laminated cardboard discs...

Anything goes! Inventors! Artists! Cutting edge solutions to old problems. But also non-commercial usage of record cutting. Cost- effective, cost-ineffective, nutso, brilliant, terribly fabulous and sometimes fabulously terrible ideas.

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Curley-Ann
Posts: 74
Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2012 11:34 am

laminated cardboard discs...

Post: # 22534Unread post Curley-Ann
Mon Jan 14, 2013 1:08 pm

I have a question--
Would anyone here like to do some cuttings for me if I were to provide some 10" cardboard laminated discs..?
I know already how the final results will sound -- lots of surface noise...almost as if they were recorded back in the early 1900's.
That's what I'm after.
If they can be cut at 78, that would be even better.
The discs aren't going to be used for long-term. They're for a special project Essency is working on...and we NEED that "sound" to make the recordings sound archival...
Thanks--
--Curley-Ann Temple

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EmAtChapterV
Posts: 244
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2013 6:49 pm
Location: Vancouver, BC

Post: # 22536Unread post EmAtChapterV
Mon Jan 14, 2013 2:18 pm

What sort of condition are the discs in, and what brand are they? Maybe post some close-up pictures? It can be a crapshoot - some NOS home recording discs will cut, some will be hard as rock, others the coating will start to flake off.

(Edit - Also, how flat are they? Look at your reflection in the surface - if it looks like a funhouse mirror, cutting on them may be all but impossible.)

I have some old, semi-dead microgroove styli that should still work at 78 rpm; if the discs are still in decent shape I could give it a shot.

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Curley-Ann
Posts: 74
Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2012 11:34 am

Post: # 22538Unread post Curley-Ann
Mon Jan 14, 2013 2:43 pm

LOL--Well, believe it or not...I was actually thinking about posterboard (the type you can buy at WalMart in various colours),cut into 10" circles, and run thru a laminator...
I had done this once before...and the guy I had wanted to do the cutting for me initially tried a test cut, but had said the results were "noisy" and, because of the shallowness of the groove, the number of playbacks would be minimal...and that's about the extent of the trial run...

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EmAtChapterV
Posts: 244
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2013 6:49 pm
Location: Vancouver, BC

Post: # 22539Unread post EmAtChapterV
Mon Jan 14, 2013 3:27 pm

I've tried cutting lacquer-over-laminated-cardboard home-recording discs, and the result was listenable but rather noisy and thumpy-bumpy from the orange-peel effect and non-flatness of the cardboard.

My attempt at cutting homemade non-lacquer laminate, though, was a disaster - the chip piled up and fouled the cut regardless of groove depth, suction or stylus heat settings. When the coating started to chunk off the substrate, I gave up and went back to lacquer.

This was many years ago, though. From the success other folks have had since, I guess things have improved?

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