My vinyl flat has saved more than a few records ... several of which i thought would not flatten. Also, with the pouch, the temp stays constant so you can leave records in their for 12+ hours without damage.
I've taken a warped album and while in the jacket have used t large coffee table books and put the lp between the books....gone into my attic in the summer, laid the books on the floor and placed a heavy object atop the books and lp sandwich and left for 2 or 3 days.....this has worked fairly well....at least getting it to where there is no more "whoosh" sound when I play the record and the stylus hits the Warp spot.....its worth a shot especially if your gonna toss the lp....
Okay, here's my update regarding the used Vinyl Flat and Groovy Pouch that I got it for free. I received the replacement Groovy Ring felt mats and hardware pieces from John at Vinyl Flat LLC and began to use it earlier that day. My Instagram account in the signature has some photos with proof showing off my Vinyl Flat and Groovy Pouch. First, I started with my copy of Holst - The Planets by Deutchsche Grammophon is very seriously warped and had it run for 2.5 hours with the Groovy Pouch and let it cool off for 45 minutes at room temperature. It did reduce the warp somewhat but it's still obvious, so I will continue using it for another 2.5 hours in the pouch tomorrow after work. From what I was able to gather from YouTube videos and people's findings and depending on the warp, etc., multiple rounds of using the Vinyl Flat + Groovy Pouch might be needed and I'm thinking this will be the case for my other warped (of varying degrees) records. I'll keep everyone posted of my results in this thread.
Folks, here's my update with fixing Holst - The Planets LP: Round two: 2 hours and 45 minutes, didn't fix the warp too much... Round three: 3 hours, it didn't seem to fix the warp much either... Round four: 4 hours and 10 minutes, successfully flatten! There's barely any warp and there's no audible anomalies that I can hear at all! What's funny is that the guy who gave it to me for free had no success with the Vinyl Flat + Groovy Pouch, but as what people experienced in this very thread, other message board postings, and on YouTube videos, patience is KEY and multiple rounds are required! Next album to fix is New Order's 1981-1982 12" compilation LP, which has a horrible warp on side 2, rendering it unplayable on my turntable! More updates to come...
There's definitely a learning curve with the Vinyl Flat. When I first got it I had mixed results until I settled on the medium heat setting and 4 hours minimum for a first run. Unfortunately you will find that 9 out of 10 times with very serious warps you will hear some wooshing at the lead ins (and maybe longer). Small price to pay to save unplayable records in my opinion. Incredible product!
Here's my update regarding my New Order LP, which has two side warps. Round one: 2 hours and 30 minutes, no joy... Round two: 2 hours and 45 minutes, no joy... Round three: 3 hours, one side with a lesser side warp is somewhat fixed... Round four: 3 hours and 30 minutes, the lesser side warp is flatter while the other with a bad warp is a tad flatter... Round five: 4 hours and 15 minutes, the lesser side is even flatter while the other is getting better... I'll go for another round for 4 hours and 30 minutes tonight and hope for the best. That LP is quite a stubborn one!
And what do you know, my New Order LP is now flat with a very slight warp after 4 hours and 30 minutes, which means it’s now playable! No audible warp that I can hear either! Next album is Killing Joke’s Brighter Than a Thousand Suns with a terrible side warp. Stay tune for my updates.
Sounds promising. I have maybe a handful of unplayable warped LPs... nothing special or valuable... so, not sure it justifies the cost of buying one. If the VF were lower priced, I might buy one just to play with.
I believe there was a sale last year around the Christmas holiday from what I can remember in this very thread. But what I can say is that the Vinyl Flat and Groovy Pouch does work as intended, but you need the patience of a saint while trying to flatten your records. Doing it slow and steady is probably the best approach.
Here's my update regarding my attempt to flattening my Killing Joke record: Round one: 2 and a half hours Round two: 2 hours and 45 minutes Round three: 3 hours Round four: 3 and a half hours Round five: 4 hours Round six: 4 and a half hours Each round did not do a single thing with the horrible side warp on that record! I'll continue with getting it flat by going half-hour intervals until I hope to see the record getting flatter.
I assume that by "side warp" you mean edge warp. The Vinyl Flat struggles with edge warps but there are two things you can do. One, arrange the record so that the edge warp aligns with the Vinyl Flat's tabs. This apparently puts more pressure on that area of the record. Two, if that doesn't work get some small binder clips (like these: https://www.amazon.com/Binder-Clips) and apply them around the edge of the Vinyl Flat that corresponds with the warp. Again, this applies additional pressure.
The warp that I'm referring to looks like this image below (not my photo!): It hasn't occurred to me about aligning with its tabs though going by this thread with respect to binder clips, I'm not 100% certain how much it influences the flattening process.
I've only tried the clips once and it worked, so it's been 100-percent effective for me. But I'm not sure anything would be effective on a warp such as the one pictured. That's insane.
Update regarding my Killing Joke again: Round six: 5 hours and it didn't do much, if at all... Round seven: 5 and a half hours and it still didn't do much... Round eight: 6 hours and it somewhat reduce the warp! Round nine: 6 and a half hours and it continues to reduce the warp somewhat! Round ten: 6 hours and 45 minutes, the warp is significantly reduced to a small bump, which made my record finally playable! Next on the block is my Echo and the Bunnymen LP with another similar warp as my other records! I'll try running this for four hours in the first round and see if it does anything... for science!
New update regarding my Echo and the Bunnymen LP: Round one: 4 hours and it flatten my record a fair bit! Round two: 4 and a half hours and it's flattened quite a bit, except for a very small hump! Though it did have an audible woosh on side B, at least it's playable! Next is Terrorizer's World Downfall reissue on 180gram LP.
My update regarding my Terrorizer LP: Round one: 3 and a half hours and it started to reduce the warp! Round two: 4 hours and it reduced the warp further! Round three: 4 hours and 15 minutes and it's flattened further! Surprisingly, this is a GZ pressed record on 180grams and rarely do I get warped records from that pressing plant versus those from Rainbo, United Records Press, and MPO. In any case, there is still a very small visible warp during playback, which before it was quite malformed. I feel much more comfortable playing this back on my turntable even though it was playable before with such a generally warped record. I couldn't take that record back for an exchange/refund as I bought this during vacation in London last year. Next on the list is the Scott Pilgrim versus the World soundtrack LP, pressed by the infamous United Records Press and on transparent red vinyl. I will have to exercise caution as I'm concerned with creating an orange peel effect on the record by cooking it too long. Maybe I will start cooking it at two hours first to be on the safe side.
Have you experience with dished 180/200gr.records? Not warped record but dished:convex on a side and concave on the other,a defect common to heavy vinyls.
I have been having some success with dished and warped records by removing from outer sleeve and sticking them in a very tightly packed shelf of other albums. After a few months they are flatter.
Edge warps to records, particularly vintage thicker vinyl work far better with a totally different machine. This machine heats the lead in and dead wax to a certain temperature and gradually heats up to the optimum temperature and gradually cools down over your desired time frame (depending on type of warp and vinyl thickness) eg 4-8 hrs. You can always run it through again to seek a further improvement. It usually improves dishing also but does not heat playing grooves. I know of 2 companies with these machines and the charge is approx $10-$12 AUD per LP. This year i have had done over 20 LP's mostly 60's UK Decca with value of the lp's from $70 to $800 AUD. No felt or peel effects, no streaking, no damaged grooves far far safer. Ovens are for cooking food not grooves. This machine recommends vinyl be at least 100 grams but the thicker it is seems to be an even better result. N.b. Unless the dish is really shocking.
To my recollection, I don't have any 180g to 220g records that are dished. So far, only my original Canadian LP pressing of Killing Joke's Brighter Than a Thousand Suns was turning into a shape of a taco, which took many, many hours to get it flattened enough to my satisfaction.
The Machine is German and called; Furutech DF-2 If you have valuable records seek someone out with one of these machines and fix your record safely! He has already spent the $3000 on "THE" state of the art machine but should only charge you about $10 a record. Then again if you prefer to put your $100+ LP's into a $79.99 hobby accessory............. Ultimately you get what you pay for!
I believe a poster was plus i understand you can buy the flattener without the pouch and the manufacturers mention that you can use an oven instead.
