How are Flexi Discs made?
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How are Flexi Discs made?
What kind of machine was used to produce them, and what were the stamps made out of? What happened to all of those machines, and why is there only one company making them anymore? Is it possible to replicate the process? Any body know the answer to these questions, cant find any information about flexi disks other than the national geographic run and bones records from Russia, its an interesting subject to me.
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Aussie0zborn
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Re: How are Flexi Discs made?
Flexi discs were made from a dedicated PVC type film, or probably an acetate film.
I've seen two machines pressing Flexi discs. The first is a Japanese automatic machine. The roll of material was fed through electric heaters as it entered a four-column hydraulic press where it was given a stroke - this imprinted the grooves of the stamper into the now softened material and punched the centre hole at the same time. The moulds are not heated. As the roll exits the press, the roll is guillotined and the finished square disc is stacked. As this was at a printing shop, the discs were then transferred to a letterpress machine to print the label information on each disc. This particular press is now housed at GZ Media in the Czech Republic. I would say this is the last fully automatic Flexi disc machine from the old days.
The other machine I saw was a regular hydraulic press used to press Flexi discs as the discs were inserted in the press by hand one at at time. I believe this type of self-made press is what Pirates Press use. The Flexi discs I have that were made by Pirates Press are made on a PVC material much thicker than the material the original Flexi discs were made from.
GZ also have some other machines that appear to be hydraulic presses converted for this job. You can see one here: http://www.gzvinyl.com/Products/Records/Flexi-discs-flexi-postcards.aspx
If you are visiting Los Angeles and can organise a plant tour of Rainbo Records, you can see some photos in their foyer of the process as it developed. The owner picked up a contract to manufacture squillions of records and within weeks he had built a fully automatic machine to complete the order. Here's one of their early products : https://www.wfmu.org/MACrec/dismap.html
The big manufacturers of Flexi discs were Eva-Tone in the USA, Lyntone in the UK, and Ambassador Press in Australia. As with any industrial process, once it becomes unprofitable to manufacture that product, the machines are re-purposed if possible or sold for scrap.
I've seen two machines pressing Flexi discs. The first is a Japanese automatic machine. The roll of material was fed through electric heaters as it entered a four-column hydraulic press where it was given a stroke - this imprinted the grooves of the stamper into the now softened material and punched the centre hole at the same time. The moulds are not heated. As the roll exits the press, the roll is guillotined and the finished square disc is stacked. As this was at a printing shop, the discs were then transferred to a letterpress machine to print the label information on each disc. This particular press is now housed at GZ Media in the Czech Republic. I would say this is the last fully automatic Flexi disc machine from the old days.
The other machine I saw was a regular hydraulic press used to press Flexi discs as the discs were inserted in the press by hand one at at time. I believe this type of self-made press is what Pirates Press use. The Flexi discs I have that were made by Pirates Press are made on a PVC material much thicker than the material the original Flexi discs were made from.
GZ also have some other machines that appear to be hydraulic presses converted for this job. You can see one here: http://www.gzvinyl.com/Products/Records/Flexi-discs-flexi-postcards.aspx
If you are visiting Los Angeles and can organise a plant tour of Rainbo Records, you can see some photos in their foyer of the process as it developed. The owner picked up a contract to manufacture squillions of records and within weeks he had built a fully automatic machine to complete the order. Here's one of their early products : https://www.wfmu.org/MACrec/dismap.html
The big manufacturers of Flexi discs were Eva-Tone in the USA, Lyntone in the UK, and Ambassador Press in Australia. As with any industrial process, once it becomes unprofitable to manufacture that product, the machines are re-purposed if possible or sold for scrap.
Re: How are Flexi Discs made?
Hey thanks for that info, I have a much better understanding of the process now. Flexi Disk history is real interesting, I'll try to make it to Rainbo Records. The Museum of Neon Art is another LA favorite of mine. Four stamps at a time and no cool down probably had an insane amount of hourly production, that would be an interesting number to know. Cheers