[bside123]

Greetings Earthlings!

I've perused through the old threads but have not found anything related to this topic so far. Forgive me if it's already been covered. Has anyone had success in fixing warped LPs? I've read a few articles about exposing warped records to heat (oven or sun) and using 2 sheets of glass as a press. Has anybody tried this with any good luck? Other methods? Thanks.  OR 

[Calypte]

No, I never found anything that worked.  If you want to try something like the between-sheets-of-glass method, be sure to try it first on a record you don't care about.

[DaveyW]

I'm in the same boat as Calypte,
I tried various methods, principally around slow baking and cooling in an oven between two smooth tiles with varying weight on top, temps and durations.
I could never remove the warp without affecting the playback.
I personally concluded that a warped record is permanently damaged.
But I have read claims of fixing via similar means?
All I can say is I tried and failed even with relatively minor warps.
Cheers
Dave

[vinyl_guy]

Furutech makes an LP flattner. http://www.furutech.com/a2008/product2.asp?prodNo=263 or http://www.furutech.com/a2008/product2.asp?prodNo=334

I have not tried it, but I have read several reviews and talked to someone who has one and they all say it does the job. US$2,000 is a lot of money for an LP flattner.

[jazzcourier]

There is your future staring you in the face.Your "cottage" industry waiting to happen....you buy the record flattener and advertise to charge 10.00 a record to return the customers vinyl it to it's royal flatness.You would eventually pay for the machine and make many warped records happy.Things used to be so easy,we would just tape a penny to the top of the cartridge.My take on it after 45 years of record buying is keep moving and forget about it and chances are that record will turn up again in better condition.Once you reheat the vinyl using any method you are going to compromise the grooves.But..i would love to hear some testimonials from those that used that machine and the record lived through it.

[DaveyW]

I know someone who splashed out on a Furutech Disc Flattener, model DFV-1.
He eventually returned it for a partial refund as it damaged some of the records he tried to flatten, most of which possessing relatively minor warps.
I recall that the main issue was that only records with noticably raised lead ins appeared to be suitable.
Cheers
Dave

[vinyl_guy]

I know someone who splashed out on a Furutech Disc Flattener, model DFV-1.
He eventually returned it for a partial refund as it damaged some of the records he tried to flatten, most of which possessing relatively minor warps.
I recall that the main issue was that only records with noticably raised lead ins appeared to be suitable.
Cheers
Dave

Furutech has a disclaimer on light weight LPs (115g or less) and LPs without groove guards (mainly some 180 or 200g records).

[95Dyna]

How many records are warped?  You can buy alot of replacements for $2K.  Also, some TT's support a perimeter record clamp.  I just bought a VPI Classic last year and will eventually get the perimeter clamp.  Just a couple thoughts without knowing your budget.

[Wayner]

The problem is that there are several types of warps and each has it's own dynamic response to change. Warp 1 is from being taken off the hot press and stored improperly as it cooled to room temperature. Warp 2 is from improper storage. Warp 3 is from heat applied to a once flat record, like an LP in a car window or stored up in the attic.

If the vinyl is to be "reworked", it will have to be re-softened and allowed to cool in a new state. Homogenized with a new grain structure. While we can think of processes to do this, the delicate groove modulations will suffer some type of "softening" as well.

I have tried the oven technique with 2 heavy plates of glass, and it failed. If I were to guess why it failed, the first things that come to mind is too fast a temperature change, and secondly, too high of a temperature. The temperature I tried was 150° and I allowed it to cool very, very slowly. The glass actually had an impact on the vinyl. I tried hot water (record again between 2 plates of glass) and I think the temperature was too low.

I think that if a guy/gal had a very controlled heat sources (evenly heating the entire LP surfaces to about 130-135° F, and allow it to cool very, very slowly, it would relieve the internal stresses in the record enough to allow the plates to set it back to flat. I think the temperature should not be that high for long, or too much softening will occur.

I think it can be done, if we had the right tools and the right procedure.

Wayner

[bside123]

Thanks to everyone who responded so far.

I don't have or keep that many warped records. For $2K, I'd be more than happy to buy a lot more (a lot more) records, as well as look for replacements for favorites and rare discs. You can virtually buy a whole frickin' vinyl library for 2 thousand bucks!

Every once in a while, I run into a record that has a warp, and I really wish I could flatten it. Not very often though. Every time I've explored the possibility of using an perimeter ring, I couldn't be convinced of the value. These rings also sell for hundreds of dollars. I've focused on: 1) a high quality platter 2) a high quality record clamp/weight 3) good isolation and damping.

[Calypte]

Every once in a while, I run into a record that has a warp, and I really wish I could flatten it. Not very often though. Every time I've explored the possibility of using an perimeter ring, I couldn't be convinced of the value. These rings also sell for hundreds of dollars. I've focused on: 1) a high quality platter 2) a high quality record clamp/weight 3) good isolation and damping.

I'm not a big-time vinylphile.  I just happened to see your question when I opened AC.  I started collecting (mostly classical) in 1959.  At their best, they sound wonderful, but eventually they remind me why I don't buy 'em anymore.  I accumulated quite a few warped records.  Most of them were manageable, but a few weren't.  One record warped within a day of my buying it, due to a shaft of sunlight shining into the room.  The LP still has the warp inflicted on it 50 years ago.  I had a couple of LPs (European-pressed Philips) that I considered to be standard test material for cartridge-arm combos.  I think of some poor salesman I persuaded to mount a cartridge like the one I had into a turntable/arm I was looking at, fussing with those little screws and nuts, only to have me reject it when it couldn't play one of my records.  I can think of only one TT/arm that played them without problems: the Rabco ST-8.  But in solving one problem, it introduced others.  My current TT (Linn LP-12, bought 1985) has a standard pivoted arm (Audioquest).  Sony/Philips provided a solution for playing those warped records <g>.

[jazzcourier]

Old school low tech method -25 records on the bottom- insert warped record -add 25 records on top.Check back a few days after consulting horoscope.If your stars are aligned the warp will have eased from the pressure.If your warp is still there consult a psychic.

[gprro]

So while we're talking about warps, how many new albums are you guys finding with warpage? I think half of what I've bought new has some amount. Maybe a mm or two when watching the cartridge move up and down when viewing level. I've got a couple bought after concerts that are way off. Like 5mm.

Wondering about my storage too. I have them vertical in a glass doored cabinet, with a heavy Beatles anthology book and a heavy roll of speaker cable keeping them pressed against the cabinet wall. I squeeze them in and set the book and cable against them. Could I be putting too much pressure on them?

[orthobiz]

I have read discussions about warps, looked it up when my daughter bought a pristine Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians Fegmania! that was so warped none of our (many) turntables would play it. I have concluded, with absolutely no evidence, that this is an unsolved problem. The Furutech gets reviews saying yes and no. Recently read that it took several treatments to flatten it.

My solution is to have two turntables, my Linn Sondek LP12 and a VPI HW-19 Mk III with a periphery ring to flatten the warps. Gotta have the ring for the warped disks, it helps loads.

Paul

[Photon46]

I use an Seal dry mount press to flatten warped records and usually succeed in greatly improving most garden variety warps. You can find these for sale cheaply if you look diligently in Ebay or Craigs List. I even once fished a large $2000 Seal press out of a dumpster at our university when the architecture department was clearing out of their old building! As long as the warps are of the long and sinuous kind, rather the short and choppy warps, you can do wonders with a dry mount press. The secret is to get the heat up and cool down cycle right. I sandwich the lp between two 1/4" sheets of clean Plexiglass and let the weight of the upper press platen rest on the sandwich (don't clamp the platen down tight.) I used a thermometer to calibrate the press so I know where the dial setting is for exactly 140 degrees. Let the press heat up for about 20-30 minutes (depending on how hot or cold  the area is where you are working) and then turn it off, walk away, and open the press up a couple hours later after it has all cooled down. I've saved many, many discs that were unplayable this way. If you've got a record with one of those rapidly undulating warps that makes your cantilever flex audibly, you're likely out of luck though. Never been able to flatten out that kind of warp so that the thump becomes inaudible. The biggest problem with this method is that dry mount presses are heavy and take up a lot of table room.

[analognut]

So while we're talking about warps, how many new albums are you guys finding with warpage? I think half of what I've bought new has some amount. Maybe a mm or two when watching the cartridge move up and down when viewing level. I've got a couple bought after concerts that are way off. Like 5mm.

Wondering about my storage too. I have them vertical in a glass doored cabinet, with a heavy Beatles anthology book and a heavy roll of speaker cable keeping them pressed against the cabinet wall. I squeeze them in and set the book and cable against them. Could I be putting too much pressure on them?

I can't say if you are putting too much pressure on, but you might be.

I can say that I, like many others, put my LPs away in the mid 80's and suffered through many years of frustrating CD playback before pulling them out again around 10 years ago. To my amazement it looked like all of them were MUCH flatter than they had been when new. It is my belief that being vertical is all that's required for proper storage. It seems that being vertical will straighten them over time. I store my LPs loosely in boxes, being sure to maintain them vertically.

I can also say that vacuum holddown will "cure" warped records, period. Every LP I have plays so flat on my Sota Star that up and down undulation is non-existent. One of them used to have such a warp on the first track that my stylus wouldn't track it, but the Star fixed that one as well. 

[rcag_ils]

Has anyone tried sandwiching the warp record with two wet towels, then put a hot iron to it? I used this method to pull dent out of wood, and it works 99% of the time.

Fine print: If you try it on your warpped record and it actually works, I will own the patent, if it doesn't work, I am not responsible for your melted record.

[bside123]

Has anyone tried sandwiching the warp record with two wet towels, then put a hot iron to it? I used this method to pull dent out of wood, and it works 99% of the time.
Fine print: If you try it on your warpped record and it actually works, I will own the patent, if it doesn't work, I am not responsible for your melted record.

This sounds very worrisome. Hot irons on vinyl records?  Rcag_ils, why don't you give it a try and report back your findings? Please be prepared for making a bad smell and destroying a lot of records.

On another note, ever put a penny on a railroad track?

[rcag_ils]

This sounds very worrisome.  Hot irons on vinyl records?

Actually, it's hot iron on wet towels, hot steam on vinyl. Very effective way to pull dent out of wood, but not tested on vinyl, I don't have any scratched up vinyl to test on.

[Wayner]

Has anyone tried sandwiching the warp record with two wet towels, then put a hot iron to it? I used this method to pull dent out of wood, and it works 99% of the time.

Fine print: If you try it on your warpped record and it actually works, I will own the patent, if it doesn't work, I am not responsible for your melted record.

Being the owner of 3 patents, and knowing some of the patent laws, rcag_ils you are screwed. 

Sorry buddy.

Wayner