I moved up to around 138 and it’s been a champ for me.I've used the Pi on new and old vinyl. Stay below 135F and always use a separate timer.
Also unplug it when not in use. Power outages have triggered it to come on sometimes.
Otherwise it's super for the task at hand.
As per my comment above, if you’re not gonna spring for pi, medium with pillow on top is my friend. Pillow reduces uneven heat dissipation and keeps warmer than regular medium, and overall still much less likely to F something up due to high heat.
fwiw I’ve only ever had issues with one colored record, and it was a vintage transparent pressing. I treat most of my cooks the same regardless.
I would use medium, but i haven’t had any over-cook problems. However, if I was worried about it even slightly, I’d start low and short and work my way up time and temp until it goes how you want. You’ll never be worse off by under cooking.Would you still do a pillow on a red vinyl with medium... instead of just cooking on low?
The Pi often goes on sale. I think mine was $249 shipped, no tax. I'm a relative newb to it (have had it since end of December). Super simple to use. The app seems to work really well and you can set it to turn off after X amount of time. It takes about 1 hour to get up to temp, so I do everything at 132 for about 4 hours (including the one hour warm up) and that's solved just about every warp so far for me. Then I let it cool to around 80 degrees before taking the record out. Only ones I haven't been able to fix were really bad edge warps from heat where the disc/grooves were already melted. No difference for color vinyl or anything. I think some people worry about certain vinyl formulations and the Pi has a whole guide of recommendations for thinner records, etc.With warps being the norm, I'm about to pull my vinyl flat out and put in some work. Hopefully the key words work as I remember red being a tricky thing to cook.
But also, my "oven" is on the old side. Have the improved the tech enough to justify buying a new one? Mine cooks uneven and temps fluctuate pretty wildly.
Edit- seeing mention of this PI thing. Looks fancy. But also like you have to buy the whole thing and not just the oven. Is it truly worth the upgrade?
I do not have any dividers on the mapleshades. Dividers take up precious room that could be used for records haha. Do you think dividers would make them not warp or something? or you're worried about having too much free space in them?Even now, going through things-- the copy of Flower Boy I just checked has completely unwarped. Probably been a year since I last checked it. And now, I'm in a stable place with nice ass shelving and have the itch to start collecting again. Though @MikeH, I've been thinking... do you think dividers are necessary on these mapleshades? Its sooo many records per slot compared to a Kallax.
I do not have any dividers on the mapleshades. Dividers take up precious room that could be used for records haha. Do you think dividers would make them not warp or something? or you're worried about having too much free space in them?
The Groovy Pouch has significant temperature variations between units, that’s why they include a thermometer. On my unit, low is good. Medium is WAY too hot.I would use medium, but i haven’t had any over-cook problems. However, if I was worried about it even slightly, I’d start low and short and work my way up time and temp until it goes how you want. You’ll never be worse off by under cooking.
I've used the Pi on new and old vinyl. Stay below 135F and always use a separate timer.
Also unplug it when not in use. Power outages have triggered it to come on sometimes.
Otherwise it's super for the task at hand.
I have settled on 132 for 4 hours (which includes the 1 hour it takes to get up to temp). In the app, I made a scene to turn off the unit, and as soon as I turn the machine on, I set the timer on the scene to be 4 hours from then. I haven't shifted any settings for color. You can probably do less than 4 hours (3 hours cook) but I find it has worked on everything so far and I really don't care to do multiple runs of an hour then 2 hours, etc to fine tune it or put something back in if the warp isn't fixed.So a random $750 check landed yesterday. I'm putting $500 of it into savings because I'm gonna need a new furnace soon. But I decided to put the other $250 towards the Pi after having to bake the St Vincent a second time. Partially my fault because I realized low was only going up to 120 with the record in (had been measuring before putting flat in). However, it took so much babysitting (had to flip up to high to get it hot, then realized it had hit 145 and kicked it down to medium) that I'm willing to give the Pi a trial run. If it works I'll attempt to sell the vinyl flat for $75 on Facebook Marketplace or something.
Do you have a standard bake time? Do you shift that bake time depending on color?
I just keep it simple for everything.So a random $750 check landed yesterday. I'm putting $500 of it into savings because I'm gonna need a new furnace soon. But I decided to put the other $250 towards the Pi after having to bake the St Vincent a second time. Partially my fault because I realized low was only going up to 120 with the record in (had been measuring before putting flat in). However, it took so much babysitting (had to flip up to high to get it hot, then realized it had hit 145 and kicked it down to medium) that I'm willing to give the Pi a trial run. If it works I'll attempt to sell the vinyl flat for $75 on Facebook Marketplace or something.
Do you have a standard bake time? Do you shift that bake time depending on color?
@DownIsTheNewUp --this is from the record pi folks. May be of use to you! But as @Jbraswell said, I do a similar thing and just keep it simple. 132 has never failed me yet but you could go higher. I would recommend being home the first time you do it. I do know one person whose temperature regulator was not turning off and the temp kept climbing, so just to be sure yours is working, might be worth being there and checking on it every 30 min or so.
I believe you can also set the app up to turn off if it goes above a certain temp to be safe.
We've found every warp is different and also depends on the weight of the vinyl. A simple digital kitchen scale (tons on Amazon) can be used to weigh your records in grams.Here are some additional tips to help you on your flattening journey.Your safest bet is to first increase bake time and check results. If you're not satisfied then increase temp.
- Our instructions recommend starting your first bake for 2 hrs at 125F and go from there. I.e., try baking @ 125F for 2 hrs, then 3 hrs, then 4 hrs, etc., for up to 12 hrs.
- Generally speaking you're cool to start the bake at 135F if your record is over 125g. Here in the lab we typically go right to 135F on anything over 125g. The exception would be if the record is rare and we want to be particularly risk averse - then we typically try a lower temp at first. Then do the incremental time increase if/as needed.
- The heavier the record is, you can generally increase the heat. I.e., for 180g you could go up to 140F if 135F doesn't provide results. Always start with 2 hrs, then increase time if/as needed.
- Dynaflex: we caution not going above 130F. If you're not getting results, try baking longer - for like 6 hrs, then 7 hrs, etc., for up to 12 hrs. Increasing the heat above 130F could impact the integrity of Dynaflex.
- Picture Discs: we don't recommend trying to flatten picture discs at all due to the double-sided printed coating that is sealed over the vinyl on the discs. Applying heat may (1) not penetrate easily through that coating to impact the warp positively and (2) could damage the picture/artwork.
- Edge Warps: rippled edges can be tough but we have had success but it depends on the shape. Tight curled ripples are the hardest to fix. Ones that are so tight they are almost creases are particularly hard. Sometimes 7" edges are actually a bit easier than 12" edge warps though.
- Dish Warps: the best first attempt is to have the "high side" up of the dish so it looks like an upside down dish. Also true in general it's best to first try baking with the high side up, although this can vary based on the warp type in what your definition of "high side" is depending on shape. Oftentimes we will start with the high side up for a bake session and then eventually flip it over for another bake session with a longer duration and incremental temp increase.
- After Bake Cool Down: generally speaking it's best to let the record gradually cool down. This helps prevent any new warps from forming as it cools and also helps it set in place flat. It's not essential to leave the plates in the heating case for cooldown since the metal plates retain heat, but we do recommend letting it sit for around 45 minutes to cool down before removing
@DownIsTheNewUp --this is from the record pi folks. May be of use to you! But as @Jbraswell said, I do a similar thing and just keep it simple. 132 has never failed me yet but you could go higher. I would recommend being home the first time you do it. I do know one person whose temperature regulator was not turning off and the temp kept climbing, so just to be sure yours is working, might be worth being there and checking on it every 30 min or so.
I believe you can also set the app up to turn off if it goes above a certain temp to be safe.
We've found every warp is different and also depends on the weight of the vinyl. A simple digital kitchen scale (tons on Amazon) can be used to weigh your records in grams.Here are some additional tips to help you on your flattening journey.Your safest bet is to first increase bake time and check results. If you're not satisfied then increase temp.
- Our instructions recommend starting your first bake for 2 hrs at 125F and go from there. I.e., try baking @ 125F for 2 hrs, then 3 hrs, then 4 hrs, etc., for up to 12 hrs.
- Generally speaking you're cool to start the bake at 135F if your record is over 125g. Here in the lab we typically go right to 135F on anything over 125g. The exception would be if the record is rare and we want to be particularly risk averse - then we typically try a lower temp at first. Then do the incremental time increase if/as needed.
- The heavier the record is, you can generally increase the heat. I.e., for 180g you could go up to 140F if 135F doesn't provide results. Always start with 2 hrs, then increase time if/as needed.
- Dynaflex: we caution not going above 130F. If you're not getting results, try baking longer - for like 6 hrs, then 7 hrs, etc., for up to 12 hrs. Increasing the heat above 130F could impact the integrity of Dynaflex.
- Picture Discs: we don't recommend trying to flatten picture discs at all due to the double-sided printed coating that is sealed over the vinyl on the discs. Applying heat may (1) not penetrate easily through that coating to impact the warp positively and (2) could damage the picture/artwork.
- Edge Warps: rippled edges can be tough but we have had success but it depends on the shape. Tight curled ripples are the hardest to fix. Ones that are so tight they are almost creases are particularly hard. Sometimes 7" edges are actually a bit easier than 12" edge warps though.
- Dish Warps: the best first attempt is to have the "high side" up of the dish so it looks like an upside down dish. Also true in general it's best to first try baking with the high side up, although this can vary based on the warp type in what your definition of "high side" is depending on shape. Oftentimes we will start with the high side up for a bake session and then eventually flip it over for another bake session with a longer duration and incremental temp increase.
- After Bake Cool Down: generally speaking it's best to let the record gradually cool down. This helps prevent any new warps from forming as it cools and also helps it set in place flat. It's not essential to leave the plates in the heating case for cooldown since the metal plates retain heat, but we do recommend letting it sit for around 45 minutes to cool down before removing
Let us know how it goes! You could also post the vinyl flat in the sales threads here.Landed today. Testing the temp control and then baking this Yves Tmor that I bought at Amoeba last month and then discovered was a weird type of warped upon returning to Chicago. Doesn't appear that warped on the edges but must be in the center cause it moves backwards if you have a "brush" on it pre-spin.
Wish me luck. Also, if anybody is Chicago adjacent and wants a vinyl flat, I'll let go of mine for cheap. Cause shipping it seems stupid.
Let us know how it goes! You could also post the vinyl flat in the sales threads here.
I flattened a record with a gnarly dish warp yesterday and came out surprisingly flat today. Still a tiny bit of a warp but much more playable. Before it had awful whooshes on the first track that are now gone
Hmm. Do you have a screenshot of your settings?So on the test run (no record), the alarm went off indicating the pouch reached 136 (alarm temp) instead of the 125 it's supposed to stick to. Thanks for warning me to do the test run.
Def defective regulation or did I fuck up somewhere?
Hmm. Do you have a screenshot of your settings?
This is what I have mine set for on the app:
View attachment 226603
Did the red light on the white box turn on and off to regulate temp? Or was it just on the whole time once you got up to temp? The red light on the white box should turn on then off periodically to turn the heating element on and off when it gets too low or too high.