Vanrock with sapphire

[Knights101]

Hi!

I've been embossing on my Vanrock with a sapphire. Getting good sounds now, but for the sapphire to bed in and stop hissing I had to emboss (and throw away) around 10-12 polycarbonate discs before the noise/hissing went away.
Is this something I need to accept each time I change my sapphire? Or can I work around it somehow?

Is it possible to emboss the same polycarb disc a few times, so I don't have to throw so many in the bin?

Thanks!
James

[piaptk]

Are these my RecordLatheParts.com sapphires? If so, they should break in in less than 10 min. My guess is that there is a problem with weight or angle or setup. Email me and I will help you dial it in. Mike

[Knights101]

Yes Mike! Thanks for this. I'll give the new one 10 mins when it arrives and see where we're at then.
Maybe it was just that first sapphire I used and a freak event.
Cheers!

[Knights101]

Am I right in thinking when embossing with sapphires on a Vanrock, that heating the polycarbonate isn't all that neccessary?
I can't hear a difference with or without...
Thank you all!

[Knights101]

Hi all, I've been getting some really good results with using my Sapphire stylus with the Vanrock. However I'm encountering two problems now.

1.After about 1-2hrs of use, when cutting, my machine starts making a high pitched scraping sound which is hard to tell where it's coming from. This sound transfers to the records when you play them back.
2. I'm only getting around 100-120 sides (50-60 polycarbonate) records worth of cutting time from one sapphire cutting stylus before it runs out.
Should I be getting more than this?

At present I am embossing. Adding around 15g of weight to the cutting head. Any less weight and the grooves aren't deep/reliable enough.

THANKS AGAIN!
James

[digitalkulcha]

Hi James,

Did you manage to figure this out? I am having the exact same issue. Ordered a new Diamond stylus and i also get that sound. I am almost giving up on the ATOM. Stylus is from Myshank.com with Yamadan's heating tool kit.
http://1taru-recordings.blogspot.com/2021/08/atom.html

Regards,