Two New Pressing Plants in USA

[Aussie0zborn]

A new hi-tech pressing plant has opened in Kansas, USA. The plant includes a state-of-the-art plating shop. While the owner has a recording studio with VMS70 nearby, the plant recommends high-end mastering houses around the USA for lacquer cutting. The plant has been over a year in the making and is staffed by the most highly experienced technical people.

Interesting to note is the array of pressing machines... Alpha Toolex and SMT fully automatic and Finebilt manual presses. Even more interesting is that all presses are modified with PLCs and they cycle via temperature control rather than timer control. This means that the press opens and closes only when the ideal temperature is reached so any fluctuations in steam and water pressure dont affect the quality of the pressing, giving consistent quality from pressing to pressing.

There is a video on their website here:

http://qualityrecordpressings.com/index.cfm?go=catstevens[img]

And Another US Plant:

Another new plant has been operating in New York State for a year or two. This plant is said to be "under the radar"and no further information is available.

Edit 15-JUL-11 :

And Another US Plant Re-Opens

Forum moderator and vinyl guru MossBoss is the new owner of Alpha Records, Miami, Florida and is presently in the process of refurbishing and re-opening the plant that closed in December 2010. We wish him all the best with this venture.

Who said vinyl was dead?

[gauze]

is the one in NY the one in Brooklyn whose name escapes me this second?

[Aussie0zborn]

Not sure if they have a name. This plant has never been mentioned here before.

[JayDC]

can u get me a job at te secret on in ny?..

[Aussie0zborn]

Why the secret one, Jay? Is there something you want pressed that you dont want anyone to know about?

[JayDC]

coz it's closer to my actual location, atm.. Kentucky is pretty far away..

I guess a job at either will do, i'll just move again..


o.. and yes.. I ave stuff I'd like to press on whitelabel..

[ArchaicRecords]

Is there one in Kentucky? If so, where?

[Aussie0zborn]

I think Jay meant Kansas. But there is a plant in Kentucky...

Palomino Records Inc.
2818 Highway 44 E,
Shepherdsville, KY 40165
USA
Tel : (502) 543-1521

We haven't heard from Tom for a while so give him our regards.

[montalbano]

Best of luck to QRP for the future, I think that such an investment in time and research deserves a good success, especially now that vinyl records have become a "luxury" item and are often reissued in limited editions = quality.
I am anyway not too convinced by the automation based on just the temp control.
Pressing is a combination of temperature rising and cooling, and constant hydraulic pressure, and they have to act at the same time.
So if you set the automation based on just one of these two parameters, you loose one part of the game, even if, yes, hydraulic pressure is a given because it is supposed to stay the same until the press opens.
I will try to explain my guessing even if it is not easy.
Alpha Toolex's original controllers gave the operator a 360° control. They gave the choice to set the press idle, closed, after heating (H3) and even after cooling (C). We still use this system, and in my view it is the best system because it gives the operator the opportunity to achieve the best possible results according to the record's weight (which is crucial) and to the variations of the steam pressure. Moreover, it gives the opportunity to "work with the pump" a little bit more or less according to the bigger or smaller steam pressure variations - according (in our place) on how many machines are running at the moment and therefore on how big the steam pressure variations are.
These controls are also affecting the quality of the records, especially the 180g records. If you use a soft compound, the flash will immediately get its way through the land of the moulds and it will never come back into them, so if you want to avoid non fill issues you have to be able to control the timings rather than the temperature along with the speed of the ram rising.
I remember that Gary contacted me some time ago - for other reasons regarding the setup of the presses, I am still available as long as Mossy is - for sure - for this topic.
I anyway strongly encourage the introduction of an alternative timing control - which is quite simplier to achieve than the temp control - as well as the chance to set the press idle and closed with all the valves shut, either after the heating and after the cooling cycle - this helps a lot in compensating the possible difference of speed in the moulds, and in making a non dished and non warped record.
This is my fair contribution based on the experience here - I understand this is a bit technical for the non-pressers - of course all answers are more than welcome and I'll be happy to discuss them

[monoplex]

thanks for the heads up on this post. I live in wichita and salina is an hour or so away. Salina has a converted church that mostly host blues music festivals but is also a recording studio and of course has a bad ass neumann lathe(which when I saw it looked a little dusty to me). Kansas doesnt have much but I am proud to have a pressing plant. They guy that owns the studio owns the plant. which pisses me off. some people have to have all the bad ass toys.

[Aussie0zborn]

On my first trip to the USA I was given a T-shirt that read:

NEW YORK
[Picture of a Revolver]
It Ain't Kansas!

The two New Yorkers who gave it to me explained that there were more sheep in Kansas than people and that nothing ever happens there - sounds like it might be true.

The idea of temperature control is not new. Fabel did it in 1968 or thereabouts. The theory with timer control is that if your steam pressure and water pressure/temperature is rock solid then timer control is OK. But there are always fluctuations and therefore changes in temperature from one pressing to another. Fabel used temperature control together with timer control for the "H2" part of the pressing cycle if I remember correctly.

Opening and closing the press when the moulds are at the required temperature means each and every record is pressed with identical parameters and so there is no need for the operaator to increase any part of the pressing cycle to compensate for low steam pressure, or cooling water that has increased in temperature over the course of the day. In the QRP plant they have gone as far as using a water chiller rather then a cooling tower, to ensure the cooling water is at a constant temperature without being affected by the weather or other factors.

I think their whole approach is innovative and shows a big commitment.

[piaptk]

I think Jay meant Kansas. But there is a plant in Kentucky...

Palomino Records Inc.
2818 Highway 44 E,
Shepherdsville, KY 40165
USA
Tel : (502) 543-1521

We haven't heard from Tom for a while so give him our regards.

I just recently found about them and started using them. I kind of wanted to keep it my little secret, but it seems like his workload has skyrocketed in the last 3 weeks, according to Tom. He sent out the test pressing of the first record I ever cut the master for yesterday. I'm super excited to see how it turned out. Almost as excited as waiting for my first born child.

[concretecowboy71]

Before Gotta Groove had a 7" press running, we were using Palamino for our 7" jobs and had good results.

Good luck on your master! It is hard to wait for that to come back and nerve wracking too!

[Bonati]

A new hi-tech pressing plant has opened in Kansas, USA. The plant includes a state-of-the-art plating shop.

You've alluded to this plant a few times in previous posts. Were you involved in its' development?

[Aussie0zborn]

No not at all. They did it all by themselves. Have been following its development for about a year now and I think they have done a brilliant job. They have spared no expense to do it properly. It goes to show what you can do if you have the budget.

[Serif]

Sounds impressive. However, I have to agree with Montalbano, for now. Check this out - not saying that Kansas hasn't worked around this, somehow, but - I spoke with a veteran cutter/plater/presser/printer about this who said that it's very difficult to get a true temp reading, since the thermo acts like a heat sink. Like measuring the turkey cooking by thermo, alone... Thermo says it's done, but the meat is still raw! So, you have to use time in addition to heat in order to be sure you are there. It's a nice theory, but, in practice, the old ways are best. Time, pressure, heat, and be prepared to discard a few dozen pressings each morning, since the machine has to stabilize. Ricci flow dynamics, anyone?



- Helix Stabler

[Aussie0zborn]

As mentioned above thermo-control has been done before - and succesfully too. Fabel sold over 400 of their thermo-controlled presses to Japan alone, if you believe their marketing hype. Once the moulds heat to the desired temperature the press closes, the timer takes over, cooling starts and then its over to temperature control to open the press when the desired mould temperature is reached. This can only guarantee consistency.

What can be wrong with ensuring the mould opens and closes only when the mould is at the right temperature?

[andybee]

[Serif]

What can be wrong with ensuring the mould opens and closes only when the mould is at the right temperature?

I agree that the theory is sound. All's I'm sayin' is that I was told by the presser (who's boss tried installing a thermo-controlled setup in the early 80's with worse results than standard operations resulted in) that the thermometer only told the truth about its own temperature - not that of the presses. Whereas steam pressure and time were sure to make the pellet pancakes taste good.


I have seen, uh, a few products out there with modern digital thermometers to indicate the live temperature of a nearby ceramic heating element. The programmed setting eventually is arrived at - after a certain amount of time - however, the thermometer always gets there too early. Even the macroscopic world suffers from observer-influenced measurements. Who needs Schroedinger?




-Ain't Jemima

[JayDC]

vaporizers don't use a mirocontroller, serif. Just a probe, a chip, a multiplexer and a 3 digit LED display..

So it doesn't have brain.. which makes it less smart.. As as all know, things with a brain do more things more smartly..