Flattening a warped record

I have a slightly warped record that I'd really love to get flat, or at least try. Are there any shops that offer this service? Perhaps I could mail them the record?

Thanks!

 

I can't recommend www.vinylflat.com enough. If you have a large enough collection and buy records regularly, it may be worth it to just flatten mildly warped vinyl yourself.

 

Not a quick solution .. but I have had success by just putting some "slightly" warped (not dishpan warps) records into tightly packed shelves (vertically) for a period of years (like I said, not quick).

 

If it's just slightly warped and has no audible effect on the playback I'd personally leave that LP alone.

 

I agree. As long as your cart will track it at it’s normal tracking weight, let it be.

 

Unfortuntely it skips on the first two tracks on side A

 

Awhile back there were a couple people offering service via the big auction site. Try there or post in the WTB forum.

If it is a new record, just return it.

 

Yeah, good point. There are many, many new vinyl reissues that are warped right out of the sleeve. I have returned several, some that will play, but I just can't stand watching them wiggling their way around the platter. Blue Note 75th Anniversary pressings are notorious for warpage and surface noise.

 

Thank United for that.

 

Recently I found a pretty good solution for flattening warped records.

I take a warped record and leave it in its paper sleeve if the sleeve is in good condition, or if not put it in a new clean paper sleeve. I have two panes of thick glass, fairly weighty, and place one pane in my oven on a middle rack. Then I place the record in its sleeve on the center of it, and place the other pane of glass over it so it is sandwiched between them. Then close the oven and set to a really low temperature, if possible under 100 degrees Fahrenheit. I tried to keep an eye on it, but of course I forgot and the setup was in the oven for over 24 hours. I opened the oven, and the glass was just very warm to the touch, not hot (I think this is key). So I let it cool down to room temperature, removed the record, and it was completely flat! This also worked for several other records, so I thought I'd post the results here. The key I think is using the inner sleeve (must be clean paper only) as a buffer between the glass and record, and also the oven temperature must be kept under 100 degrees, for at least 24 hours, then cool down.

 

Wouldn't a periphery ring and a center weight be a lot easier?

 

Doesnt work for all players though.

 

Why has no one mentioned clamps or weights yet?

I store mine in nice sleeves and stack some stuff ontop for a month or so. Helps a bit.

Theres also the oven trick above.

Be adviced that colored, picture or oil crisis pressings are best left alone.

 

Perhaps, but often much of a warped area extends into the middle of the record and a heavy ring clamp likely wouldn't flatten those areas as well as heating (warming) the whole surface up with flat pressure on both sides over a period of time to permanently flatten the whole surface uniformly. I do use a center weight (or rather clamp) when playing records though, a type integral to my turntable's design that screws into the spindle and clamps the record as well as the platter via the spindle from underneath it, pressing them together, which often exacerbates the warp if one is there. So I do this to minimize warps before the record goes on the platter.

 

What kind of a pressing is that?

 

Look up the oil crisis on Wikipedia. There were 2 periods in the US where oil was in short supply.

Plants needed to use fillers to produce LPs which made the albums sound terrible with a lot of noise.

 

Oh THAT oil crisis! Yeah I knew about that. Thanks Strat.

 

Ahh, that justifies me keeping some of those clean heavy duty new paper inner sleeves. I also bought some new cardboard outer sleeves for the ocassional picture disc purchase that has only a clear vinyl outer sleeve. I could probably use that instead of the paper.

Any newer oven with a good feature set should be able to hold a sub-100 temp for bread proofing.

What is the thickness of the glass?

 

Well, then if those skips are the result of the warp --- then the LP is not "slightly" warped!

Those sharp and sudden humped warps that cause the needle to jump / skip are the worst in my opinion. It's the mild / gradual ones I call "slight" and just leave alone.