First Aid for Blue Amberol Cylinder

[NashTwin8]

Hello to All,

I went to clean a few more of my BA cylinders yesterday, and found one that has a large section of its plaster core broken away and missing. I'd say the irregularly-shaped hole is approximately 2 inches (5 cm) across on average.

Is there a good way to try to repair this cylinder? The outer material of the cylinder looks to be in fairly good condition.

Thanks to all for your helpful suggestions and advice.

Take care,

Jerry

[amberolaguy]

Yes! You can repair this

1. If there are not cracks you need to do one of the following:

a. White plaster inside- mix up some white plaster in a bowl, and with a knife spread it into the cylinder,
make sure the plaster is thick and not runny. You do not want water in the cylinder, it can damage the
plaster by then causing cracks. Spread it out then when finished sand and ream it out it will work nice.

b. If it is black plaster, mix some black dye in the plaster, mix well and thick and apply as directed
above, sand and or ream as necessary.

2. If you have cracks you can use a very small drill and make a hole at the end of the crack to prevent
spreading, fill it with a suitable filler (plastic repair, wet sand with very fine sandpaper) and then
your back in business.

[amberolaguy1]

Yes! You can repair this

1. If there are not cracks you need to do one of the following:

a. White plaster inside- mix up some white plaster in a bowl, and with a knife spread it into the cylinder,
make sure the plaster is thick and not runny. You do not want water in the cylinder, it can damage the
plaster by then causing cracks. Spread it out then when finished sand and ream it out it will work nice.

b. If it is black plaster, mix some black dye in the plaster, mix well and thick and apply as directed
above, sand and or ream as necessary.

2. If you have cracks you can use a very small drill and make a hole at the end of the crack to prevent
spreading, fill it with a suitable filler (plastic repair, wet sand with very fine sandpaper) and then
your back in business.

[NashTwin8]

Thank you for the advice! I'll give it a try and see what happens.

[Flvice]

NashTwin8 or others,

I was searching about the posibility of repairing / replastering a blue amberol record and found this recent thread on the subject. I'm going to try it and hope that I can do a good job. The record has lost a bit more that half of the plaster but I can still play it. It sounds good and its a 5000 series record so I would like to save it.

Nash, did you attempt the repair? any luck? any tips? Others can chime in too.. I love the advice on here.

[VintageTechnologies]

I once attempted repairing an extreme case: all of the plaster was missing and the celluloid was split all the way across. I used a microscope to align the grooves along the split, and bits of Scotch tape inside and out to hold the split laterally and vertically aligned and closed. I then laid a seam of expoxy glue on top of the split inside the record. After the expoxy cured, I inserted an old mandrel inside of the record and poured in a slurry of plaster down the open end of the record. Things were looking great until the plaster expanded as it dried, forcing the split apart again. Perhaps some other material would not expand as it cures.