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Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984
Vinyl record production has finally joined the modern age
Viryl has developed a first-in-the-industry: A steamless system [for creating vinyl records] that will make massive boilers and piping systems a thing of the past. Not only does it obviate some of the costs and permits previously involved, but it also becomes a more environmentally friendly process. Vinyl record pressing has finally bootstrapped itself into the modern age on all counts and stands to encourage new pressing plants to support vinyl's resurgent popularity.
Traditionally, the molds used to stamp out vinyl discs are heated by steam which is delivered to the press from a boiler. Viryl's steamless module electrically heats water to the desired 285 degrees Fahrenheit so the molds can melt pucks of PVC into a record. This new method of heating, removes gas, the boiler and extensive plumbing from the equation.
This new setup is a closed system that can live right next to the press, allowing for a smaller footprint in your workspace. It also reduces water waste, although you'll still need cooling lines. One of the biggest factors here, though, is that no boiler means none of the treatment chemicals used to keep a boiler in working order, so the environment wins. A setup that requires less square footage could also make Viryl's new presses a more attractive solution when space is limited or at a premium. Existing customers luck out as well, since it's possible to retrofit presses with the new option.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Thursday December 06 2018, @11:48PM
Probably. But when the vinyl was slightly warped (and 33 1/3 rpm LPs were a bit floppier than 45 rpm singles), the arm and needle would jump off the high spots, just like the car in Dukes of Hazzard. The needle often came back down one orbit higher on the spiral track, thus one of the ways that records would do that infamous repeating they were so prone to doing. So we taped a dime to the end of the arm. Sure, that wore the record out faster, but at least that way it could be played.