Alternative media

[Steve E.]

OK, so far, on my little Recordio rig, Transco dub plate lacquers are the only things that cut reliably and quietly. I have not tried Apollo's. I've tried Solo plastic picnic plates (clear and opaque, shiny, metalic-colored and dull), Kim Gutske's clear platters, 50 year old acetates and Gib Epling's floppy vinyl platters...all with some decent and some poor results. I want to go back and try them all again using heat applied to my cutting tip.

A danger with each and every one of these media other than the acetates is that they may dull the sapphire cutting stylus very rapidly.

I'm writing this in a rush and I have more more detailed stuff to share on this topic, but I wanted to get the ball rolling.

Discuss.

[amok]

Anyone done anything crazy like melting records and things like that to create new recording media?

I know I've heard of people doing really wild things to recycle old records for lathe projects. I've never really followed up on any of this to find out if it worked and the process they went through.

[Steve E.]

I'm aware of people melting old cylinders to make new cylinders. I also know that some crappy-sounding 70's pressings used ground-up, recycled vinyl that had the paper labels mixed in, but lordy, I'd personally be afraid of messing with molten plastic. But sure enough, I think it can be done.