Frankenstein Edison Cylinder Player

[Coffee Phil]

There was some interest in my Edison Standard cylinder player so here are some pictures and a description of the project.

I bought the base-plate,mandrel,lead screw,and stump of an Edison Standard cylinder player from a seller on eBay. I did not molest or harm a complete machine in this project. Here is a link to a presumably working machine like the one which the parts which I bought came from: http://www.ebay.com/itm/VERY-NICE-Edison-Standard-Cylinder-Phonograph-Banner-Decal-Lime-Finish-/350515288779

Below is the present state of the project.

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This is the start of the project. It has been cleaned and lubricated and an electronic floppy disk drive motor with rubber drive belt have been installed. The stump of the carriage arm can be seen. To that stump will be attached a carriage which will support the straight linear tracking arm.

Below is the rear view.

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The carriage drive screw can be seen here. As Tom built it, there were gears from the mandrel shaft to drive the screw. I don't yet have the gears. The machine started out in life as a 2 minute cylinder player but soon after the 4 minute cylinders appeared. A two speed gear set was offered. 4 minute cylinders are much more common so the ability to play them is desirable. The original gear set is available and not too expensive however the two speed gear set is north of $100. I have to decide whether to pop for it or come up with some sort of servo drive for the lead screw. It can be fairly grunt as tracking error can't be too critical with a conical stylus and vertical recording.

Below is the end view.

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The disc is the rotor of the floppy disc drive motor.

Below is the view showing the motor, pulley machined from oak, belt, and ABS subchassis.

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Below are miscellaneous parts for the project

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Above are an Edison cylinder which I hope to play on this thing when I'm done, one of those straight Neumark hip-hoppin' arm tubes which will be mounted as a unipivot on the carrage to be built, a connector with leads for the arm, and a switching power supply to power the motor.

The plan is for the cartridge which I use on my SME to play 78s and Edisom Diamond discs to be used on this machine. The two channels from the stereo cartridge will go to my mono preamp which can sum out of phase for vertical recording and can provide several bass turnovers and treble cuts including straight constant amplitude EQ or constant velocity EQ.

Phil

[Whitneyville]

Phil, this is the spirit! Keep from grinding-up those wonderful old Edison cylinders by being a "purist". I'm developing a computer program for acoustic recordings since I couldn't find anything on the company that had done that already.It's quite complex as it expands the dynamics as well as providing a complex dynamic equalization. A stereo cartridge with the ability to sum or difference will give better sound reproduction as the acoustic process didn't record a "pure" vertical or horizontal cut. My experiments with Victrola recordings of Caruso prove he was the ultimate tenor. My CMI record of Scott Joplin playing his own compositions has been a touchstone as a piano sounds like a piano. Good luck.

[Coffee Phil]

Hi Whitneyville,

Thanks for the encouragement. This is one of my several projects. I hope to get it to the point where I can play a cylinder on it within a year.

Funny thing. People who sell parts for these things almost get offended when I tell them what I'm trying to do.

I am envious of your Scott Joplin record and also your Caruso records. I do get to hear Caruso from time to time. The guy who does the opera show on Capital Public Radio does opera potpourri after the full length oprea and he plays a fair bit of Caruso.

Do share pictures of your speaker projects.

Phil

Phil, this is the spirit! Keep from grinding-up those wonderful old Edison cylinders by being a "purist". I'm developing a computer program for acoustic recordings since I couldn't find anything on the company that had done that already.It's quite complex as it expands the dynamics as well as providing a complex dynamic equalization. A stereo cartridge with the ability to sum or difference will give better sound reproduction as the acoustic process didn't record a "pure" vertical or horizontal cut. My experiments with Victrola recordings of Caruso prove he was the ultimate tenor. My CMI record of Scott Joplin playing his own compositions has been a touchstone as a piano sounds like a piano. Good luck.

Phil, this is the spirit! Keep from grinding-up those wonderful old Edison cylinders by being a "purist". I'm developing a computer program for acoustic recordings since I couldn't find anything on the company that had done that already.It's quite complex as it expands the dynamics as well as providing a complex dynamic equalization. A stereo cartridge with the ability to sum or difference will give better sound reproduction as the acoustic process didn't record a "pure" vertical or horizontal cut. My experiments with Victrola recordings of Caruso prove he was the ultimate tenor. My CMI record of Scott Joplin playing his own compositions has been a touchstone as a piano sounds like a piano. Good luck.

[vinylrayk]

There was some interest in my Edison Standard cylinder player so here are some pictures and a description of the project.

.....

Below are miscellaneous parts for the project

[img][/img]

Above are an Edison cylinder which I hope to play on this thing when I'm done, one of those straight Neumark hip-hoppin' arm tubes which will be mounted as a unipivot on the carrage to be built, a connector with leads for the arm, and a switching power supply to power the motor.

The plan is for the cartridge which I use on my SME to play 78s and Edisom Diamond discs to be used on this machine. The two channels from the stereo cartridge will go to my mono preamp which can sum out of phase for vertical recording and can provide several bass turnovers and treble cuts including straight constant amplitude EQ or constant velocity EQ.

Phil

I love it!

I have built several unipivots. My main arm is a Rabco SL8E that I retrofitted with a viscous damped unipivot having a fixed headshell. My next generation design of modified SL8E, currently on the drawing board, is also based on using one of the Numark arm tubes! I've long wanted to have the convenience of interchangeable headshells, and the Numark solution is perfect.

This is what my current arm design looks like, put together here with some leftover spare prototype parts:



I posted more photos of the completed arm, closeup details, and sketches of the unipivot design in my gallery. Take a look, I hope I might give you some useful ideas or save you some time.

I don't understand the parts sellers being offended by your project, especially since you bought an incomplete and otherwise non-functioning "parts" unit. I would have expected purists to to welcome a player such as you are building, that will reproduce a cylinder with the best fidelity possible and not grind it down every time it is played. You can always apply some EQ or other effects to the electronic signal to simulate [degrade down to] the characteristics of an acoustic horn. At least you're not wearing out irreplaceable cylinders.

Keep us posted with photos!

[vexorgtr]

Your project intrests me greatly, as I'd love to hear what a Cyl would sound like with a mag cartridge... I actually listed to an 1890-1930's radio show each week.

[goblin141]

I have my great grandfathers 1913 Edison table top model VIIB. He bought in new, played german marching bands, my grandmother bought pop music. I needs a few parts to get back to new. Your project sounds like it could bring old music to new ears..