Vinyl Record Duplication - best materials to use?

[Connor2303]

Hi there,

I have a question that maybe someone more experienced and knowledgable than me could answer-
Basically, Im going to have a go at duplicating my bands vinyl record, similar to the method this guy did on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdeWyBxL6Oc


I have googled a method where i can do both sides of the record, making 2 halves of silicone mould then injecting the resin into the 2 part mould.
My question is, what would be the best silicon + liquid plastic to use for the job- I figure the liquid plastic is very important as it needs to capture the fine detail of the vinyl record/silicon cast + the liquid plastic needs to soft enough for use with the record playing needle, as too hard of plastic and it could wear down and even damage the needle. I have a vacuum pump to remove gas the silicon and plastic, but i cannot afford a compressor/chamber to remove extra possible air bubbles, so I'm going to have to make do with my current setup.

If anyone has some suggestions of which silicone/plastic resin- brand/mixture to use, or any other advice, i would very much appreciate it! Thank you for reading and I hope you have a great weekend :)


Connor

[JayDub]

Most of us here work with thermoplastic injection molding - high temperature and pressure processes, so I’m not familiar with the type of casting you are looking at. The guy in the video is using “Smooth-Cast” products; there’s a fair amount of information on their website and they might well be helpful if you contact them.

The silicone mold will not last for long, so if you are planning for more than a handful of copies this may not be a suitable method. As far as the plastic damaging the needle, I suspect you may have the opposite problem - the diamond stylus may grind down the plastic so the sound quality will degrade after a few plays. Real records are thermoformed from vinyl that contains carbon powder (graphite, or in technical terms, soot) that acts as a lubricant.

For an actual useable product, I think you’d have more success playing the record (or master tapes if you have access to them) through an A/D converter and using the resulting files to burn CDs. If the record was initially recorded digitally, this is pretty much a no-brainer.

[ian.curtis]

Hi, from my point of view it's better to contact any molder and ask for advice. The material depends on your product's specifications a lot, so maybe just send them some email with your CAD / any other drawings or give a detailed description of your product and they will know what to do next. For example, these guys https://polymermedics.com, they helped me a lot at some point, I'm not sure if they work with silicone, though

[chrisprocess]

Wow cool idea and video, I actually didin't know this was possible hah.
Seems like records are made of some type of PVC.

[chrisprocess]

Check out plastisol a liquid form of vinyl that's cured into a solid

http://www.chemionics.com/plastisol.html

Would test it on another record in case.
Guy in YouTube video may have used silicon for purpose of being able to peel it off the record.