Re: [ARSCLIST] Any good tips to flatten warped 78's?

["Steven C. Barr" <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Fine" <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Anyone got any good recipes to get the warp out of a 78? Especially tips 
> that don't involve costly pieces of gear? Anything a person can do with 
> standard household objects or appliances?
IF you are talking about standard shellac 78rpm phonorecords, NO 
special/expensive/
sophisticated equipment is needed!! Shellac becomes flexible at relatively 
low temperatures...
so all that is needed is to heat the record(s) in question to the point of 
flexibility, and then
flatten them...and THEN take the now-flat 78's into a room-temperature 
environment!

This means that you can:

1) Use your kitchen oven...heat it to 150-200 F and place the warped 78's 
therein.
After a few minutes heating, they will become flexible...you can then 
manually
un-bend them to flatness! Or you can...

2) Obtain (a) fairly heavy piece(s) of glass, larger than your records. On a 
nice warm
sunny day, create "sandwiches" of glass-78-glass...and set them out in the 
sun for
long enough that the 78's become flexible. The weight of the top piece of 
glass will
neatly flatten the warped 78; it will "mold" to the flat bottom piece, 
producing a
nice flat 78!

Note that VINYL records are nowhere nearly as easy to un-warp! When vinyl
is heated, it expands...causing the warping seen when LP's/45's are left in 
the
sun by accident! As the plastic expands, it literally has "no place to go!"

Steven C. Barr