borrilabs
Junior Member
"The Crazy ""Misguided Hobbiest"" who dared to make authentic cylinder records with spiral cores.
Posts: 57
|
Post by borrilabs on Sept 9, 2015 6:09:41 GMT -5
It would be wonderful to find someone to make new blades for these shavers. I know that a steel blade can be used, and even glass. But a new sapphire would be best. I use 2 shavers, one for rough shaving (when I make blanks they are 2.4" thick and shaved down to 2.195".) I have at times made over 1000 blanks in a year, and so have worn out shaver blades before, and that causes set backs, as nobody seems to carry new blades. So when they are worn, instead of purchasing a new blade one has to find another Ediphone or Dictaphone unit.
|
|
borrilabs
Junior Member
"The Crazy ""Misguided Hobbiest"" who dared to make authentic cylinder records with spiral cores.
Posts: 57
|
Post by borrilabs on Sept 9, 2015 6:04:02 GMT -5
These work great! I had used a digital tachometer as far back as the 1990s for setting the speed on the phonograph.
|
|
borrilabs
Junior Member
"The Crazy ""Misguided Hobbiest"" who dared to make authentic cylinder records with spiral cores.
Posts: 57
|
Post by borrilabs on Jul 9, 2015 0:01:27 GMT -5
Shavers are just for taking a layer of wax off of a blank to prepare the surface for a new recording. I use one from 10-20 hours a week, shaving new blanks.
|
|
borrilabs
Junior Member
"The Crazy ""Misguided Hobbiest"" who dared to make authentic cylinder records with spiral cores.
Posts: 57
|
Post by borrilabs on Aug 2, 2014 19:18:14 GMT -5
Electrophone was a cylinder record company starting off in the late 1970s, into the mid 1990s, It was Peter Dilg, Dennis valente, Paul Morris, and Duncan Miller. They started off with wax cylinders, direct recording, and then in the early 1980s had a red material of moulded records, some vinyl format. The members later became Paul Morris, wax blanks and records (Phoenix) brand. Vulcan made now by Duncan Miller, and Wizard, recorded by Peter Dilg and made by Duncan Miller.
|
|
borrilabs
Junior Member
"The Crazy ""Misguided Hobbiest"" who dared to make authentic cylinder records with spiral cores.
Posts: 57
|
Post by borrilabs on Jul 29, 2014 11:52:24 GMT -5
Looks good to me.
|
|
borrilabs
Junior Member
"The Crazy ""Misguided Hobbiest"" who dared to make authentic cylinder records with spiral cores.
Posts: 57
|
Post by borrilabs on Jul 16, 2014 15:46:33 GMT -5
Some updates. Here is some photos of the latest Borri Audio Laboratory reording blanks, I have about two dozen in stock now. I have sold about 300 this year already. Union I sold out of blanks. A new addition to the shop is an original Edison studio recording head, used by Walter Miller, Fred C Burt and George Werner. I have spent a few hundred hours changing diaphragms and dampening, and am very happy to say it sounds very well indeed, I get about the same recording quality from it as from Edison BA 2048, if I get 4 minute feed and four minute cutters I can then record four minute masters, right now it is set for two minute, a change in the styli only takes a minute These were made for quick change of diaphragms and stylus. This was purchased from a recently sold collection in New Jersey and purchased at Union, it has been confirmed to be an Edison studio recorder for all the doubters. I will be honest, I never thought I would ever see one of these let alone have a working one. No it did not work when I purchased it, in fact none of them are complete with either a diaphragm, one had a cutting stylus, in the collection from which this is from. I must say it is very sensitive compared to a home recorder, and loud, and much clearer too. Blanks must be wobble free so the cutter cuts an even depth. The brass knob is the advance ball adjustment, you raise and lower the cutting stylus into the blank. Any Questions??
|
|
borrilabs
Junior Member
"The Crazy ""Misguided Hobbiest"" who dared to make authentic cylinder records with spiral cores.
Posts: 57
|
Post by borrilabs on Jul 16, 2014 15:18:00 GMT -5
Yes, I have several of these They are made in late 07, early 08, and then changed to Edison Record, only in later 1908. The 3 piece box Edison boxes, like the Amberol style are Brussels Belgium plant records for European market, and the U.K.
|
|
borrilabs
Junior Member
"The Crazy ""Misguided Hobbiest"" who dared to make authentic cylinder records with spiral cores.
Posts: 57
|
Post by borrilabs on Jul 16, 2014 15:01:48 GMT -5
I also agree with automatic, or Columbia floating reproducer. The Model B is heavier than the C. Also to be quite honest, all Columbia moulded records, are nothing more than brown wax, with lampblack added, so they also should not be played with heavy reproducers. I will be honest, I test all my own recordings on a model C and they are standard Edison brown wax. Edison brown wax actually has more aluminum than black wax Edison's around a half percent for brown wax, and a quarter percent for black wax (Edison's. This is because the black wax for the moulding process had to be more elastic, and not so brittle. In experiments, I have made fresh Edison gold moulded wax from scratch, and this wax, is very soft for a few days, and then after a few weeks is very hard. What makes the Gold Moulded Edison's different is the added chemicals that make the wax more durable, Columbia only uses 4 ingredients in there moulded records, while Edison in addition to those used ebonite or carnauba, pine tar and copper stearate. The Flat end Edison GMs used a brown wax blank plus carnauba wax.
|
|
borrilabs
Junior Member
"The Crazy ""Misguided Hobbiest"" who dared to make authentic cylinder records with spiral cores.
Posts: 57
|
Post by borrilabs on Jul 8, 2014 12:48:21 GMT -5
Automatic or the Columbia floating are the safest way to play them. The Model B is actually more heavy than the C. Although I test my new brown wax records with a C as they are recorded with an original Edison studio recording head, so are Gold moulded/Amberol loud. post 1903 (Actually used by Walter Miller,Fred C Burt and George Werner.)
|
|
borrilabs
Junior Member
"The Crazy ""Misguided Hobbiest"" who dared to make authentic cylinder records with spiral cores.
Posts: 57
|
Post by borrilabs on Apr 19, 2014 10:50:59 GMT -5
I would soak the feed screw in kroil, for a week and the other rusty parts, The sliding parts like the backrod, I would polish with a wheel and rouge. You might try cleaning the paint carefully with gojo (no pumice) and then polish with a soft cotton cloth, and Liquid Gold, I think you would be surprised and you would save the striping and decals.
|
|
borrilabs
Junior Member
"The Crazy ""Misguided Hobbiest"" who dared to make authentic cylinder records with spiral cores.
Posts: 57
|
Post by borrilabs on Nov 22, 2013 2:55:51 GMT -5
Very wonderful find. You have a very complete machine that can do just about everything you can with an Edison Phonograph.
|
|
borrilabs
Junior Member
"The Crazy ""Misguided Hobbiest"" who dared to make authentic cylinder records with spiral cores.
Posts: 57
|
Post by borrilabs on Nov 22, 2013 2:50:32 GMT -5
Here is some changes I made in the blanks from 2000- now. The pink and white ones were ones in a style I made from 2000-2011. The new style came out in may of 2012, with a single spiral and July of 2013 were double core spiral cylinders. The formulation is an aluminum soap with Sal soda and Ceresine. The combination of the compound is key, and if not done right will not yield good wax, even if all the ingredients are weighed correctly, it is heated to a frightening 520 degrees F, at or near its flash point. My early batches was made in 2 lb batches when I started out, but I make 15 lbs of compound at a time now. Cylinders can not be made from fresh wax, it has a special annealing process, in order to work, also a certain amount of scrap wax is added to catalyze and homogeneous the batch. Also if you even make cylinder wax, realize that a little bit of wax expands 4 times the batch size as it is a foaming off process. If you make the wax in the wrong container, it will be a nice 500 degree volcano, and as it erupts like Mount Vesuvius, spraying hot wax all over, and catching fire as the small hot amounts hit the oxygen rich air.
|
|
borrilabs
Junior Member
"The Crazy ""Misguided Hobbiest"" who dared to make authentic cylinder records with spiral cores.
Posts: 57
|
Post by borrilabs on Nov 22, 2013 2:32:29 GMT -5
Cylinders are also capable of very low frequencies too! In the late 1990s and early 2000's I did quite a bit of electrical cutting of cylinders, I used a Fairchild magnetic transducer, driven by a 30 watt Western Electric valve amp, this ran the stylus of a floating weight style Edison recorder from the late 1890's. I had a device called the Edisonia pickup, to play them back, and also it had both a 2 and four minute stylus. I made some cylinders that were so wide in frequency response, that they sounded like a normal 45 rpm record, you could hear kick drums, bass guitars and they would make sub woofers pump, and also had dazzling highs that were the same as any flat modern record! I also made some experimental acoustic records that were surprising too. I made a diaphragm of green Victor record sleeve paper, in 3 steps, and the larger back piece, outside was two thousandths, while it got closer to the center it increased to 9 thousandths. I used RTV blue silicone for the dampening material, the diaphragm floated in it, and the stylus assembly was glued to the diaphragm and none of this touched the side of the cup, so it was free floating. I recorded at Madison Square garden with this recorder and could record those low bass drum thuds, used by Slick Rick, and it played back with that booming bass you hear the annoying cars play, so wide range is fully able to be done, and so can stereo be achieved on cylinders. Most collectors do not like some of the crazy experiments I have done over the last 15 years. So you know I am not full of hot air. The photo of the Archeophone, the white and pink cylinders were experimental electrical high fidelity recordings of LedZepplin, The Beatles, and some Orthophonic records dubbed to cylinders, the year .... 2000-2001! They are made on my own blanks, at the time a aluminum steartate, aluminum and paraffin compound. Henry C was supposed to be playing period records, but was demonstrating his remarkable player with my electrically recorded cylinders. Another photo shows the electrical recorder I made for high fidelity cylinder cutting, this also dates from 2000.
|
|
borrilabs
Junior Member
"The Crazy ""Misguided Hobbiest"" who dared to make authentic cylinder records with spiral cores.
Posts: 57
|
Post by borrilabs on Sept 10, 2013 12:03:25 GMT -5
You could list your black wax cylinders on this forum or similar forums, there are several. Include the record number, song title and a photo. I am sure that people on here will trade you or purchase your 2 minute cylinders. Even though prices do not reflect, it is hard to find good, clean two minute cylinders out in the wild. Decent playable 2 minute Edison Gold Moulded cylinders, sell from $5.00-15.00 each, yes there are some worth more, and some worth less. In Illinois it seems in the last 3 years I have found NO playable two minute cylinders in antique shops, that is probably why I make new two minute cylinders.
|
|
borrilabs
Junior Member
"The Crazy ""Misguided Hobbiest"" who dared to make authentic cylinder records with spiral cores.
Posts: 57
|
Post by borrilabs on Sept 10, 2013 2:00:32 GMT -5
First of all that is a beautiful cylinder!!!! Second, color has no bearing on the age of the record, but it is rare to get a white batch of compound. The batches of wax for making "brown" wax blanks started out with 408 lbs of stearic acid. This record is NOT made with the 1888 pre metallic soap formula it was only used to November 1888 and the classic brown wax came about in around October 1889. Edison cylinders used a uniform formula starting in the fall of 1889, and used for brown wax with no preceptible changes in ingredients until the demise of there use for home recording, somewhere around 1915??? There were black blanks for awhile but they did switch back to a brown wax for 4 minute recoriding. (does anyone know when Edison stopped making blanks, I have not found any information on when he stopped.) What I found interesting is how fast the batch saponifies, sets the batch color, that is the compound goes from foamy when all the hydrated alumina and carbonate are added to when the compound is clear, and not foaming and how long it is cooked after that when the softening agent is added such as Ceresine, Paraffin,cocinic acid. Most batches of the time contained scrap wax, that is shavings, cut off ends, broken and defective records, this usually makes the batch at least a medium brown color, perhaps sometimes they had very little scrap wax to add to the compound, and lighter records issued. (I hear the guys on hear muttering, you don't know what you are talking about you misguided hobbyist!!!!) I have personally made a little over a ton of this compound, and can tell you from experience that anything from bright white to dark brown, even jet black can come to fruition from the exact same amount of ingredients, and the same ingredients. Sometimes heating the stearic acid to a very high temperature and adding the saponification solution as fast as it will take without foaming over, or the temperature going down too fast will cause the batch to finish a little fast than if a lower temperature is used and this too can result in a white batch of wax. I have included a run of the last 2 months of my own blank making (yes these are all made at Borri Audio Laboratories. The formula is very close on all of these, less than 1 gram difference per batch, notice that they vary from white to very dark brown. Notice the very light colored Columbia Grand record, that I photographed at Union this year.
|
|