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DIY Record Cutting Lathe Is Really Groovy

DIY Record Cutting Lathe Is Really Groovy

Back in the day, one of the few reasons to prefer compact cassette tape to vinyl was the fact you could record it at home in very good fidelity. Sure, if you had the scratch, you could go out and get a small batch of records made from that tape, but the machinery to do it was expensive and not always easy to come by, depending where you lived. That goes double today, but we’re in the middle of a vinyl renaissance! [ronald] wanted to make records, but was unable to find a lathe, so decided to take matters into his own hands, and build his own vinyl record cutting lathe.

[ronald’s]recordcuttinglathelooksquiteprofessional.Itseemslikeitshouldbeasimpleproblem,atleastinconcept:wiggleanengravingneedletoscratchgroovesinplastic.Ofcourseforastereorecord,thewigglingneedstobetwo-axis,andforstereoHiFiyouneedthatwigglingtobeverypreciseoveraverylargerangeoffrequencies(7Hzto50kHz,tomatchthepros).Thenofcoursethere’sthequestionofhowyou’recontrollingthewigglingofthisengravingneedle.(Inthiscase,it’sthroughaDAC,sotechnicallythisisaCNChack.)Asoftenhappens,onceyouge