Fixing Warped Vinyl Records
By Jannie (Guest Post)
Put them in between 2 pieces of clear glass and put in the hot sun for a couple of hours...I used to do that back in the 70's...works like a charm!!! Good Luck...Jannie
In my case one of a set was warped on a trip up to Durban in 1968,we had the loan of a VW Beetle 1300cc and myself and a friend,Colin Hancock set off on that 1000 mile trip,my LP collection found space behind the back seat,in direct sunlight,its that that caused the warping,so if sunlight can do that then,can it now undo the damage of 42 years,its the same sun.
In my case I have gone a step further,I have good quality thick glass from a car, as close to plate glass as I can find,this time a 1966 Singer Chamois Sport,the glass will be the same age as the record,not quite,the date on the record is 1964,so just 46 years old now. Will it work? well its the hottest day for months right now,the ambient temprature alone is said to be 32c today,the test is in a quiet part of our back yard and in direct sunlight,lets see what happens in the next few hours,no pictures yet,check in later!
The half hour report.............Its working!
The one hour report (nearly) well in less than an hour, a large sector of the warp has gone,its doubtfull if I will remove it all though,memory tells me I tried hot water once,when that failed to work a hot Iorn,that did something,it damaged the tracks the Iorn touched but the disc was still too wavy to allow the other untouched tracks to play,If I can get to that stage this test is a success.
I have taken a step further,two heavy steel flywheels are now on the upper sheet of glass,over those I have placed a black dustbin bag to up the inner temprature,I hope its not too much,slow cooling will be important now?
roy@comlumber.com
Did it work? well yes and no,in my case the bent record was more damaged by myself than the sun but check out the pictures and see for yourself,its much better looking LP now for sure.
This 1964 vinyl album as it was before the pressing attempt.
This was how I set out the glass sheets,an old towel underneath with the damaged LP in between the cleaned glass sheets,being black and in the sun,the results are very quick to see in our direct sunlight.
This was an attempt to apply more pressure,the two Hillman Imp steel flywheels weigh quite a bit and are the right shape and size,this will actually remove heat,so only do this when you know the heat has maxed out and the album is as close to flat as its going to get,with most applications this added weight will not be required?
The finished job,still far from perfect but the disc is now actually flat and most of the severe distortion in my first picture has now gone,so this method does work,bring on those warped discs folks!
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