[78-L] dewarping 78s

[GENE JOSLIN]

--- On Sat, 1/16/10, Steven C. Barr <stevenc at interlinks.net> wrote:

> From: Steven C. Barr <stevenc at interlinks.net>
> Subject: Re: [78-L] dewarping 78s
> To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
> Date: Saturday, January 16, 2010, 9:36 PM
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "marc van Bemmel" <marcvanbemmel at yahoo.com>
> > I am new to this group and have been reading along the
> messages for some 
> > weeks. I am a collector of (classical) 78s from the
> Netherlands.
> > I just saw the message on dewarping CDs. I would like
> your opinion on a 
> > safe method of dewarping 78s. I have a few that are so
> highly warped that 
> > they are unplayable. I was thinking of laying the 78
> on a glass plate 
> > inside our oven, which can be put at 50 degrees
> Celsius. Maybe I can 
> > install a temperature measurement inside the oven, to
> check if it doesn't 
> > become too hot. What are your experiences ?

THERE IS GREAT POTENTIAL FOR DISASTER WHEN YOU PLACE RECORDS IN AN OVEN, OR OUT IN THE SUN.

Make a wooden frame 14 inches square, using wood 8-inches wide.
Get a simple light socket with a mounting flange to hold a 25 watt light bulb in a vertical position.  Place the frame over this.
Get two squares of plate glass. making sure they are completely clean.
Put the first piece over the frame and place the warped record on it.
This glass should be a least 2 or 3 inches above the light bulb.
Put the second piece of glass on top of the record.
On top of this use just a little weight.  (a stack of 10 78s worked well for me.)
When adding the weight, introduce it gently to avoid the possibility of snapping the warped record.
Now turn on your 25 watt light bulb and the process begins.
Allow several hours for the gentle heat to do its work.
(I usually set it up and let it go all night.)
IMPORTANT:  When you turn off the light, Do NOT try to see what happened
until the record has had an hour or so to cool and regain  hardness.
This procedure always gave wonderful results with the record coming out straight as a die.    - GJ

> >
> The shellac-based compound used in almost ALL vintage 78's
> becomes flexible 
> at a temperature
> around 100 Celsius (my guess!?). What you want to do is to
> raise the 
> temperature of your warped
> 78's to that temperature (there are several good ways to do
> this!) and then 
> manually bend them
> into flatness!
> 
> I accidentally discovered this when I left 20-30 78's on
> the seat of my '58 
> Impala convertible
> (which I wish I STILL owned!!) while visiting the beach in
> Daytona. The 
> records had become
> warm enough to be flexible...and bent themselves to match
> the shape of the 
> seat upon which
> they were sitting.
> 
> One can either put them into an oven set for 150 F or 100
> C...or put them 
> outdoors in a
> full-sun place (between two large pieces of 1/4" plate
> glass works great!).
> 
> Steven C. Barr 
> 
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