Does the place in the Netherlands, actually make Shellac records. It seems too many people think this old technology is like going to the store and purchasing it and it is ready right away, it would be nice but that is not how it is. It is my understanding it takes a minimum of a day to make the metal parts alone to make a78. Wax cylinders for example take 3-4 hours to make the initial batch of wax, which I make 16lb batches, it must cool for a full day, and then is broken into chunks. (for example I made a batch yesterday, and finished at 5:00 P.M. At 9:30 am it is still warm to the touch. Better wax is made when you heat the wax up twice and cool. (so this takes 3 days) When it is time to mold blanks, a certain percentage of scrap wax is melted first, then the fresh new wax batch is added and it is cooked Prior to moulding it is cooked for about 45 minutes.( Scrap wax is cracked, and broken blanks, trimmed ends and shavings from the shaving machine) I forgot to mention a little scrap wax is used to make the fresh wax. For a test, the wax is poured in the mold and a blank, formed to the standard procedure and is then smashed into pieces to check to make sure the wax is ready , the interior is checked to make sure the wax is the same throughout the thickness, and no bubbles, and no layers or precipitates. If the batch passes this test The blanks are moulded when it is of a normal 75 degrees to 85 the blanks cool in still air which takes 20minuts to an hour, when it is hotter, the blanks are water cooled with warm water. If the test blank does not pass. The wax is adjusted, by adding either stearic acid, or sodium carbonate depending on if it is too hard, too soft, or precipitated. The wax is heated from 20- 45 minutes to adjust the batch. The blanks sit for about 3 hours, although sitting one day is better and are checked to make sure they are cool, and then a standard phonograph mandrel is placed inside, and the bl ank trimmed so that both ends are past each end of the mandrel. The cylinders sit another day, and are then edged and then rough shaven down to half the final thickness in other words about 2.25" thick. Then they are checked on the mandrel again. The blanks are not touched for at least 2 weeks but 30 days is better. You can record on the blanks when they are cool , and get a decent recording, but you get still better recordings when you let them season. If you record too soon on them there is a chance your grooves will shrink slightly or the blank warp a little. The blanks I make usually do not need to be reamed, it happens sometimes. _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.org
