Lost stylus seeking similar experience

@lewm 

"Plus, epoxy adhesives were strong enough to bond ceramic tiles to the space shuttle nose cone during re-entry."

The whole fuselage was covered with ceramic tiles and if you recall they had a persistent problem them falling off during launch. We even lost one during re-entry because the tiles were in a critical area on the underside exposed to the intense heat from it. I was sitting in a local Meineke having one of the rims on my car straitened as the Columbia streaked across the sky and broke up in seconds on the waiting room TV.

Hey, I do know they occasionally lost a tile, but there were thousands (at least) on the fuselage.  (Sounds like you may know the exact number; I am too tired to Google it.). You're not disputing that epoxy based adhesives are typically very reliable even under stress, are you?  As you know, the Columbia disaster had nothing to do with epoxy or ceramic tiles.

OK. I googled. 30,000 tiles.

@lewm 

The disaster was a result of a piece of foam from the external fuel tank that came loose during launch and damaged, wait for it, tiles on the leading edge of the left wing. From what I recall those vehicles shed tiles every time they took off primarily due to the extreme vibration caused by those gigantic rocket engines.

Stylus traveling nearly a mile in a groove on each side of a record? What do you think.

I recall reading that the tile that came loose only weighed 8 lbs, but combined with their traveling speed was ’enough’ for the disaster.

I have also read that the forces on an LP groove/Stylus during play are ENORMOUS. Another reason I favor light tracking.

Elliott, we are in agreement about the advantages of light tracking.  We diverge slightly on the degree of light tracking necessary to achieve the desired result.  I have records in my collection that were bought in 1960 that still sound just fine.  I also have a couple from perhaps 1969-1970, where mis-tracking due to me not understanding that too light is bad, are damaged.  Two grams is OK by me, but I know you prefer one gram.  I still have my trusty old Shure V15 Vmr, now sporting a Jico stylus that tracks at 1.0 gram.  I also have Stanton 681 and 881 that are both light trackers.  These are all good sounding cartridges to be sure.  Recently I sold my Miyajima Zero, a wonderful sounding mono cartridge, but I was afraid of the 3.5 - 4.0 gram required tracking force coupled with a conical stylus.