Has anyone made a machine of any type from scratch?

[Inigo]

I tried that too, the paper cone with a needle, but only for reproducing records, and it worked! Later, asked dad how was the soundbox made. He explained me that there was a wire (sic) that carries the needle vibrations to the diaphragm... How much did I thought about it, as it seemed to be an electrical wire... I simply couldn't understand how! So I kept coming back to dad until he finally explained me that the 'wire' was indeed a mechanical stiff lever! Then I came to the Meccano parts soundbox of my own...
That didn't record at all, as it was very imperfect with a cardboard diaphragm, not airtight, and with a somewhat stiff needlebar fulcrum. I did not attempt recording again until I got s Columbia no15 sb. With that I was capable of recording shooting into my little horn, and obtained faint recordings of that over the run end grooves of several of my vinyl singles! So when played in the electrical tt, after the songs came my faint shouting. It was incredibly funny! Later I made my own records on clean plastic sheets. That was a marvelous era, I was always inventing things, trying to improve my poor homemade Gramophone... Ah..!

[old country chemist]

Hello Curt, sorry to be so long in replying to your post about anyone making their own gramophone. I am sending down a picture of the "OVERSTALL GRAMOPHONE" built in the 1960s by George Overstall of Brighton, England. The square horn ( of steamed shaped plywood), has sides of 29 inches. It is filled with a modern (1960s) turntable, but uses a soundbox and a parallel sound arm about 12 inches long The machione used to use his own made soundboxes, of which I have two still, and his own brass tri-angular bamboo cutters. I use a Meltrope 1 or a no.4 HMV sounbox. The sound is good, but hangs back in the horn on some records.The whole sound conduit is over 8 feet long from front of tone arm to the mouth of the horn. I am looking after it at present, but I may offer it to anyone in Britain who would like to "garage" it for a while, and enjoy it, but they would want a good sized car top take it away!
Alastair Murray.

[Curt A]

Thanks for posting that, Alastair... the product of an inventive mind.

[Inigo]

This is a bit backing off... But each time I catch myself passionately looking on the web after EMGs or Experts, feverish around the idea of buying one... I finally come to the financial problems and the marriage storms it would bring... and I settle down myself, play some records on the HMV 194, and tell to myself that, after all, the 194 sounds very well, and I don't need those other machines... You know, The Vixen and The Grapes...
But the other idea of building one of those tremendous horns keeps coming back persistently... That wouldn't have any financial problems, nor other storms... It could be a good summer project!
But first comes the project of improving the conical Aeolian horn by means of that removable megaphonic attachment to be installed inside... Much more difficult, but the results could be marvelous!

[mrrgstuff]

This not a great machine, but it does 'play' a record and is scratch built!

https://youtu.be/ERf_iiJJgig

[Inigo]

Very good! And it sounds very strong!

[mrrgstuff]

Very good! And it sounds very strong!

Thanks

Most of the comments I got was that the video was interesting to watch but the machine sounded awful!

The tracking is definitely off - and the soundbox which normally plays quite wells really struggles at times. It may be the medium tone needle as I usually use soft tone ones with this.

[AmberolaAndy]

I didn’t mention in this thread I practically rebuilt my VV 8-4 with parts sourced from ebay…
The crank, motor, turntable felt, tonearm, tonearm screws, brake, and orthophonic soundbox. All from eBay.

[ColoradoPhonograf]

About 20 years ago I was reading Rene Rondeau's book on tinfoil machines. We had a local phonograph chapter where we lived and it was my turn to do a presentation on a topic of interest. It dawned on me to build a tinfoil machine from scratch. I had a lathe and milling machine, etc. So from raw materials I ended up with this. Rene was very gracious to give me tips on adjustment details and proper threads for the feedscrew.

[mrrgstuff]

About 20 years ago I was reading Rene Rondeau's book on tinfoil machines. We had a local phonograph chapter where we lived and it was my turn to do a presentation on a topic of interest. It dawned on me to build a tinfoil machine from scratch. I had a lathe and milling machine, etc. So from raw materials I ended up with this. Rene was very gracious to give me tips on adjustment details and proper threads for the feedscrew.

Very impressive! Thanks