Open Capitalist

A buddy of mine mentioned he wanted a record cutting lathe.  It got me thinking about a possible application for the 4 axis motor controller and decided to sketch what I envision a record cutting lathe to be.

My main interest is finding more uses for the motor controller, but I am also intrigued by what would be possible when redesigning this with new methods.  

Some updates in this design vs older designs:

The green disk isn't marble, but I think granite would be an excellent choice.  It is cheap, stable, and has a fair amount of mass.  Granite is commonly used in labs for calibrating instruments against a perfect flat surface, this is what made me think of it first.  In addition, the mass will act as a low pass filter, limiting vibrations. 

The slide rail for the cutter head is an improvement over the traditionally used guideways.  These aren't cheap, but I happen to have a few of them that I don't have an immediate need for.  I also recently worked on a different design that had them so I already had the model.  I think they are overkill but tradition shafted linear slides would work nicely (and they are cheap.)

The frame for the cutter head is hinged on one side.  I don't know if this would cause a problem with depth adjustment, adjusting the height would change the angle of the cutter somewhat...  Enough to worry about?  I have no idea.

What isn't shown is a mechinism for adjusting depth/clamping the cutter arm.  I don't know if adjusting one side will cause problems with the angle deviation, a more elaborate solution might be needed.

Motors aren't shown, mostly because I ran short of time, but I am thinking a belt drive for the turntable, and a belt drive to a lead screw for the cutter. 

I would be more than happen to write firmware that would control the motors for this. I would also be happy to contribute some designs for the amplifiers if anyone wants to collaborate please let me know.