polymer recording blanks

[THEVICTROLAGUY]

for the last several days i have been working with a new cylinder mold and elastomeric polymers to replace the brown wax recording blanks now in use for the Edison cylinder phonograph. the brown wax blanks are actually made of aluminum soap. the basis for all of the blanks currently manufactured is a replication of a 100 year old formula. i wanted to find something that was cheap, easy to make and works as well as an original Edison brown wax blank that was not based on a 100+ year old process of cooking lye, aluminum and cerrasin wax together to form a saponification, basically aluminum soap. this process required hours of preparation, cooking time and toxic chemicals and gasses and must be performed outside.

i designed a new cylinder mold and began to experiment with different polymers. while this test is far from perfect it is obvious i will find a polymer that will work as well as the original Edison formula. using polymers i can go from liquid to a finished cylinder in less than two hours. this is a test of a red polymer blank. once i find the correct polymer to use i can color the polymer to look like brown wax. its cheaper, faster, and completely non toxic. once i have this sorted out i see no reason why this could not be used for disc recordings as well.

[markrob]

Hi,

Interesting. Can you provide any more information on the material you are using? Are you cutting with it or casting from a mold?

Mark

[THEVICTROLAGUY]

these are recording blanks. this is a direct recording to the cylinder. this was recorded on the cylinder phonograph. this is an elastomeric polymer, essentially based on synthetic unvulcanized rubber.