How to straighten a warped or dished vinyl record

Well the proof of the pudding is laying out side right now,Stephen of Mabu Vinyl suggested this method to straighten an album,one of a matched set volumes 1 and 2 by Peter Paul & Mary named In Concert Vol 2.

                                                               
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!

http://www.ckdboats.com/

A baby safe stair way gate device

Being a grandparent brings its own rewards,this one is baby Luke investigating a new thing in our home,Luke will always make a straight line to get up our stairs,so some kind of gate was needed,this was the development of yesterday.

In production the gate will be made from MDF (supawood) and be supplied with vertical bars CNC cut out,saving weight and adding some style.The side panel is hinged and can be left out on a closed stairway,or doubled up to cover both sides on a staircase thats open both sides.The device is fastened to the stairs,it can not be pulled over,Luke had a really good try too,there are no fastners into the stairs making holes and the whole set can be removed quite easily by an adult.It can be installed lower or higher as required.

The design is hinged and it folds close to flat so you can pack it away,with adjustable stays behind it,you can self assemble to allow it to fit your own set of stairs,we can post it easy enough.

kits@comlumber.com  for info.

The Hout Bay 30 design in wood epoxy?

This was not built from one of our kits but the picture shows the size of boat a Hout Bay 30 is.

 Taken from the http://www.dixdesign.com/  web site,

The boat above is an Hout Bay 30, built in Germany by Christiane and Jorg Langanky. They built their boat, sent me photos and have now sailed away to cruise the world.

Normally built in steel,this radius chine design will convert easily enough to Dudleys radius chine ply/epoxy method,we can supply just the plans or the  CNC cut   bulkheads,plus the rest of the materials required for the hull and decks.    http://www.ckdboats.com/

A Cape Henry 21 is launched

This is from the website of Michael B. Smith, a builder and restorer of model boats, builder of wooden boats and kayaks, and custom woodworker.

He tells us,

My biggest project for the last couple of years has been my dream boat, the Cape Henry 21 designed by Dudley Dix, which is now complete.

Well done Michael,thank you for the use of your words and picture,you can see a lot more on the build at the link found below.

http://www.woodsmithm.com/

We can supply plans and  CNC cut kits to this design at http://www.ckdboats.com/

The Cape Henry 21 replaces the Cape Cutter 19

Tip Toes first touch..............left click on the picture to view in a larger size.

This is in Picton,South Island,New Zealand, Ian took the last Cape Cutter 19 kit and drop keel we had and built the kit himself at home,he made a stunning job of the boat and its finishes are top quality.We supplied the spars and the 316 stainless steel fittings too.

Thanks for the use of your photos Ian.

The Cape Cutter 19 named Tip Toe.

Due to a licence agreement,it was decided that when the moulds to the Cape Cutter 19 were sold to a new company,no more Cape Cutter 19 kits will be cut,we replaced it with the Cape Henry 21,at just 10% larger in size but some 30% larger in volume,its a good size to have.

Hepolite Piston quality is hot stuff

Pre heating a Powermax piston on heat setting number 5,the piston cools as you slide the pin in,this requires further heating as the piston then re heats to regain temprature.

The polished steel gudgeon pin is  fitted to a hot alloy piston,the circlips must still be fitted using a set of circlip pliers.

The new plus 60 thou, Powermax pistons fitted to a 1966 Singer Chamois Sport engine block (hillman imp) this is the maximum over bore an Imp block will go to without fitting new liners and pistons.The new piston set take the normal 875cc block out to 916cc.

These pistons are made in England and by a company named Hepolite,which is an AE group member,sold under the brand name Powermax they are made to the highest quality available at the time.Piston pins are quite often a simple press fit,no so with these Powermax piston pins,they are highly polished and the piston has to be preheated before the pin will fit the new bearing fitted to the conrods small end bearing.

Hillman Imps in Cape Town

Thank you to my fellow Imp Club member,Eric Wells, for allowing me to use his really nice picture of his Mk 1 Hillman Imp with Cape Towns Table Mountain in the distance.

There were many exported to South Africa,some to Stanley Motors the main import agents but quite a few came as a private import and people emigrated to the warm and sunshine.

Imp 998cc engines from Cape Town

We have done these before but not for some while,recently we were asked by a customer to build a fast road/hill climb Hillman Imp from a bare shell we had stripped and ready to rebuild.The local engineers we use to do the standard 875cc engine block conversions work to really exacting standards and we can now offer to your order,shipping local or world wide.

A new 998cc Hillman Imp block conversion,we will be fitting this with a Wills ringed head and an R20 race camshaft,carburation with one of our own inlet/exhaust manifolds will be with a pair of Weber 40 dcoe carburetors.

Rarely ex stock,we make them to order ,we can also make them to take a single Weber 40 dcoe,or any other carburetor,exhaust manifolds only too.

Enquiries to kits@comlumber.com

Fitting an R17 Rootes Competion camshaft

Rootes set up a small self funding competitions department to support the new Hillman Imp after it was released in May 1964,this may have been as early as 1965,the department made money by doing mods and developments,then selling them on to the public,or in the case of a new car,fit a 998cc engine block prior to the cars delivery.

The early Sport cylinder head,which is quite a rare 107 series as can be noted on the last three numbers on the side of the head. AM stands for Aluminium Mouldings.This head came off an early (1966) Singer Chamois Sport,car number 610  of production,these 107 series heads are thought to be part of a batch the the Rootes Competitions Department had made,which later found their way on to the first Sport cars made?

A camshaft carrier fitted,note the cut outs to take the camshaft lobes,a Sport 310 carrier still needs opening up more to accept the Rootes 360 camshafts.The assembly has been bead blasted and cleaned to an as new surface condition.

Note the special oil control seal we can now fit,the guide (bronze) needs machining to accept these seals.

Rootes Competitions department developed a series of camshafts,they all started with a letter R, I assume this means Race or Rally? the base for the camshafts was the Sport version with its 310 thou,lift,taking that to a 360 thou,lift gave more chance for a longer valve opening time and resulted in a larger engine output.The series went from R15 ,R17, R20,R21,R22 and  R23,when fitted on a modified camshaft carrier to accept the higher lift,they worked well with the Sport version cylinder head,the first of which was the 107 series,then later the 108 series.

A Rootes Competitions Dept,R17 camshaft fitted to the carrier,the next stage is to adjust the tappets to give the correct valve clearance.

We can supply Imp cylinder heads to most stages of tune,with porting and larger valves to suit your needs,Sport 310 lift camshafts,valves and bearings are normally ex stock.A new R20 camshaft and tappet follower set are on order to a full race engine which will be our next build.

roy@comlumber.com

A Hillman Imp,thanks to The Imp Club for the use of the picture.

We have a late series model car for sale,its as a rolling shell or rebuilt to order.

To be continued.

Red sky at night means?

This is another winter photo from a resident of Hebburn on Tyne http://www.hebburn.org/  I asked Val can I use it on this blog,this was her reply with some more info on the actual picture.

........I took this picture because it was the sky facing east .not west where you would expect the sky to be red near sunset time

Thanks Val for allowing the use of this really good picture you took.Left click the photo to view in twice the size.

Roy

New Didi Mini Transat Mk2 for sale

As a brokerage offer, we can now offer a brand new Didi Mini Transat bare hull ex works and ready to ship,it is the Mk2 version that was built from a CKD Boats kit  and  can either have a drop or cant keel or be converted to a Cruise Drop Keel version.Sold as is now or with the decks fitted,the interior bunks and ballast water tanks are included,those tanks can become lockers on the Cruise version.

The boat is in South Africa,we can ship world wide,contact me for details and  pricing at kits@comlumber.com

Roy

A new ARC Around the World arrival

We now have some seven ARC Around the World yachts moored in the HBYC marina,to take some of the larger boats the marina managment have been very pro actiive and have laid some large mooring blocks 30 meters out from selected marina fingers,those blocks have chains and risers to a pick up bouy which is attatched to the end of the 11 meter long marina fingers.Yachts will normally reverse in and can now tie up and then pull themselves off with the new bow lines.

Flicka 20 build in progress by Louwrens.

Boat builder Louwrens and his Flicka 20

This Flicka 20 is one of those that were GRP moulded from a locally made mould,we have been supplying materials and a little advice on how to use them,progress has been to secure and seal the decks to coach roof joints with biaxial glass cloth and our epoxies.The next stage will be to add doublers to the inside of the bulwalks to add some strength and make a better platform for a toe capping later on.

Dons Hebburn on Tyne morning snow scene

Thanks to Don Scott for the use of this picture.

We who are living in South Africa need to see pictures like this now and again to show us just how kind our weather can be,at this time its blue skies and about 25c with plenty of people using the beach and local walks here in Hout Bay.I am sitting in my office with a circulation fan on!

Now and again I check out Hebburns web pages,as my grandad Robert (robbie) McBride was a ship yard worker back around 1934,thats my only family link with Hebburn as far as I have been able to find out.I found a similar early morning picture on the Hebburn web site,Don took it this morning and I posted a reply asking for his permision to use and post it,Don emailed me back with a better shot and his permision to use it,thanks Don.

Check out http://www.hebburn.org/ view the messages link to find the various postings.

With The Beatles

I may be from Liverpool but I never did get to see the Beatles at any time but I have met up with Stephen of Mabu Vinyl,the used record shop in Rheede Street in Cape Town.I had told him of some of my original albums bought in Nems,Liverpool,thats about 45 years back now,I still have them,this Beatles album is still in good condition Stephen told me but looks to have been played more on one side than the other?

stephen casts an expert eye on my Beatles record,it seems I have looked after it quite well all these years,bought for thirty two and six shillings around 1965,its worth more now?

The plastic sleeve dust cover says Given free by Nems,its a relic of the days when queues would line the streets outside Nems in Liverpool every time the Beatles brought out a new album.Inside the shop three cash registers were hamering away with piles of records alongside slowly being reduced as we each bought a copy.

Note Mabu Vinyl buys used records and cds if you have any your wanting to trade take them to Stephen.

Check out their web site at  http://www.mabuvinyl.co.za/ ( I must get a Mabu Tee Shirt next time I visit)