Vinyl warping temp...

V

verbal

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Anybody know the approx temp that vinyl starts to warp? Its starting to get warm in the Detroit area. And I have a black car. I would never leave my vinyl in the car. But I'm just curious about rides home (I live about 20 min from decent record stores)..

Verbal
 
great question- i've always wondered about that too. what about cold temps too does that have an effect on 'em?
 
I have some old vinyl, really old, that never warped, yet sometimes I receive a promo that comes warped right off the bat. Vinyl only warps if u submit them to unequal pressure and/or heat. Heat affects it in short time, pressure takes a bit longer to warp'em. Cold weather+pressure=warp, too. Just be carefull, but don't fret about it.

"The more u play, the less they warp". How's that??? :D
 
As for cold temps - just like Alex TC said, "Cold weather+pressure=warp" - which means you dont really have to worry about cold weather IF, AND ONLY IF you have you records properly stored (ie kept flat, straight, yadda, yadda). As far as protecting from heat your storage needs to be more stringent - as heat will warp your vinyl WAY more than cold. This means that they have to be held more tightly in proper postion, i.e. more pressure keeping them flat. I dont know at what temp vinyl starts to warp, but if you are dealing with heat all you need to do is make sure your records are flat and there is a lot of weight keeping them that way. Also, when vinyl changes temperature quickly it warps A LOT - even if it was't all that hot. So if your records do get hot in the car (but of course you kept them flat:D ) be sure you keep that pressure on them as they cool. Hope I didnt elaborate too much.
 
it is not so much in the temperature of the record, records warp when one side is hotter than the other (try this: take a warped record and put the convex side(dome side) up to a lamp for about 30 sec, then spin it, it will fix your problem, but only for a while until that side cools again) this is because vinyl has memory, one of the many wonderful characteristics of plastic, so in order to fix a warped record you must break and reform the plastic bonds and i doubt anyone will be able to do this without adversely effecting the quality of the record. reshaping the vinyl will reshape the groove as well and i would not advice doing that. my theory is that warping is due to poor pressing techniques, when the record is molded one side is allowed to cool faster than the other and it results in a bell shaped record, pesrsonally i would not try any of the "warp-fixes" that are out there.
 
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actually nothing would happen if you put them in the mircowave, microwaves work by exciting molecular dipoles with micro-waves. food is heated by the excitation of water molecules. vinyl is nonpolar, like tupperware and will not heat up in a microwave.
 
Then, it's like, don't put any Aquagen or that crapy Aqua tunes in the microwave... :p And, Simon says, never take the chance w/ Warp Brothers too...
 
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