what I have at home in order to start prototyping tomorrow (immediately after visiting the dentist ). More at work

[diy_cutter]

The first day is practical . At work, I have allocated a place for future experiments. A Numark TT200 player was brought there with a torque of 1.6 kg / cm, which is not much, but enough for research. We quickly mounted the cutting part from the collectible RCA type 72A (1935-1937 release) on a makeshift pedestal and wanted to check the embossing on its monohead, but ... it turned out to be inoperative. The resistance on the coil was 8th, but after disassembling it became clear that time (almost 90 years) did not spare. We decided to restore it later and that will be a different story. The ordered speakers arrived at the sale Boschmann MM5 tweeters (the price is about $ 5 per pair) and tomorrow we will start manufacturing two versions of the heads: on vibration speakers and on tweeters. In the process, we had to quickly turn out two parts - a bushing for the transition to the turntable drive shaft and a cartridge to hold the cutting part (we used a vice to raise it). A number of different plastics were also ordered: black and transparent polycarbonate TM Borrex 2mm (Serbia), SOTON (Ukraine), Palsun (Israel), as well as PETG transparent 1mm from Plapet-G (unknown manufacturer). We will also make a tungsten chisel and test it with sapphire and ruby. That's all for today - good night!

[jjwharris]

I didn't realise Palsun was from Israel, it's the same brand Peter King used, and I thought it was a rebranded local sheet.

I'm excited to follow your progress!

[diy_cutter]

I didn't realise Palsun was from Israel, it's the same brand Peter King used, and I thought it was a rebranded local sheet.

I'm excited to follow your progress!

Thank you for your support, I have already found a supplier with a full range of Palsun polycarbonate (they are the official importer in our country). Let's take each type on a sheet and check how they will be in cutting.

Unfortunately, yesterday was not spent as effectively as planned (due to the fact that it was necessary to take a relative to the hospital). But we were preparing for the upcoming fun and preparing the components. 10 tungsten electrodes were purchased (5 pieces of pure tungsten and 5 pieces with the addition of lanthanum). The speakers have been prepared, all unnecessary plastic has been removed from the Boschmann MM5 tweeters (the head on these speakers will be as compact as possible). PETG plastic sheet and polycarbonate arrived, but the supplier forgot to send Palsun 1mm polycarbonate. We are waiting for someone at the end of the week. Those sheets of plastic that have already been received tomorrow will be cut on our CNC into round blanks for test cutting. Unfortunately, not a single head is ready yet, but we are actively preparing the components.

[tragwag]

following with lots of interest!
best of luck and the warmest possible support to you

[diy_cutter]

following with lots of interest!
best of luck and the warmest possible support to you

Thanks for support. It is very important for us !

I must say right away that preparatory work is still going on. Assembly of the first prototype head and cutting is scheduled for tomorrow. Today we prepared components for the head, machined aluminum cones (reduced their weight to 0.1 g), and also cut sheets of plastic into round blanks (12 and 10 inches). At some point, our machine failed and we had to stop work for a couple of hours. However, we had something to do). While the guys were "conjuring" over the mechanics of the machine and sharpening parts, I went to get my daughter's birth certificate. Below are the results in the form of photographs. I am also filming a video that I will edit by 03/23/23 to show the process of our labors.

From one square meter, 9 blanks of 12 inches are obtained. We managed to make from polycarbonate: 9 black 2 mm thick, 18 transparent 2 mm each. From a PETG sheet measuring 1250x2050 mm and 1 mm thick, 16 pieces of 12 inches and 10 pieces of 10 inches were obtained. Let me remind you that we are still waiting for Palsun polycarbonate.

[farmersplow]

Great job! I am already curious how it continues

[diy_cutter]

Great job! I am already curious how it continues

Thank you! You, like many trolls, inspire me a lot!

So my report

I am constantly dissatisfied with the progress of our preparatory work, because. I always feel like everything is going too slow. In part, this was influenced by yesterday's shelling and long air raids (during alarms, everything stops).

Today we have not received the long-awaited polycarbonate from Palsun. Expected early next week. We scheduled a test cut for Monday, we haven't done some of the details yet. There was an attempt to carve a solid aluminum cone with a part of the reinforcement, but then we decided to make them composite. We have achieved low weight and high strength. They also began to print the head frame for the prototype. Tomorrow (but without me) the guys will grind some of the elements and make cutters from tungsten. We have ordered many more items that will end up as components in the final version of our recorder. The first version of the head is based on the Souri design, with tweeters and no V-spring. It looks like the simplest and most effective. I have doubts about the speakers, maybe they will be low-power (normal magnet, not neodymium).

[tragwag]

cones look great!

[diy_cutter]

cones look great!

Thank you, we mill them on a lathe. Material - aluminum. They immediately tried to make them whole, the cones along with part of the reinforcement, but after a couple were broken, they decided to make them composite. Separately, the cone, separately - the guide fittings.

I am just as dissatisfied with today's working day as I was with the previous one. I realized that the Boschmann MM5 speakers, despite the titanium cones, will not give us good results due to ordinary magnets (not neodymium). Therefore, today the prototype of the head was urgently converted to vibrodynamics. I was interested in exploring the concept that our colleague described in detail - grooveguy. But the head design would be without the V-spring, but like Souri on the Vinylrecorder. Yes, that's how I wanted it!

We carved the transition from the vibrodynamics, but we were busy with it for a long time and I had to return home. But I still ordered other tweeters with a titanium diffuser and a neodymium magnet, for some more experiments. Here they are - Boschmann MM-1SE. I do not give links to local Ukrainian sites, but I think you can find them by the model if necessary. The price is about 15 euros for a pair.

I also bought aluminum in strips and angle, also for future experiments. Strip sizes 70*5 and 80*3 mm, corner 80*3. Tomorrow we will continue work)

[diy_cutter]

Yesterday. I didn't have time to write yesterday. We have done some of the work on preparing the head. We decided to make a Souri-style spring in our own way, through silicone dampers. The tool holder was also machined from aluminum. We make the entire structure as collapsible as possible. An attempt to glue on cyanoacrylate with soda failed. The entire drive structure had to be raised by 30 mm, because. the dimensions of the stereo head are larger than those of the mono version. We move the cutting to tomorrow.

[jjwharris]

I've been having very weird responses with silicone dampeners in my mono heads, seems to cut out a big chunk of response - might be something to consider. It disappeared when I went back to neoprene, but next on my try list is soft urethane...

But yeah, I've attached an image of the response with the silicone damper and marked the bit it killed. Not saying it will happen to you, as I didn't really look into it that much, but I'd be pretty interested if something similar shows up with you!

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It's the 4khz - 10khz bit.

[diy_cutter]

I've been having very weird responses with silicone dampeners in my mono heads, seems to cut out a big chunk of response - might be something to consider. It disappeared when I went back to neoprene, but next on my try list is soft urethane...

Thanks for the hint. We have not yet received decent results, primarily due to the unfinished suspension and urgently began to redo all the mechanics. It turned out that the rare overhead RCA 72-A with normal rotation of the player's motor (clockwise) shifted from the inside to the outside. Completely the opposite. We realized this only during the first sea trials. There was no time and desire to develop with the direction. And the deadlines are running out (((. It was decided to order a normal precision linear guide with a servo drive and make the right suspension. We will continue all work from March 21, because March 20 is my beloved Dena's birthday. This day I will be with my family.We will have 2 days left for revision and on 03/23/2023 - start! Or an epic failure? Of course everything will work out! I believe in my team!

By the way, we tried to make a record, but because of the wrong suspension, the head flew up. We received sound and even stereo, but I won’t exhibit it yet)

[diy_cutter]

Other tweeters from Boschmann arrived, model MM-1SE, with a titanium dome and neodymium magnets, the price is about 15 euros per pair. They have a larger diameter of the working part of the dome, so today they cut out new cones from duralumin, they will also be composite, so that you can adjust the length. The rods from the cone will be brass tubes with a diameter of 2 mm, an inner diameter of 1.6 mm. They are very light.

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[diy_cutter]

Hi all . Tomorrow is the last day of our 20 day Marathon and today was a very busy day. We don't have a working machine yet, but I'm totally positive! In spite of everything, I am sure that tomorrow we will make a wonderful test cut. And we will be able to announce our opening ... Or will we postpone everything for a month? To hell ! Everything will be tomorrow!

So to business! Report on previous days:

03/20/2023 was my wife's birthday and exactly a month since my daughter was born (my fourth favorite child). I went out for a short time to receive an order for a 40x40mm aluminum profile, which was purchased by 6m and immediately cut to size for two future cutter prototypes. Ah, I forgot to say! We decided not to reinvent the wheel and do it like everyone else)

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03/21/2023, we assembled the frame and realized that we lacked rigidity due to the lack of some fasteners. It was successfully ordered, but we will be able to receive it only the next day. We also fixed a linear guide that we bought with a servo motor, but without a controller. We realized that we would not be able to start it and decided to temporarily change the servomotor to a stepper motor by connecting it through the DM542 driver (we had 4 of them in stock) and an autonomous generator, hastily assembled. The step was made as small as possible and everything worked quite quietly. But in the end, we will replace all this with a servomotor.

In the process, I had to print another adapter plate for the motor due to an inappropriate mount.

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03/22/2023 - we made preparations for assembling a new stereo head, or rather two. Also unexpectedly came a package with speakers. The tweeters had to be made with threaded adapter plates so that they could be smoothly attached to the head body. MM-1SE do not have a threaded center hole at the back and this is inconvenient for mounting. A new stylus holder and new armature were also made. Everything is tighter and lighter.

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At the end of the day, we put all the elements on the glue and left some of the elements to print on a 3D printer overnight.

We also bought a QSC GX3 amplifier that Steven (MyShank) recommended for his head, but we thought it would be useful to us, especially since it cost us almost new $180, which is well below its price.

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Tomorrow at the end of the day I will leave a message about what we got and post a recording of our cut. Peace for everyone!

[diy_cutter]

So the deadline has arrived! 03/23/2023. Beautiful date, under which I customized everything. Looking ahead, I will say that a miracle did not happen and today we did not record anything, but we did a lot. Technically, we can't record records yet, but we can already take orders. Therefore, we launched Instagram and the website (put a stub) and set new, more realistic deadlines. The main thing that we realized during the development process is that we need more time for experiments. Despite the huge amount of information on this forum, almost all the information is scattered. At the end of our experiment, I will try to describe everything carefully. We are constantly filming videos and taking photos.

Today we have prepared the suspension, but we are trying to make many elements a little in our own way. Something else is still not in metal, but in 3D printed models. We are not satisfied with the rigidity and quality. At some point, our 3D printer went crazy and had to be prevented. To fix the speakers, we made threaded adapter plates, centered them and glued them to the epoxy. But the main reason was the problem with the speakers, or rather with their quality. Almost all double sets had defects and played differently. At the last moment, when we were gathering head on Boschmann's tweets today, we realized that the diffusers were not only glued crookedly, but also badly glued. Perhaps we got such a kit, but there was no desire to assemble it on obviously problematic speakers. We disassemble them and we will assemble them correctly.

Otherwise, I decided to take another 30 days to complete the project. The next beautiful date is 04/23/2023. To be continued!

Our website - www.VinyloRez.com
Instagram - http://instagram.com/VinyloRez.Ua

[tragwag]

cheers! what a great project, and so fun to see the progress

[farmersplow]

All the best for the "last" day. If you can't make it by tomorrow, give yourself some "extra time". Great report!

[diy_cutter]

Thanks to all watching! Fun is the main thing in this exciting process. Because we will always have time to buy a machine assembly for about 10,000 dollars or euros! But let's skip all the fun of building your own machine. Yesterday and today we are already making the first cuts. The quality is not very decent yet, but there is more useful signal than noise))). We also machine our cutters from tungsten. Tomorrow I will post the digitization of our test cuts !

By the way, we also bought a Vestax PCV-150 mixer)

[diy_cutter]

So we're already recording. In the process of creating the third head, still 3D printed, but on tweeters. We will test tomorrow. We made the first tungsten embossing tool. Surface cleanliness has not yet been achieved, but cutting equipment is on its way to us. The results are average, there is something to work on. As I said, we found that our 2 incisors were broken, both the ruby ​​and the sapphire. Ruby photo below. Andonstar AD407Pro microscope arrived today. A very good microscope for the money, 270x magnification, 7-inch IPS FullHD screen, 2 remote controls, wired and wireless, comfortable stand, adjustable backlight. I am attaching a few photos of it. Hiwin linear guides also arrived, not new, but the price is 10 times cheaper. The condition is normal. KK6005P-200A1-F0 (P Grade), precision series. for future projects).