CED VideoDisc and Player Discussion

[Daxi Don]

[size=18][/size]
Last week RCA 149000 and 154100 stylus cartridges each sold on E-bay for $50 plus with no-return, as-is and with no warranty.

It is likely that the supply of these cartridges is now limited.

CEDatum offers two programs to continue the stylus supply.

1/ A free stylus inspection. If your player is not performing as expected it is usual to suspect a stylus problem. However, it may not be the stylus at fault. Send your stylus to us and we will test it and send you a report. If the stylus needs work we will make recommendations. Often a stylus can be returned to service with a microscopic cleaning of the diamond tip or a simple repair. The only cost to you for the inspection will be the mailing charge.

2/ Stylus Rebuild Service. We can rebuild your old stylus to new stylus specifications. In most cases this will involve replacing the diamond tip with a new one.

CAUTION. If you buy a so-called 'new' or NOS stylus from an unknown source remember that the stylus was made in the 1980's and is now 25 years old. Always ask for a money back guaranty since a stylus can degrade in storage.

For stylus work contact CEDatum at: cedatum@ccrtc.com

Amanda for CEDatum. [size=18][/size]

[CEDHobo]

You are right to caution people about buying these NOS styluses . I was the winner of these two auctions and they both had severe corrosion on the copper colored strap (one was rotted in half) and were both DOA . Unfortunately the pictures did not show the damaged part of the stylus .

In this case the seller was a very nice person and agreed to a refund but I have learned my lesson and will look into rebuilds instead .

[Jim_Beard]

I was looking at new Hitachi stylus availability in case a player that I have sold needs support in the future, i.e. to provide the new owner with support information. I would like to share that here where everyone can benefit from what I found out. I saw nothing for new stylus for a VIP1000 in a web search, so I asked Hitachi. Their national parts/repair people referred me to a list of Hitachi parts nationwide:

Andrews Electronics
25158 Avenue Stanford
Santa Clarita, CA 91355
800-289-0300
Fax: 800-289-0301
www.andrewselectronics.com

Pacific Coast Parts Distributors, Inc.
Formerly Diversified Parts
2114 SE 9th Avenue
Portland, OR 97214
800-338-6342
Fax: 800-962-0602
www.pacparts.com

Fox International, Ltd. Inc.
23600 Aurora Rd.
Bedford Heights, OH 44146
800-321-6993
Fax 800-445-7991
www.fox-international.com

Union Electronic Distributors
311 E. Corning Road
Beecher, IL 60401
800-648-6657
Fax: 800-438-6466
www.ued.net

Herman/Panson Electronics
7350 N.W. 35th Terrace
Miami, FL 33122
800-938-4376
Fax: 800-938.4377
www.hermanpanson.com

Vance Baldwin Electronics
7060 State Road
Ft Lauderdale, FL 33317
800-432-8542
Fax: 800-552-1431
www.vancebaldwin.com
www.theremotestore.com

Tritronics, Inc.
1306 Continental Dr.
Abingdon, MD 21009
800-638-3328
Fax: 800-888-3293
www.tritronicsinc.com

I haven't called these guys because I don't need a cartridge right now and I don't believe that the used player that I just sold needs one right now either. But, my feeling is that none of these people will have one, at least not so that they can find it on the computer quickly. Thus, CEDatum is the solution; they have informed me that they *can* rebuild the Hitachi stylus.
_________________
--Jim Beard--

[deantjeep]

Jim,

I remember scouring the internet looking for extra stylii for my Realistic CED1 player, which is the same as the one used in the Hitachi players. I never did find any parts dealers with the stylus.
A lot of CED collectors with these players often buy used players off of ebay just to get, what they hope will be, a good stylus. I have seen just used stylii going for as much as a used player on ebay.
I have a Sears player that I recently got for free and I put it back into working operation, it uses the same Hitachi stylus. The one in the player works perfectly, so I was lucky. I also kept the stylus out of my CED1 when I tossed it out, plus I had a backup one. I tested them in the Sears player and they all work just fine.
If someone finds a source for new stylii, that would be great news for all collectors.

[Beetlescott]

Thanks for sharing the info! Does CEDatum not repair any stylus?
_________________
SGT-250
SGT-200
SFT-100
SKT-100

[deantjeep]

CEDatum repairs all stylii, as far as I know. I have purchased new stylii from them for my SKT and SJT players. I believe they repair Hitachi stylii as well. I have purchased stylii from them and they provided perfect service and answered my questions!

You might want to check with Darrell at CEDPRO. I recently purchased a new stylus from him for my SGT250. The stylus model number is 154100.
Darrell was great in answering any of my questions!

You can't go wrong with either of these two businesses...

[Beetlescott]

I purchased my SGT250 from Darell at CEDpro. He was very helpful, no matter how mundane my questions were. I have just odered a stylus for the SGT075 I purchased, as well as some belts.
_________________
SGT-250
SGT-200
SFT-100
SKT-100

[deantjeep]

Very cool !

I maintain a backup collection of stylii, belts and other parts for all of my players.

I am so glad that Tom, John and Darrell are providing parts to keep this hobby going. My hat is off to them, hoorah! And thank you!

Note: make sure you inspect and test all of the stylii you purchase, especially from ebay. I have full confidence in the stylii I purchased from CEDatum and CEDpro. I got one off of ebay and it worked just fine, but I have read stories by others that were not so lucky. Nothing worse than replacing a stylus, only to find your backup one doesn't work.

[Beetlescott]

[matt carr]

Has anyone thought of manufacturing a stylus? The plastic housing should be easy enough with a 3D printer. Don't know about the rest though.

[deantjeep]

Matt,

I don't know of anyone attempting to manufacture complete stylii. The best option we have today is to have CEDatum rebuild any old stylus to new specs and with a new needle.

I have picked up a few new stylii on ebay, and so far have not had any issues with those I purchased. Others have had issues. What is great is to buy a player on ebay with a perfectly good stylus installed, all for the price of a new stylus! I have bought players in the $25 to $60 range, with minor fixes required and great stylii inside.

Dean

[matt carr]

I don't really need a new stylus as of yet but I was thinking that if the needle can already be replaced with new one then the housing should be nothing to manufacture with today's technology. What else is there to it?

[Beetlescott]

I have stockpiled some styli for both my players just in case they become hard to find. It does feel good to know that, since the risk of getting a badly scratched disc, we can change our stylus and keep right on going.
_________________
SGT-250
SGT-200
SFT-100
SKT-100

[deantjeep]

I too, maintain a number of stylii for all my players. I have backup stylii for Hitachi, RCA SFT, SGT and J/K models. Always good to have at least one backup for each of your model players.

Keep 'em running in 2011!!!!!!!!

[RT9342]

I want to eventually start up a small manufacturing facility after completing college, and although I plan to make reproduction parts for long-discontinued musical instruments, I am giving definite consideration to attempting to reproduce CED stylus cartridges. I can't make any promises, but if I can get something going and can obtain an injection mold press or come up with the means and resources of getting molded parts from subcontractors, I would definitely see about molding stylus bodies. I would imagine that if I could mold a body, the rubber parts, and get the metal parts made, and assemble all of that, then perhaps CEDatum could put on a stylus tip, thus making the thing work.

About those "make-all machines" or "plastic printers" or "3D printers" or whatever they're called, we used to have one at my old job, right behind my office, but I don't think it would be practical for making stylus bodies. They're very slow, the "plastic" for them costs a lot, and it's not very durable resin - it's almost like an old, dried-out pencil eraser. Of course, you could print up a stylus body and have a mold made off of it, similar to the way RCA made molds from the copper master discs (in fact, that's what the company that I was working for used the machine for - we'd print a part, and if it looked good, our mold manufacturer would make a mold from the part, and if the molded parts looked good, they'd polish, brush, or sandblast the molds to give the production parts the correct finish). However, I'm sure that if they could make a mold off a printed stylus body, they could just as easily make a mold off an actual old stylus body.

Now I do have a question that I hope someone can answer - what is the red rubbery material used on the SFT/SGT stylus cartridge? It's not latex, is it? Or perhaps silicone?

[dj3928]

Just think of all those Bad stylus that were thrown away !

Fortunately I keep all the defective ones, have around 50 now, so as I need them I can send them to John at cedatum and get them rebuilt.

[Beetlescott]

[Beetlescott]

[RT9342]

Hey, Beetlescott.

Well, here's the deal: I'm not sure if you're aware of this (maybe you are, but I know a LOT of people who aren't), but record players are still in production - in fact, there are lots of models to choose from. Of course, most of the ones you see at music stores or online music dealers (like Musicians Friend) are radical DJ models that may not be the best choice for just listening to records, but the ever-so-popular Technics turntables are still in production and are still pretty much the same as they've always been. As far as cheap record players, I've seen them at Best Buy, and RadioShack might still have them too. Now, if you're wanting styli, cartridges, or players that can play old rare types of records, garage-a-records.com is a good source.

Anyway, I kind of put record players on the back burner due to the fact that they are still available, but one thing I thought about eventually looking into is a somewhat inexpensive record player that uses lasers instead of a stylus. And believe it or not, those are actually available, but they're VERY expensive. I'd like to come up with a cheaper alternative.

Oh, and I know this was mentioned in another post, and I don't remember if you read it or not, but in case you didn't, not only are record players, cartridges, and styli still in production, but so are records themselves. There are a few record stores around here carrying new vinyl, both remasters of old albums and new albums from new bands. Even the nearest Best Buy in my area carries a limited supply of records!

Back to the CED styli, I still believe I could come up with a solution if I can get a small company going. I want to get into making reproduction parts for old organs and other musical instruments. This would involve making plastic parts. I currently work in a factory that makes plastic parts (to be exact, I work in one of two factories that make Coleman ice chests), so I have some knowledge on molding. A lot of our parts are made in house (using injection molding, blow molding, extrusion, and thermoforming), but we also do subcontracting. For my company, I would probably start with the subcontracting route. But if I can get molds built for instrument parts, I'm sure I could also have a mold built to make CED stylus housings, as well as the rubber parts. From there, I would just have to come up with a way to machine the metal parts. To make instrument parts, I'll need to do that anyway, so it will probably just be a matter of adding a couple of machines for doing CED stylus parts. What I don't know is whether CEDatum actually puts a new diamond in the styli, or if they just rework the existing diamond. If they install a whole new diamond, I could possibly sell them the blank cartridges for them to complete and sell. And to be honest, it may not happen, but I'd sure like to give it a try once I finish school.

[cbertra2]

CEDatum rebuilt a Hitachi stylus for me and I am amazed at the picture quality from this styus. It is hands down the best I have ever seen and I mean better than a new one.

[RT9342]

Cool. I think I'll send them my stylus when a convenient time comes; it may still be okay, but I trust that they'll check it out & do anything necessary to it.

[Alchemy]

Just as a little FYI-
I have a friend in Florida that built a CNC that's about the size of a notebook, it's used for engraving on silicon computer chips. I'm willing to bet that if you had some specs or info, he might be able to come up with what you need.
_________________
Scott
SGT-200, CLD-79
http://bcw.utnij.net <--- CED/LD collection

[RT9342]

Cool - I might need his services in the future.....but it may be a while before I get something going. At this point, the only manufacturing I'm doing is small circuit boards at my house, and at the present time, it's a VERY slow process, and not very accurate. I'd like to start with getting some kind of a small soldering pot, a better way to do etching, some jigs for cutting part leads, and maybe a way to do labeling on the component side of the board. That would be a good start.

[Beetlescott]

Well I for one wish you good luck! As long as people are interested in this format, It will live on!!!!!
_________________
SGT-250
SGT-200
SFT-100
SKT-100

[cbertra2]

[blindfury420]

Something has to be done! I just saw two newbs(1 and a 2) fighting over 2- 154216 stylus' on ebay, it finally went for $125 with 5 shipping.... absolutely disgusted Then you see 2- 154100 go for, I think it was $30-40 with 5 shipping. Now that's what im talking bout! That's what the price should be, considering both ads were 2 untested as-is stylus!
_________________
I dont own

McMicheal 5001h
Hitachi VIP202P
JCP 686-5705
RCA SKT265, SKT300
RCA SJT400X, SJT425