Grafting a Cantilever

[Jay]

It is my intention to Graft a new stylus onto my broken AT OC5 Cartridge, the cantilever snapped off just inside the yoke area.

The information I have been able to gather so far is that it's not so hard providing you have a very steady hands & you work it all out before hand.
 But it's only been partially documented on how it's done so, this Post is intend to rectify that,
So that others can do the same & save considerable amounts of coin.

So This is what is needed:
A broken Cartridge






A donor Stylus, Shure N75 ej Type2 ?,   & Splint.

The Splint:
 
  & It's the Splint that is the hardest part to modify. As it's a CACTUS LEAF. or more commonly know as a Cactus THORN.
 Through carful selection a lot of work could be saved.
(pic)
As the cantilevers of the Cartridge & donor Stylus are what they are.
 The Splint however has to fit PERFECTLY INTO BOTH. Which maybe different diameters, and lengths.
So this is where most of the work is done, prior to final fixing & glueing.

Tools req;

iPhone, All pics will be taken with it.
3rd hand thingy.
Stanley Knife, with new blade.
Magnifying glass, (& or Microscope, I don't have one.)
Vice.
Small tools, not sure what yet.
Tweezers,
Fingernail Files,
Masking Tape,
Small diameter plastic straw,
Glues, more on them later.

I'm NOT going into insane amounts of detail about this part or that tool I'm using. if you do this find your own bits n bobs.
 this is going to be a pictorial GUIDE.
Ive never done this before so, If Anyone has a comment to make please make it helpful. or at least funny.
Jay


Make cantilever on cartridge ready.



 remove cantilever from donor stylus, & make ready for Splint.








Yes it is down their on the carpet  


chop end off


Cantilever is still solid !

Now its time to start filling



Prepare Splint for Stylus














Prepare Splint for stylus  

Dry assemble the 3 parts, tweak as necessary till your sure it all fits as it's supposed to.

Disassemble.

Prepare the glues.

With wood glue, glue the 3 parts, reassemble making very sure everything is lined up.

Glues:
 use wood glue first, But whilst still tacky use second glue which is Nail Varnish. these will merge together & become very strong (but it's still possible to remove them with varnish remover at a later date)
& leave to Dry.

Hope this is of help to anyone that wants to give this a go.

Jay


*edit wout: fixed 1 img link

[GP49]

THANKS.  I don't know if I can still handle something that small but your tips and your photos are encouraging!

The finished item looks a lot better-crafted than a recantilever of a Stanton by a well-known Eastern USA cartridge
rebuilder.  A photo was posted on one of the other boards and it looked like a bodge.

[Jay]

Thanks Very encouraging,

 I actually haven't finished tidying it up ill do that tomorrow when I'm sure its dry.

When I get the Linn running again I can see & hear just how a repaired OC5 stacks up against an OC9.

 If it proves to be a fair repair, sound wise, it might be worth looking for an AT stylus that comes close to the OC9 & see what happens.
Q:
 Anyone have any ideas which Audio Technica replacement stylus comes close to an OC9, In Stylus profile ?

Jay

[ropie]

Great photos, thanks Jay.  I did almost exactly the same thing as this last year with an old Coral MC cartridge using a donor M75 stylus.  I've only heard it once as I don't own a MC phono stage but it seems to have worked very well indeed.  

The process is a lot less difficult than it's often made out to be, as long as you have reasonable eye sight and a steady hand!

[wer]

Interesting job Jay. Fortunately my eyesight will no longer permit me to try something small and delicate like this.

But, ... To what diametre do these bamboo leaves grow? I just broke the tip of my fly fishing rod, and to fix that is the same idea, but half an order of magnitude larger.

[richard]

Nice work, Jay!

If this were the 1980s, I would have recommended you for a position at Stanton Magnetics.

Re: a real American-made Shure N75 ej Type2, I sold the identical stylus in a different finger grip (N93, etc.). In limited listening, I thought that it was a sweet needle. But, no matter: we must suffer for art.

I suspect that for your graft, the Shure might actually work out better than an AT original. It's stronger, for one thing. I'd be inclined to use a cyanoacrylic adhesive (with some prayer at vital moments).

Did you find a wire in the Shure assembly?

Finally, I want to know how it sounds!

[decca4]

Jay, I am so impressed!

It is also a great example of something I would never ever even consider doing! For a job like that I could just as well wear boxing gloves. The result would be the same. I can see myself sitting with glue all over and not in the right places.

Did you ever consider hand surgery?

[Jay]

Hi All,
 
As I said the photos were taken with my iPhone, on full zoom, but held in a spider, if you don't know it was the brain child of a 15 yr old maybe younger!

So far the sound seems ok Im saying that because the cart is in a different arm/turntable & I haven't heard this cart for 15 yrs or so. but hey it's making music thats easily better than your average 'hifi' I also suspect that this is a New stylus. But I have know idea of its origins. It sounds a bit bright, mid & bass sound fine, but not up to the quality of my OC9.
 
Richard,
   Praise indeed.
 The Shure cantilever is thicker than the AT, & yes the graft would be more difficult.
No wire inside at all just the square lump at the end of the cantilever that went partway into the tube, thats partly why i did this to find out what would be involved.

I had know idea just how a Shure or for that matter how Any stylus was constructed.

Ropie,
       Your right & I even managed with only 7 fingers & 2 thumbs, as 1 Middle finger is in a big bandage!

decca4,
        As mentioned above Iv'e very recently (last week) had Hand Surgery on my L/H finger lol

But yes, I did droop the cantilever on the floor, & the glue is not always as easy to get just where you want it.
 But give yourself the time & a bit of patients & you can…….

Jay

[paul300b]

Hi Jay,
Funny! I did the same with an Audio Technica AT-F5 (previous model of yours) just last week. The cantilever broke in the same place as yours. I used a $12 mg-29E (Goldring Electra) tip from Voice of Music. Did a Bluepoint Special also

[stiften]

Very inspiring. Congratulations! Have a nice weekend.

[willbewill]

I recently bought a Sumiko Blue Point off Jeff (cygnus x1) with a broken/missing cantilever...so...I used the cactus thorn method to graft an AT3400 stylus and cantilever. I used this stylus as I had some ready to hand, it is reasonable cheap, conical (hopefully  a bit more forgiving of alignment) and was about the right size. I used superglue to fix the graft but will will probably go with the pva/nail varnish route next time.







Sounds good so far

[worcestermark]

Well done for getting this assembled. It theoretically should never sound as good as an OC 9 because it is a bonded tip stylus, and as Richard has said in the past, the cart will be as good as the stylus and assembly - this would have a had a nicely polished nude tip previously (bonded =diamond bit stuck on, Nude = all diamond, for those new to the concept). I would love to have the magnifier and bench to have a go at putting my Fritz Gyger from an open circuit (was that the phrase) Ortofon MC20 in to my nipped off denon 103 or even one of the MM's like the A&R 77. I even have the broken off bit of the 103 still.

[richard]

Well, Malcolm: I'm impressed with what you did, too.

In general, I'm all for people doing these cool grafts. Besides, it's been my observation over the years that AT needles seem to be the world's champions for being broken and bent. Bummer! Since, no matter hnow careful we are, we all have our accidents now and then. And then, there are those cool young children and cuddly animals. Who break things. The result is that I just won't buy this brand. Ever. (But, by the way, I've acquired a few and will eventually listen to them.) In other words, you've got a snapped cantilever, and believe me, I'm not surprised.

The only thing to understand is that it's doubtful that you'll realize the original performance. Response will probably differ somewhat and so will output level. But it may be good enough and you'll have fun. You'll learn something. And the fun matters!

[Jay]

Nice job Malcolm, very tidy.

Yes Richard,
Its never going to be the same But these AT carts do seem to be prone to breaking, It could be that the cantilever material is more brittle than other makes......
But that said it sure does feel good when you'v rescued at cart this way. As it wouldn't be cost effective to send say an AT OC5 off to some firm & have it re tipped for A cost that one could bye a brand new one for....
When it comes down to it the materials that are being used for re tipping must be next to nothing. I did read quite some time ago that the cost of a diamond for a tip was something like,  a Penny  1p & the aluminium for the cantilever would likely be even less...
Yes its time & a few decent tools but hay myself & many others now have managed So why is it SO EXSPENSIVE
A well set up outfit could do a proper re tip to almost any cart in An hour or less

Now My Decca's  well thats a whole other story....

[Soloist]

Nuts! Wish I'd seen this before I binned my Dynavector 10x5......