Laser Etched sides with grooves

[piaptk]

I picked a copy of the Superman 2 soundtrack yesterday (CLASSIC! ... riiiiight.) because it had a sticker that said "Laser Etched" on it. And it had grooves cut over the etching. It's the only etched disc I've ever seen that had grooves as well. Anyone ever do one of these? I have access to a laser etcher through a friends work, and would love to try it. How deep do you run the laser? Do the grooves need to be deeper?

[opcode66]

Laser etchers work with images that are gray scaled. So, one color, let's say black would represent no cut at all. White would represent the deepest cut possible. You can tell the laser etcher what the max depth is and it then uses the grayscale image pixel by pixel to etch, the depth of the etch is scaled based on the shade of gray and the max depth you specified.

So, if you took an image of let's say a face. Used Photoshop or some other graphics program to transform it into a grayscale version of the image. Set the max etching depth to 2 Mils. Etched the image onto a polycarbonate blank. Then put the blank on your lathe and set your depth of cut to 4 mils. Cut the music onto the disc. The result would have your etched image and the audio grooves. The bottom of each groove would be 2 mils lower than the bottom of the lowest point of the etched image. You would have to set your lines per inch low enough so there was enough space between the grooves for the etched image to still be recognizable.

There you have it.

The ultimate version of this would be to write a print driver for a laser etcher that actually etched the grooves themselves. I think this would be possible.

[piaptk]

I want to etch this onto a lacquer. Would the etching show up if I etched it with a maximum depth of 1 mil?

[opcode66]

I think you would have a major fire on your hands way before you could cut the lacquer.

The etching laser would most certainly ignite the lacquer coating.

[piaptk]

So, do you think the Superman record was made on a DMM master? I know that URP does laser etching on their etched discs...

[opcode66]

I really have no idea. I suppose you could cut a lacquer with deep grooves. Have it plated and pressed. Then laser etch a shallow image on each pressed disc. But, I'm not sure if that would work...

I think laser etching a copper disc and then cutting deep with a DMM lathe would work.

I'm certain someone with real pressing knowledge and or DMM experience will chime in on this. Neat concept though!

[GeorgeZ]

I think you would have a major fire on your hands way before you could cut the lacquer.

The etching laser would most certainly ignite the lacquer coating.

Hello guys,

We cut to 8 such etched/engraved lacquer foils on our modified VMS-70, but not over the etching, only the rest of space was used. It is very delicate thing and I was very nervous due to the fact you have only one try per foil

I don't know the source, but our US broker Pirates Press supplies us with such etched foils and we cut to them. I think only one record has been released officially http://piratespress.com/rotw/?p=541 (the third post with pictures), the rest is still waiting to be completed.

You should also expect problems in plating (reported from my colleagues) which can lead to wasted foil and you have to ask for an additional etched foil to cut again. A real pain in the as.... with such experiments

[piaptk]

Hmm. I'll have to take a pic of this record and post it. Now I'm really intrigued as to how they did it...

[dietrich10]

I think you would have a major fire on your hands way before you could cut the lacquer.

The etching laser would most certainly ignite the lacquer coating.

Ive sent blank lacquers to labels who used the guy on the West Coast to laser etch for them.

[piaptk]

I'm going to take a lacquer to the guy here and have him try it. I told him that the lacquer was flammable and he didn't seem particularly concerned about buring the place down, so I'll let you know what happens.

[Aussie0zborn]

Google search "True Colours" by Split Enz. The lacquer disc is laser etched and then cut over the etching. They did a lot of this in the '80s. It is nothing new. It looks great but plenty of surface noise.

[mossboss]

Common all of you Ok I will tell you how it is done
It is silk screened on the lacquer before it is cut Acetone is mixed with another ingredient (Its up to you to find out I am not telling) and the image is than wiped on as per any silk screen job on to the lacquer
If the consistency of the gunk is OK than there is no noise after it is cut
If the gunk is not right well it will result in a noisy lacquer
Laser etching on a lacquer is painful for the plating shop as it makes undercuts making separation very difficult as well as pressing the record hard
On another note
Here is a very effective way of doing it
Cut you lacquer normal send it out and get a negative standard 2 step process
Make another positive, best to make two just in case, send one out to be laser etched, get a neg out of it and press away simple shit.
You have another posi if it gets screwed up and a standard neg to convert as well you can make quite a few posi's until you get it right
There are a couple of tricks that one needs to do here
However I will not elaborate on them but all you smart guys out there can figure it out and than you can tell the rest or keep it to yourselves He He
To much spoon feeding kills the pioneering spirit on these tricks guys
So here you have about 85-95% of the story
The 5-15% of black art!!! Go figure
By the way we have done it a few times for kicks as well as one very small issue for free, we liked what the band was doing so we all chipped in no one got paid and the band just put up the alcohol for all of us on the night
It was great fun and better than getting some anal vinyl record lover busting them asking us to tell him:
Why is there a slight bit missing from the image depicting the left hand side testicle of the guy who is playing the see through guitar?
More!
The dudes dick is longer than it is shown on the image whats the story there???
Well guess what? he is not paying for the job Mmmmmm

Cheers

[jhdave]

Is there pics of this? I've always wanted to do an etched side. But in the states, finding a good place that has experience with this is hard to find.
URP I don't trust them to do anything right, much less an etched plate or lacquer.
I'm also interested in finding places/people that can do this. Even finding a reputable place that can do an etched blank side is hard to find around here.

[petermontg]

I have a release coming up here soon. 10" and looking for one side etched anybody any ideas where this can be done in Europe.

Edit: Forgot to mention, It's for a pressing of 500

[concretecowboy71]

Just for reference.

The album Styx -- Paradise Theater has etching on one side also. I bought it as a kid and thought it was the coolest thing ever.

[concretecowboy71]

[petermontg]

Were the grooves cut over that one.

we want to center the artwork on one side and cut 2 tracks on the other.

Is the superman soundtrack hard to pick up want to get my paws on that.

[GeorgeZ]

The second title (double album) with laser etched sides can be found here:
http://piratespress.com/rotw/?p=683

[Aussie0zborn]

Very neat, Jiri.

Split Enz's "True Colours" album :

[Aussie0zborn]

And another one

http://rockonvinyl.blogspot.com.au/2010/04/split-enz-live-colors-pinkpop-festival.html