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RE: Vinyl Flat & Groovy Pouch, initial results

Posted by flood2 (A) on July 15, 2020 at 14:24:06

In Reply to: Vinyl Flat & Groovy Pouch, initial results posted by cactuscowboy@bresnan.net on July 15, 2020 at 10:41:24:

The instructions are overly conservative - it actually takes about 2 hours for the temperature between the felt mats (when sandwiched between the plattens) to get to a steady state temperature of ~54C. When deciding on the temperature setting (assuming you have the new pouch as opposed to the original which was only "On" or "off"), you should stick the thermometer between the felt mats and check the temperature reading after 2 hours or so - you may find you want to drop the setting down compared to the setting you choose if you follow the method in the instructions.
If the measured temperature is above 60C and held for several hours (overnight), there is a risk of damage to some thinner vinyl formulations - I have lost a handful of discs this way. You get a shiny appearance to the surface and pitting. I have also had distortion of the outer edge (the original felt mats were a smaller diameter than a 12" disc - going only to the groove area not the outer lip). The newer oversized felt mats solve this problem - the felt provides a barrier to direct heating from the iron platten which is what caused the damage. I therefore recommend you choose a setting that goes no higher than 54C which is sufficient to take the disc temperature to the heat deflection temperature, hold for 2 hours then cool - this gives a heating phase of no more than 4 to 5 hours plus 2 hours cooldown. I use a Smart Switch and set the timer to 5 hours.
In Summer I would suggest no more than 4 hours for the heating phase to be safe depending on the ambient temperature in the room.
I would recommend allowing at least 2 hours cooldown for the plattens to get back to ambient and for the disc to have settled into the new shape.

Best results are obtained when you don't try to force the flattening in one hit - the reason is that the plattens are not the same mass and for a dished record it is better to initially start to push down the centre with the higher mass "Top" platten then flip the record over to push down the outer edges. I have both the original plattens and the newer design and the plattens aren't perfectly flat! The process relies on the felt having a certain "give" to even out the variation.

Regards Anthony

"Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty.." Keats

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