[nrenter]

Over the Christmas holidays, I had bought a couple of new (sealed) LPs in Omaha, Nebraska only to find out (once I got back to Texas) the vinyl looked like it was stored next to a space heater. I got tired of calling back to the record store trying to connect to "the right manager" to get them replaced, so I took matters into my own hands (er...oven).

Following the ground-breaking work of others in the 'asylum, I ran out to Home Depot and bought (2) highly polished 12" square marble tiles (for a whopping $3.48 each). I scrubbed the tiles to remove any dust and dried them completely. Then, I went searching for the most warped LP I could find - Silversun Pickups "Carnavas".

I gave the LP a good manual scrubbing with DiscDoc products, and vacuumed it dry with my $1.76 vinyl vac tool (see other thread in the Vinyl Asylum). After pre-heating my oven to 175 degrees, I sandwiched the LP between the 2 marble tiles, and baked it for 25 minutes @ 175 degrees. After 25 minutes, I turned off the oven and opened the door until cool.

Results? The LP is now flat as an accountant's ass (my apologies to any accountants I have offended). Actually, I'm quite amazed.

My questions are:

1) Has anyone else tried this method?
2) Is 25 minutes @ 175 degrees the optimal time / temperature?

Any other suggestions? If you have a warped (but otherwise pristine LP) you owe it to yourself to try this.

[Photon46]

I've used a similar technique to good effect. I sandwich the warped lp between two Plexiglas sheets which are then inserted into a photographers dry mount press at 165 degrees. I let the press heat up to operating temp, insert the lp and let it sit for five minutes, turn the press off and let it cool to room temp. I don't completely clamp the press with the cam action these presses have, I close it enough to let the weight of the pressing platten weigh down on the lp in a free floating manner. I've flattened numerous lps and all were flattened perfectly but one. That one was rippled with numerous closely spaced warps and it wouldn't flatten completely. However, it was much flatter and played fine afterwards.

[nrenter]

I've got one comin' out of the oven right now that only baked for 20 minutes...I'm intersted to see if it's as effective.