DISCO LATHE

The L. J. Scully model LS-76 (aka "THE LATHE") is the last model they built. The photo, below, shows Lawrence Jeremiah Scully , son of founder John J. Scully, demonstrating one of the LS-76 lathes.



The son (L. J. S.) and grandson (Jerry) of the founder sold his illustrious patronymic to Dictaphone, who marketed audio recording equipment thereafter under the Scully badge. So, in order not to infringe on the sold name, the LS-76 would be described as having been manufactured by "L. J. Scully." It was their best lathe, in terms of automation (based on the Capps disk cutting computer) and was built using computer-designed castings.

I was able to purchase THE LATHE #660 as organ-donor and test jig (for clones and mods) for #656... It was used originally by Eva Tone who made Soundsheets, which were flexis that came in magazines.
Now its 16" platter is used for playing Nickel stamper mothers, with a sacrificial DJ cart.

Here's a detail photo of the carriage, which is holding an Ortofon DSS 731 cutter, that happens to be designed to handle CD-4 cutting, that puts 4 channels of audio in a monogroove. Although CD-4 is cut at 1/2 speed, it requires flat response for the modulated carrier frequencies up to 22.5 kHz (which will be reproduced at 45 kHz). This cutting head has a very flat phase and frequency response (+/- 1 dB) from 5 Hz through > 25 kHz, being down by 5 dB at 30 kHz and 8 dB by 35 kHz.



...shown revolving a 16" transcription disk possessing 6 bands of a Cavalier Cigarettes ad, at 33+1/3...


(right-click "View Image" or "Open image in new tab" to see entire picture)

A lot of us latter-day lathe operators are seeing the benefits of having two of the same model for cherry picking parts or to have spares of any type when needed, since there are no more lathe factories running. I actually got the idea of doubling up on The Lathe from my uncle, an E. E. and former studio musician at King Records in the fifties. When in college he bought two teletype machines at a yard sale and managed to use the parts of one to make the other one work. A family tradition now has been established of doing something dingbat, sure, but doing it twice... He was able to print out the AP story of the assassination of JFK before it made it to the newspapers. Teletypes were sort of the original internet. Ok, maybe HAM radios were. But my uncle's father was a HAM back in the 19-teens and early -20's. His license was: 9CLQ. From Des Moines, Iowa he was able to reach Australia, in around 1920 as proven by the business card mailed to him by one of his Morse Code interlocutors...

So, here's a photo showing the job I did on the carriage of #660. I had to replace the Brooks-Mite gas flow reduction valve/meter. I found an exact replacement for the factory-supplied model on eBay and got her done. Also, strapped on some clear Mylar belts for the turntable and feedscrew pulleys. New Mylar belts are available from Butler Precision Belts, in California.

Speaking of [He] gas, which, in spite of strict rationing of late, is the most abundant element in the Universe, next to [H], it's now way easier to source (during this austerity) if you don't say it's for industrial purposes. Say it's for your clown routine delighting children or old people. *L* There seems to be a very effective Balloon Lobby in Washington.




- Andrew