mechanics (6)

 New Hydrodynamic Oil-bath Bearing Units Available Now!

For many long years, J. I. Agnew has been examining, adjusting, repairing and replacing bearing systems of all kinds, from disk recording lathes and turntables to tape machines, high precision machine tools, measurement instruments, industrial equipment and all manners of motor vehicles, from passenger cars to heavy trucks. Over the past few years, he has designed and machined countless bearing units to replace worn or damaged units on a diverse range of disk recording lathes and machine tools. Valuable experience was gained, which along with his solid engineering background, was put to good use in improving his designs further and further, up until the current stage of development was reached.

[MISSING TRANSLATION] J. I. Agnew

 Heater Wire Terminals

We now have hundreds of heater wire terminals in stock, as we are in the process of stocking up for the manufacturing of our new stereophonic cutter head. Since these items have been "unobtanium" for a long while now, we are happy to offer these individually or in pairs to anyone needing them for their vintage cutter heads, or those trying their luck at making DIY heads. 
 

[MISSING TRANSLATION] J. I. Agnew

Direct-Drive Conversion on a Fairchild Lathe

The Fairchild line of disk recording lathes, first appearing in the early 1930’s, featured a General Electric hysteresis synchronous AC motor, running at high speed, with a worm and gear reduction to drive the platter. While this system in its various permutations in their different models was impressively well made and performed well for its time (see here for a more detailed description and pictures), a direct-drive system with a floor mounted motor is clearly the way to go if the highest level of performance is to be attained.


[MISSING TRANSLATION] J. I. Agnew

Repairing a Dial Indicator

A simple yet effective movement which has seen many decades of regular use, appears under the lid of this dial indicator.

It was once able to indicate accurately in 0.01 mm graduations, through a gear train driven by a rack on one side of the spindle.

[MISSING TRANSLATION] J. I. Agnew

Lab Report: The Agnew Analog Stereophonic Cutter Head

Happy new year! Time to reveal what has been secretly developing in the lab throughout the past year: A stereophonic cutter head of an entirely unique design, invented by J. I. Agnew during his work with experimental transducers for measurement and testing purposes.

[MISSING TRANSLATION] J. I. Agnew

Extensive Disk Recording Lathe Modifications: Fairchild Model 199 converted to Stereo with Caruso Feedback Cutter Head!

Back in 2015, we started a big lathe project, taking a beat-up Fairchild lathe from the 1930's, fitting it with an RCA cutter head, and eventually going full-on with a stereophonic feedback cutter head, vacuum clamp-down platter and automatically variable pitch.

[MISSING TRANSLATION] J. I. Agnew