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Ruined 4 blanks in a row on my Presto before I figured out the cutter was riding too high
Last Saturday I was in my garage in Boise trying to cut my first real batch on a Presto lathe I got off Craigslist for $180, and every single groove came out sounding like bacon frying. I burned through 4 blanks at $6 each before I stopped and actually looked at the chip coming off the stylus, and it was dust instead of a ribbon, which meant I was cutting way too shallow. I pulled the cutter head, shimmed it down about the thickness of a business card, and tried a 5th blank, and the chip finally came off in one long curl like it's supposed to. The playback still had surface noise but you could hear the whole song, which felt like a win after flushing $24 down the drain. If your chip looks like powder, stop and check your depth before you waste another blank. What depth are you all running on these cheap lathes, and do you measure it or just eyeball the chip?
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