Finebilt Presses

[iparty]

Who are the experts around these parts?

What plants are using them?

Any manuals or schematics?

Any web sites with info?

Cheers

[andybee]

I don´t know a plant with these presses, as it was an
USA manufactuere, maybe there are some hanging arround.
A picture at Flo´s page:

http://www.floka.com/pics/finebilt_1.jpg

[Aussie0zborn]

There are more of these in use today than you might think.

Why do you ask?

[Angus McCarthy]

A quick Google search brings up tons of hits. This is the first:

http://www.qualityrecordpressings.com/index.cfm?go=finebilt

[iparty]

ive googled them, and besides the obvious (Quality, Palamino) have them i was curious who else is using them.

Im curious because they seemed to be the most basic and easiest to work on

[Aussie0zborn]

Erika Records, Bill Smith Custom Records, QRP, Palomino and Musicol in the USA use them. RetroActivo Records in Mexico use them. There is one being set up in London as we speak. There are two unused plants in the USA that have them, too.

Edit : Add to that list Gotta Groove Records, as pointed out by Mr Bee

[mossboss]

Here we go
I am curious to know why people think that there is that much difference in Record presses
There is not,
Particularly when it comes to presses manufactured in the USA
They are a simple four post press with or without automation on them
Nothing that sophisticated either
So it does not matter what brand they are
Any and All of them operating any where any brand have something in common, there are no spares or support any longer and there has not being any for many years now
So whoever has any not installed they are kept for spares
Suffice to say that they all have standard hydraulic components still available today but damn expensive Timers and relays still available air cylinders still made to this day so no big deal to keep them going in that regard
Now when it comes to the automation that is where one gets into trouble as most bits have to be machined up and that is super expensive
So here we are keeping 30-40 year old machine going either cannibalizing spare machines or paying a small fortune for machined up bits and pieces
As an example an unloading arm for an Alpha I had to get machined after we paid for the pattern and castings was the miserable sum of £1250
All up the cost of that component before we could use it was about £3,750 for it and that excluded the 2 slipper bearings that go with it another £600
Nice one, About its weight in gold
It is usually the case in all machines, that since some components wear out quite fast or due to bad design they break we pay a fortune to have patterns made cast new ally parts and get them machined
It is not a case of how simple or complicated the machine is it is a case of a good bank balance as any of these machines offered will have been cannibalized to a great or lesser extend
This is a well known fact, one can be assured of
Thats for sure
Cheers
PS: The biggest single collection of Finebilts sits at EKS manufacturing in Brooklyn NY Both auto and manual
One getting set up in London Ha
This has been going on for over 2 years
When or if ever this machine presses a record I will gold plate it for the guy and frame it for his study

[Aussie0zborn]

An automatic Finebilt press??? Have you seen this?

[mossboss]

Yes
No different than TTT presses manufactured by Hamilton in the USA than exported to Germany with TTT badges screwed on them
TTT was a plating equipment manufacturer
The made and sold Galvanic systems to the record industry as well as others
They decided to add to their sales Pressing equipment
So they Badge engineered the Hamilton
George's Father the boss at Record Products of America did the deal George confirmed this to me when I quizzed him about it
The fact that a purportedly German made machine had Imperial or fraction threads throughout and all dimensions are Imperial rather than metric was a telling give away sign as well
RI in Holland as well as GZ in the republic have them Installed and surprisingly they did not know they where made in the USA But one of the guys on the floor did say!
Now I know why they have non standard threads, he meant the standard is Metric I had a chuckle Each to his own I suppose I grew up with Imperial threads and measures to me that's standard to him the reverse
So there was a lot of equipment made by someone and sold by someone else
Lets be realistic Finebilt presses where made for the rubber molding industry easily adopted for pressing records
And SMT's where Plastic Compression molding presses, same again adopted to press records with the added automation on them
No big deal really
The dedicated record presses where the Fabels as well as the Alpha Toolex machines from inception but rather late in the game
I have seen photos of Finebilts pressing Shellack records in the 20's and 30's
I have no doubt that local makers of hydraulic presses in many places around the world made or modified their presses for the task as well
TCS a very popular press in Italy was never seen outside of Italy
A Mr Bersanetti he is around mid to late 70's in age there in Italy did Showed me a photograph taken in mid 70 of a fully automatic press he built to order for some one manufacturing records there in Italy
A real nice machine as well it was
He is a hydraulics engineer who built power packs so as to make machines stand alone rather than run on a central hydraulic system as was the norm but awfully expensive
We have a few of his power packs still running strong every day after all these years
A very nice and knowledgeable man still working around Milan but no longer in the Vinyl game as there is not enough to keep him busy
There is no doubt about all of that crossing over as well as badging a machine to be sold elsewhere
Zanussi in Italy manufacture domestic refrigerators as well as cooking equipment one will find under 20 odd different names
Nothing has changed Has It
So please don't be surprised
Cheers

[andybee]

Here is the very nice story for gotta grooves finebuilt:

http://gottagrooverecords.com/2011/08/announcement-new-machine-acquired/