The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls

Karl Welty · Joined: 12 Nov 2007 Posts: 22

Hi,

Newbie to the group. So... asking the same newbie question you've heard a thousand times. Someone may discretly direct me to the answer, FAQ, or archive where this might be found.

Presto cutting styli ? I have a J10, am thinking up upgrading to a 6N system, and need supplies. I have a limited number of blanks already.

Will a Recordio saphyre stylus fit in the chuck of a Audax J10 cutter ?

Or... does anyone make Presto styli as one-off's ?

Help ?

Thanks,

Karl

JayDC · Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 4:58 pm Post subject:

you cen get the stylus at transco. I think you want the #462

Karl Welty · Joined: 12 Nov 2007 Posts: 22

Howdy,

Thanks for the information. My search for Trasco links back around to apollo. Apollo doesnt list any styli other than for Neumann or Westrex cutters.

Is there a secret decoder ring I need to view #462 ?

Am I looking at the wrong links ?

Thanks,

Doug 6N · Joined: 21 May 2007 Posts: 66 Location: Washington

I'm not sure if the Audak is long or short shank. #462 is the long shank.

Anyway Apollo has purchased Transco. I was told by Apollo that it may be a few weeks before the Transco styli are available. I was they do plan to sell them. Blanks are available also.

Hope this helps. Smile

Doug

Karl Welty · Joined: 12 Nov 2007 Posts: 22

Heya,

Yes, that makes sense... I will muddle through in the meantime.

I do know that my attempt at creating a stylus (version one) was a good learning experience.

Took an Edison needle, ground a cutting face with my dremel, ground a couple of facets... and it carved its way through my first ever blank. Many many dB bellow the surface noise you could make out the song... if you were familiar with it to begin with. All of this blind... grind, look under magnification, go back and grind, look at it again. Hey... that it did anything should count for something.

Shant be wasting anymore blanks until I have a proper stylus.

So in the meantime, I shall pester ya'll with all manner of questions.

A long shank stylus cuts a groove with more amplitude, but at the expense of high freq response... yes ?

Karl

Doug 6N · Joined: 21 May 2007 Posts: 66 Location: Washington

Hi Karl:

I admire your cutting stylus creativity. Smile

Back when the world and I were young. I tried to make a cylinder record from candle wax drippings and used a pin on the end of a cup to cut the thing. Needless to say the results were less then admirable. Very Happy

Before you get you new stylus. I'd see if someone has a good NOS Stylus or a used one that still has some life left just for practice. Smile

Nothing like wrecking a $75 stylus on the first try. And I bet we've all done it. Very Happy

I know I have. Smile

Long or Short Shank. Either one is fine depending on what the cutter requires. Just don't use them interchangeably. That is a "Big" No! No! Smile

Doug

JayDC · Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 10:49 pm Post subject:

OH CRAP.. That totally sucks, I needed to order from transco this week. I need a couple styli, I'm down to my last one. Transco plates where never as good as apollo, apollo's lacquer sounds better. The last transco plate I cut, had a dip in the middle, which made my stylus hit the ALU. I guess it was really my fault for not inspecting the plate before cutting it, but I thought there was a bit of Q.C.

my questions are:
when will I be able to order my #462's?
how can this not be considered a monopoly?

as far as I know there where 2 companies manufacturing acetate disc's for recording. This is like PEPSI buying out COKE! Do we need to contact the FTC?

Doug 6N · Joined: 21 May 2007 Posts: 66 Location: Washington

Hi Jay:

Just give Apollo a call. As I remember from my conversation with them last week. That the styli should be coming in soon. I ordered one at the time along with some blanks.

As far a monopoly goes hardly. There is really not much demand for blanks and styli in the whole scheme of things. Frankly I was surprised to find out this items were even still manufactured. Anyone can go into the business of manufacturing these. But they might starve to death in the process. Very Happy

I used to get styli resharpened. There were several companies that did that years ago and there were several manufactures of blanks. It'ts all gone.

We are dealing with a technology that is now in limited use. As in any item there needs to be a demand for someone else to supply. And we all like to make a buck too. Very Happy

Doug

Karl Welty · Joined: 12 Nov 2007 Posts: 22

Heya,

We had the same fears when Ampex bailed their audio tape division. That was a sad day. We speculated that boutique smaller companies would probably buy up the slitting and machining tools needed for creating tape... slury formula and the proper oxide mixes. But it was a dark day when analog tape had no new stock manufacturers.

One can now buy new stock again, but at a substantially higher price. I cant afford to run 2" anymore, sold the Scully, have to give up the dream of an MM1200, and be reasonably happy with 1" 8-track and my various 2-track and mono machines for "tape sound" and then transfer the mess into digital. Or use them for bounces. I'd much rather do all my work on large format analog... but such are the economics.

Tape can be erased, and except for the last 3 dB difference between random scatter and bulk erased... well... tape can be used again.

These discs however... not so much... unless they could be stripped after use and re-lacquered. Didnt Presto (or one of the other companies) have a program like this during WW-II ? Send them your used discs and they'd recycle them ? Was that to recoat them, or to use the metal towards the war effort ?

Heads can be lapped, styli can be sharpened. Ultimately the head wears to non-use, likewise with styli.

But I'm sorry... cutting a lacquer is way more fun than burning a CDR. IMO.

Karl

Viewmaster · Joined: 16 Oct 2007 Posts: 12 Location: UK