Has anyone ever tried to flatten a warped LP with two pieces of glass?

My idea is a large cardboard box. Cover inside with aluminum foil. A light bulb in top, and another in bottom.
Suspend your glass plates/LP in the middle.
You can control it with finding the right wattage light bulbs...
The just run it all on a timer. Once you have the right settings..
Come back next day flat record. Repeatable every time.
Rather like a childs "Easy Bake" oven.

 

Here's my "Miles Davis Under Glass" thread that I did over at Audiokarma:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=297653

Bottom line - LP sounded like crap after getting most of the warp out.

 

I flattened a LaserDisc once with success. We were in Hawaii and I found a LaserDisc in some record store that I had to have. I think it might have been DOG DAY AFTERNOON. It warped a tiny bit in my suitcase on the way home, so I think I stacked a ton of other heavy LaserDiscs on it for like 24-48 hours. After that it played fine.

Harry

 

I've had a lot of success with the vinyl flat and groovy pouch combination. I flatten records with it all the time. I have ruined a few, but it is almost always because I have become too impatient and try to flatten it all at once, or I simply get distracted and leave the record in too long. I did try using the vinyl flat and an oven once (following instructions), but it was a disaster.

 

Anyone know the price?

 

Music Direct has it for $2550.

 

I feel like doing my Fred Sanford impersonation, while holding my hand over my heart, "Elizabeth, I'm coming!"

 

www.vinylflat.com

 

Your LP collection would have to cost you $100K to make this investment worth its money ...

 

I have a warped Sun 78 that needs flattened. Anyone have any luck with those?

 

Nope, good luck!

 

$2800!

http://www.musicdirect.com/p-3528-furutech-df-2-lp-disc-flattener.aspx

 

I have successfully flattened a couple records with two pieces of glass and books used as weights many years ago so I don't remember the specifics. But, I do know that it involved MUCH less heat than putting the record out in the sun or a "warm" oven. I used a gas oven, but, the heat was really low, as in I first heated the oven and then let it cool to a temperature that was not more than 120 degrees F and the oven was never on during the treatment (i.e., the record was in the oven while the oven was slowly cooling down). The glass was just warm to the touch, not close to being uncomfortably warm. The time for g was treatment in the oven was also quite long, and after cooling, I kept the record clamped by weights for more than a week. The other thing to note is that the record and the glass should be extremely clean so that crap is not embedded by the heat and pressure of the treatment.

I think ElizabethH's recommendation to use a light bulb in a box is a good one. You don't want to deform the record with a lot of heat, you are really trying to coax it back to its original shape, with just a little heat and long-term pressure from the clamping doing a lot of the work.

 

That's the first record flattening system that I've seen that didn't cost as much as what it would take to buy 100 records, or more! It's the only one I've seen that I would consider buying.

 

There is a cheaper version (made by same company without brand name).


http://www.analogueseduction.net/ca...high-end-audio-vinyl-lp-record-flattener.html

 

The Vinylflat & Groovy pouch have been used by members here and elsewhere, to great acclaim. It's a cheap, worthwhile alternative to the Furutech. I have a local record store in my area that will flatten your record on the pricey Furutech, clean and insert in a fresh sleeve for about $10. I've done it and it works.

 

That's a Catch-22, because, at that price, you can replace a hell of a lot of records. One of the audiophile shops has used it on a couple of my records. Little lip warps, it did nothing for. Lasagna warps, at least the record is now playable. I also sent a playable, but dish warped DCC Aqualung, but they said it was too valuable to even attempt to put on the machine.

 

Shellac 78's are much easier to flatten than vinyl. The glass method works very well. Here's my technique:
I have two panes of glass 13" square. They are clean, flat and have no sharp edges. I place the warped 78 between them and place the sandwich in a pre-heated oven at the lowest possible setting (< 100 degrees, if possible). Then, I wait a few minutes while everything heats up. In my (electric) oven, the best results come from about 12 minutes of heating. Then I take the sandwich and leave it together until everything cools to the touch. If the record is still a bit warped, you can do it again.

Don't heat the record any longer than absolutely necessary. If you heat shellac too long, it will turn a dusty white, and the record becomes unplayable. I also don't fix laminated pressings with this method, because I'm not sure how they would behave.

 

Thanks kt66. Probably a chance the 78 could crack from the weight of the top glass? How many minutes at that low temp for a 78...3 or 4 ?

 

I use 1/8" thick glass to avoid cracking the shellac. Once the record is just hot enough, it will flatten out nicely even with the 1/8" glass. I would get a few more warped 78's to experiment with before you try flattening the Sun 78. See how long it takes to make a slight improvement in one of the records, and then gradually increase the time until you get flat records from the process.

 

This worked beautifully for me: http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/warped-vinyl-repair-success.347196/