The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

i have been seriously looking into making a acoustic 78rpm record lathe, i have come up with a very simple plan for the cutter involving re-using a broken, unbranded aluminium diaphragm soundbox for the cutting head and a regular needle cutting into a large flat wax disc but its getting a motor powerful enough and steady enough thats the problem!,i have a early double spring motor spare however i dont think this will be powerful enough to run the machine whilst cutting, you can see in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbHBxjFxBbo
that they use a large weight instaid of a spring barrel, would a regular govenor be able to withstand the emmense weight that this mechanism uses and would a regular 2 spring motor be powerful enough to run it?
thanks!

I don't think a spring motor will be powerful enough to run the lathe. Nor will an aluminum diaphragm designed for playback be responsive enough to put a strong and clear cutting onto the wax. In olden days all (or almost all) the cutting lathes were weight driven.

Well I was going to try to make some adjustments to the reproducer!, what would be best for it to make a good recording?
And for the motor, I may just link in a electric motor to replace the spring barrels

If I was going to do what you're doing, I'd try a thin glass diaphragm, I know there are people that make them.

As for the motor, yes, a high torque electric sounds most agreeable.