Hello all, here is the latest cylinder project.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/337503446/2011-cylinder-record-to-tape-to-vinyl-all-analog-r/posts
If you wonder why it takes so long to receive orders, here is an indication of
why, this project was over 100 hours to complete, just my part. If I run out
of materials, it may be a long time before I am able to replenish my supply of
materials, which must be purchased in 50lbs+ quantities. The reject rate for
blanks, was about 60%, and each blank, no matter if good or bad is 30-60
minutes to mold. The compound made in any quantity, takes a minimum of 3 hours
to make, and sometimes can be 10 or more hours. I have made lots of
improvements in the last few months, and recently made a monumental discovery,
by finding that double pressed stearic, is close to what the original kind used
by record makers for brown wax records, And for years I have been using triple
pressed, and wondered why I had to use less aluminum, and caustic and more
ceresine that the original recipe. I experimented last week with some double
pressed, some thing I had avoided for over 10 years and had p
ut away years ago. I went back to trying it out, after the experience of
thousands of blanks under my belt and many years of practice. The result was
astonishing, with what I know of the composition data, the last experimental
blanks made a week ago, had even more properties close to the original brown
wax, the right smell, and it melts the same as when you melt original "wax",
and has the gelatinous stage that the triple pressed does not and most
importantly, when you break the cylinder open, it has no crystal layer at all,
that means the absence of streaks and stars ,what I also liked better was the
quieter surface. Having talked to my suppliers, of material about the
history of stearic acid, and what time period different kinds of materials came
to be, there was no such thing as triple pressed stearic acid in the 1890s, it
was not around until after WWI, long after the brown wax cylinders heyday. The
double pressed must be cooked in a very special mannor, or it will f
og and this requires very specific temperatures to be heated too, very
dangerous temperatures of over 450 degrees.What I really liked is the fact the
new wax followed the original formula exactly, and behaved like it should, that
is a broken piece of the new wax, next to one of original 1890s brown wax was
the same, and very hard to tell the new from the original. This is just so
exciting all this.
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