Date:Sun, 29 Jul 2007 08:29:10 -0400
Reply-To:Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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From:Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:Re: De-clicking (serious)
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Hi George:
Thanks for all this info. Very good to know. Do you know when the Crazy Glue formula changed? I
wondered why recent purchases haven't worked the same and now I know. I hope never to have to do
that kind of record repair but never say never when you have a transfer studio.
-- Tom Fine
----- Original Message -----
From: "George Brock-Nannestad" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2007 7:57 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] De-clicking (serious)
> From: Patent Tactics, George Brock-Nannestad
>
> Hi Tom and Steve and lurkers
>
> re: Crazy Glue
>
> Crazy Glue (cyanoacrylate) - a commercial product for the home user and
> similar products used to be an extremely good solution for 78s. The reason
> was two-fold: when it was the liquid, not the gel, it had an extremely small
> viscosity and very good wetting properties, which meant that it would be
> sucked into the narrowest crevices/capillaries. The curing only occurred when
> oxygen was absent, so closing a crack would cure the polymer. I have a nasty-
> smelling liquid which will make even completely open patches of polymer cure
> into a clear acrylic, and it was used for professional construction work, and
> I have never needed it for records.
>
> What remained on the surface could be wiped away with a paper towel -
> capillary action. If you did that quickly there was no corrosion. If you left
> it, it would become a sort of film that was easily removeable under a
> microscope (essential for all this kind of work). When a crack was too wide -
> this could easily happen if the record was warped as well as cracked, and if
> the flattening prior to the cementing was not entirely perfect, the polymer
> would not cure - too much oxygen. This is where childrens playdough came into
> its finest professional use: a blob on each side of the record, bridging the
> gap and excluding oxygen, would make the polymer cure.
>
> However, they have changed the formula for Crazy Glue and similar home
> products: it now cures due to exposure to humidity - a completely different
> and quite useless feature for my purpose. Possibly the shelf life of the
> product is better. I stopped teaching the restoration methods at the School
> of Conservation in Copenhagen in 1998 and have not had much need since, so I
> have not checked the market for professional cements, but I do believe that
> Loctite (R) has products that still work according to the "old" principle.
>
> Kind regards,
>
>
> George
>
> P.S. My course in restoration also taught how to forge and sharpen tools
> suitable for 36x magnification and fine-motor skills.
>
>
>
>
>> Hi Steve:
>>
>> Yes, all of what you say is absolutely true! And moreso with LPs because of
>> smaller grooves
>> (although disco singles have the widest/deepest grooves of any LP since the
>> advent of 0.7 mil
>> stylii). Like I said, we were shocked (shocked!) that it worked.
>>
>> By the way, I'd be reluctant to use real-deal Crazy Glue on shellac. No
>> chemistry facts to back me
>> up, but since shellac seems more fragile and "softer," I'd worry that Crazy
>> Glue would eat away the
>> edge on which it was applied and thus assure the "pie slice" wouldn't fit
>> correctly. Might be a
>> phantom menace ...
>>
>> -- Tom Fine
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Steven C. Barr(x)" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Saturday, July 28, 2007 7:25 PM
>> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] De-clicking (serious)
>>
>>
>> > ----- Original Message -----
>> > From: "Tom Fine" <[log in to unmask]>
>> >> In another case, I was doing a job transferring a large collection of
>> 12"
>> > dance-mix singles for a DJ
>> >> (he was going all-digital, actually using his iPods as the players). A
>> couple
>> > of the records were
>> >> cracked or chipped on the edges. In one case, we found the pie-shaped
>> slice
>> > that broke out of the
>> >> edge. I still can't believe this worked, but we were able to very
>> carefully
>> > glue it back into place
>> >> with Crazy-Glue, using a sewing needle to apply the glue in the
>> needle-thin
>> > part of the vinyl under
>> >> the grooves. I really couldn't believe it when it played very well with
>> just
>> > one big tick at the
>> >> "tip" of the pie-slice. I do not expect to get that lucky ever again.
>> The
>> > client was a really nice
>> >> guy or I would have charged extra for the awful music content of the job!
>> ;).
>> >>
>> > I have tried a number of times to similarly repair broken 78's which had
>> "bites"
>> > (and I had the "bitten" piece as well...!). My experience was that these
>> could
>> > be
>> > Crazy-Glued"...but, there was always a problem if the arc of the "bite"
>> was
>> > tangent (or whatever you call the meeting of two opposite-direction
>> arcs...?!)
>> > to the almost-circle of the playing-groove spiral at some point. Remember
>> that
>> > the playing groove is about 3 mil (.003") wide...so if you add a layer of
>> glue
>> > around .001" or more, the needle/stylus can easily slip into the wrong
>> groove
>> > at the repaired spot...!
>> >
>> > Steven C. Barr
>> >
>