Good point, Andy! I will certainly provide an update in a couple of weeks. It was my thought to store them flat in a horizontal stack of 78's for a while as an additional measure, but I think I'll take one disc out and let it respond naturally to see what happens. A couple other quick points -- my playability tests involved a Dual 1019 with the tracking pressure set to about 5 grams or a little more. Some of the discs came out of the sandwich almost perfectly flat and seemed to stay that way. And a couple of stubborn ones didn't flatten completely, but went from unmanagably warped to playable with a center clamp; while I feel like I could do more with these discs, I just chose not to, hoping to see how various degrees of leftover curve might respond to being stored long-term flat in a stack of 78's. Thanks for the kind responses, Robert ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andrew Baron" <andy at popyrus.com> To: "Antique Phonograph List" <phono-l at oldcrank.org> Sent: Monday, March 05, 2007 8:10 PM Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Flattening Hit Of The Week discs > Here in dry New Mexico, things can dry out pretty fast, and as I read > your description, I began to wonder whether the passing of a few days or > even a few weeks would have some effect of somewhat undoing the > improvements you were able to achieve. > > Can you tell me where you are (or at least what State your in) and report > back in a few weeks to let us know how flat the HOTW's are staying? > > Thanks for this report and detailed description. It makes me want to get > out my box of HOTW's and try it! > > Best, > Andy Baron > > On Mar 5, 2007, at 4:37 PM, Robert Wright wrote: > >> Well, I said I'd try some things and report my findings, so here they >> are. >> >> The best results I got didn't take long at all. What you'll need to do >> what I did is a steam iron & ironing board; a nice, thick 100% cotten >> bath towel; some paper towels; something heavy and flat that's larger >> than 10" in diameter (like a stack of 12" 78's, but make sure they're >> not even SLIGHTLY warped); and a large, flat stationery surface that's >> fairly rigid and smooth (like a small stack of 12" 78's that are, again, >> perfectly flat). >> >> Wash your hands thoroughly before handling any of the items. First, >> prepare the second phase of flattening by making your flattening >> sandwich ready and easy to put together quickly; if you're using 12" >> 78's, for instance, place a stack of 3 next to a stack of 10 on a table >> near the ironing board, with a paper towel (large enough to cover the >> entire disc surface) on top of each stack. >> >> Fill the iron with distilled water and set it to decently high >> temperature, enough for it to steam easily. Put the HOTW disc playing >> surface down on the ironing board (feel around for a spot that's flat >> and free of too many projectile things going on underneath the board >> pad). Fold the bath towel in half and cover the HOTW completely (this >> is actually tricky with the more stubborn and severely curved discs, but >> be patient and don't be afraid to manhandle things a bit if necessary). >> Hold the iron over the towel/ disc/ironing board horizontally so that it >> steams, and push the steam button repeatedly if your iron has one. >> Lower the iron to an inch above the towel and distrubute a good amount >> of steam evenly over the disc area, dampening the top layer of the towel >> substantially. After a minute or so of this, press the iron down and >> iron the towel flat, moving in circles around the disc area. Do this >> for 45 seconds to 1 minute, occasionally hovering the iron above the >> surface to facilitate more steam. >> >> In a fairly quick motion, place the iron safely aside and slide the disc >> out from under the bath towel. It will not be playably flat just yet. >> Place the disc on top of the paper towel that's on the stack of 3 12" >> 78's, then cover the disc with the 2nd paper towel and gently place the >> stack of 10 on top. Leave it there for a couple of minutes. Then >> remove the stack of 10 and the top paper towel, and place the disc on >> your turntable as if you're ready to play it. Over the next 5 to 10 >> minutes, it will continue to settle down into a flat shape until it >> should be quite playable. >> >> The last phase really caught me by surprise... I had used too much >> steam on one disc and it bowed the other way after having been in the >> flattening sandwich, and it wouldn't play. I was going to give it >> another shot and leave it in the sandwich for an hour this time, but I >> got a phone call that lasted about 7 minutes. By the time I went to >> take the disc from the turntable for round 2, I noticed it was visibly >> flatter than before, and it played just fine when I tried again to play >> it. >> >> Absolutely no treble was reduced, not even on the longer-playing HOTW's, >> and no sonic degradations resulted. The grooves of some discs did take >> on a very subtle elliptical shape, but this caused no pitch fluctuations >> whatsoever, and I'm not positive they weren't already that way from >> whatever curled the discs in the first place. >> >> Best, >> Robert >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Phono-L mailing list >> http://phono-l.oldcrank.org > > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org >