Stylus shapes under a microscope

[cafe latte]

Yes, really nice pictures @multirock! Chris, isn't that too little magnification to determine wear? And of course the lighting needs to be adjusted based on what I've understood you to say in the past. Nice pictures though.....hard to imagine that what we're looking at here in these pictures will actually fit down in such a tiny groove in the record!

A bit more is better but if the resolution is good 200x is enough.
All the best
Chris

 

[catBot]

What I must look on those bright spots?

You are supposed to check the dynamics of the process:

• at run-time N hours the needle looks like this (take a photo)
• at run-time N+k hours the needle looks like that (take a photo)
• and so on...

Then by comparing the photos you should do an educated guess how much life is left in the needle. That's all you can do at home.
This relates to sphericals and ellipticals. For the proper needle shapes - the SAS, the MicroRidge, the FG's, - as @cafe latte said - you should look not at the tip from the top but front-on to check if the reading facets get closer to the tip.

 

[mrwood200]

(Rather than start another thread, I thought I would add to this one...)
(This is post is very similar to my post over on the Lenco forum)

I found myself in need of a stylus inspection tool, and ended up mimicking https://www.lencoheaven.net/forum/index.php?topic=577.420
- see OP Carl’s post about 1/2 way down

This post led me to a modified Swift 350B (removed abbe condenser [3x bolts], added clip-on lights). I didn’t have a ‘3D-printed cartridge tray’, so I went with a measuring spoon, then moved on to a 3x5” index card with custom jig (see photos).


This seems to work well with the jig able to move the cartridge on the deck & into the viewing field by using the scope’s x/y axis controls, and the jig can be customized to each cartridge. Here are some results:

I have inspected 9x cartridges with this setup & it has been helpful to determine next steps for specific cartridges. I also took some general notes for myself:

• clean your stylus! OMG the horrors. 3x used cartridges I bought from 1x buyer all showed SIGNIFICANT zero dust gel buildup.
• inspection shows signs of uneven stylus wear; check your setup

Cell phone photos came out OK. I just held the phone up to the eyepiece, took photo, then zoom/crop. The image is better through the eyepiece, but the photos are pretty close & may allow for monitoring wear over time. This approach is far from precise w/v.limited VTA control, which is probably impacting the perceived wear pattern. And it is v.difficult to view a cartridge in headshell. The shell/lift arm really limits positioning options, but it can be done.
That said, I am satisfied with the results. The end result gives me more info to make cartridge decisions today, and perhaps monitor wear over time.