The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls

This is great!

We've had a lot of requests from customers on how to build our vacuum system, so we've made a guide on our blog. Low power, low noise, and straightforward to put together. We sell them, but we're equally happy to help you DIY. Follow just the vacuum section if you already have a chip jar, or keep re...

Great guide. Very informative :) I knew the subject was niche, but the availability of machines and parts seems to be a huge thing. I'm surprised there aren't more manufacturers out there. Just not enough demand because everything is digital? There is definitely enough demand, the issue is firstly ...

Groove depth, id have to check but not sure how to, as i’ve never had to! Yeah but something has changed, so it is good practice to measure your grooves, that way you can rule everything out methodically one thing at a time, otherwise there are too many variables. Over the years of VR support work ...

What is your groove depth measuring? Also what is the humidity around the lathe? It's good to check those two things first to rule them out (on in!). Checking groove depth is crucial, as using anything mechanical, calibration can go out of whack even at varying times of year depending on heat, and h...

That photo looks like the cover of a film you’d cut the soundtrack to!

In terms of the groove itself, that will cut regardless of audio. So likely best to start unmodulated and get to audio afterwards. For now let’s get cutting nice silent grooves. If it’s skimming the top of the blank it’s definitely a weight issue. If your counterweight is set anywhere around 45g, th...

With calibration of what is being sent to the head itself, your audio is likely going through the Main Unit, so if you take a reading, it must be after the Main Unit. Either that or go for a feedforward system and map your cutterhead, then your pre-emphasis is done in the DAW and then you can take a...

Just seen your order, thanks! Those look like modulated grooves, calibration should be with unmodulated grooves (no audio), either that or its just skating the surface and causing ripples. Just to make sure i understand correctly, you calibrated playback to 0 VU, but how did you calibrate what is be...

Great! Good to see more suppliers across different continents

Fixed & working. For others that might have this issue in the future : if this break occurs there is a very small amount of room to re-attach the 12 gauge cables to the motor (and it is a very large gauge wire to try and solder in a small space) the motor connections heat up much quicker than the w...

Great! Good to see more community events with lathes. So many people would love to see it and never get the chance

Can you hear the motor at all? Just wondering if it could be something simple like the locking nut on the end of the feedscrew is loose which will mean the motor doesn’t turn the feedscrew. The stylus heating light doesn’t come on unless overloading, however the motor light will illuminate when swit...

We have made 16" in the past, it's a custom job but we have done it a few times. Head weight is just a rough guide, all that is important is groove depth. So feel free to set it by weight, but measure the groove depth (by measuring the width) and adjust as needed. You can set whatever depth you like...

Usually with PETG and a diamond a groove width of 50 microns (2 mil) to 70 microns (2.75 mil) is recommended, but you can definitely cut 100 microns (4 mil) The depth is set by you by adding more head weight, however if cutting 78rpm theres more chance of stylus damage due to the blank spinning much...

It’s definitely missing a human, we know (via a friend) of someone who’s had to cancel their entire release after getting extremely low quality cuts, bad fidelity, low volume and noisey. I assume a human didn’t listen back to that. Just seen on their instagram loads of terrible comments, seems the l...

zdenda.jircik wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 01, 2026 9:26 am

I like your blog work, It is really fount of wisdom.

Likewise! Threads like this add so much to the community. Sharing images and info, the good and the bad, all really helpful!

Ignore my previous post, just realised you meant aligning the stylus to the torque tube!

Hi All, I have a question. I think about how to align correctly styli to a tube bar. I have 320 styli type. Styli should be aligned perpendicular to the groove. How to check it? I've seen Thomas's laser, but not sure if I want it. I have some news: IMG_3530.JPEG Cutter head V1 from 3D print. I trie...

We can’t speak for others, but our blanks are PETG, totally safe to handle. If using a lathe there’s oil and lubricants too, but also all safe to handle. PETG is FDA approved, and rigid until 60 to 80 degrees centigrade, even then in would only deform. 200 degrees centigrade and it would start to de...