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Hello, I am trying to record with my Edison Standard, I have the recorder mounted and engaged with the blank, when we recorded our instruments it looked fine and grooved had formed. We waited 5 minutes to play it back with the reproducer, but it’s totally silent. What gives?

Show photos of the recorder, its cutter, how the recorder was set in carriage, and the recorded cylinder.

James.

Is the diaphragm sealed?

Rich Gordon

Hi TMF, here's the recorder along with the equipment being used.

paradroid1793 wrote: Thu Apr 03, 2025 8:44 pm Hi TMF, here's the recorder along with the equipment being used.

First, we'd need to see the recorder in the carriage, to see how it was installed.

Second, the blank looks barely touched at all. This means the cutter was hardly touching the blank. I can't quite determine how the sapphire is from the photo; if it is damaged, it might not be able to engrave. Another problem could be that the diaphragm isn't lowering onto the blank, due to a stiff hinge. It should move up and down quite freely.

If you have a good recorder, set up properly, you should hear a slight hiss out of the horn when you lower the recorder; you'll see a curl of shavings coming off, and you'll have a clearly engraved recording, with visible vibrations in the grooves.

- Bill

The shavings were more of flakes than curly. The sapphire looks pretty blunt, is it supposed to be sharp? I purchased this recorder from another reputable member of this forum.

maybe the blank is too hard, 1 of the later Edison types ? the earlier brown wax types are easier as they are softer, you might also pre-warm the cylinder you are trying to record onto with a hair drier to get it up to 100 degree F to help the needle cut , or the glass stylus might be at the wrong angle / be bottoming-out or be worn-out. From experience the Columbia recorders are much easier to record with than the Edison's, but they can both be a bit hit-&-miss . A good way to experiment is to find old wax Dictaphone cylinders & cut them down to 4" like a music cylinder (54mm diameter max !) as the wax is softer being made from Stearic acid mixed with Beeswax as opposed to a Lead soap that the Edison Cylinders were made from before the Blue amberols that are Celluloid I believe. A new stylus can be made with Borosilicate glass rod, drawn out to a thin section with a standard propane gas torch & simply snapped off & glued in where your old one is. Hope this is helpful.

I’ve tried with a brown wax, a Paul Morris (newly made brown wax), and a black wax blank and no avail. I’ll try heating next.

with the Columbia recorder the actual stylus touches the area of the cylinder just infront of the apex with the cylinder moving towards it, Is the Edison also touching before the apex of the cylinder or after it on the trailing side ? this may also be a factor hindering you ? These recorders are a pain to get to work.

Here is a suggestion it looks as if the stylus end is not touching the wax and the edge of tube holding the cutter is attempting to make a recording. The arrow I added to on this 1911 illustration shows where it may be resting on the wax. the stylus may need to be angled so that it meets the wax and not the holder edge. the adjustment is tricky as you may need to apply hear to soften the old glue and then use a very small amount of new glue to fix it ( super glue on the point of a pin works ). you need to ensure the glue is removed from the cutting edge if you do this and use a tooth pick not a metal tool. The blank will be fine even at normal room temperature. Your results will vary according to the instruments you are recording and the horn you are using but that is a whole other subject.