silicone flange seals for Victrola Orthophonic, #2, and #4

[MicaMonster]

I'm starting to entertain ideas in getting these made. Any of you experiment with silicone flanges? The hard rubber ones that are being made today are too hard, and don't sound nearly as good as a soft rubber flange.

I removed the original rubber from my HMV #4, and sealed the tone arm sleeve in with silicone. We'll know tomorrow night how it sounds!

-W

[B.B.B]

As long as it seals air-tight, I'll think you'll be very pleased with the results.

I used liquid silicone gasket for 2 different Columbia Viva-Tonal #16 reproducers, since there is no modern replacement available, you have to make your own.
And I was very pleased. Not only did it seal very tight, it also is very soft, but still stable enough to hold the reproducer firmly.

Liquid gasket is available at auto-parts stores, bicycle shops & of course online, even at eBay.
It comes both in clear & white & I've also seen in red & black color.



I am in no way an expert nor an engineer, but to my layman brain, it makes good sense to have a flange that is a soft as possible, without compromising stability ofcourse.
It should allow the reproducer to track freely & also a softer material, but still kind of sticky, like soft silicone, should make for an excellent air-tight seal.

If one would have the time & some spare brass inserts for reproducers, it would be great fun to make a mold, perhaps out of silicone or latex & try out some different types of silicone & molding resins.

IIRC there was a discussion not that long a go at some of all the phonograph related board around, were someone wrote about a prototype flange they had gotten from someone who was trying to make flanges (I think it was for exhibitions, not sure.)
The maker gave it away, thinking it was a failure, since it was waaaaay to soft, compared to an original.
But, they writer stated that it was the best flange he had ever tried, just because it was so soft.

[larryh]

Wow, I would resist just sort of caulking the diaphragms in place with any silicone. We had a Glazing ball here that the seller suggested we Silicone the ball to the stand so it wouldn't be easily dislodged. When a bad storm finally overturned it this winter I was left with a total impossible mess trying to remove the remaining glass and silicone from the base. What a mess. I can only wonder how it would be to remove from the tiny sometimes fragile grooves of a diaphragm?

On the Viva Tonal I used a standard round rope type rubber gasket and it played beautifully. I would experiment with any product that could easily be reversed but cured silicone is not one of those in my book.

Larry

[B.B.B]

Wow, I would resist just sort of caulking the diaphragms in place with any silicone. We had a Glazing ball here that the seller suggested we Silicone the ball to the stand so it wouldn't be easily dislodged. When a bad storm finally overturned it this winter I was left with a total impossible mess trying to remove the remaining glass and silicone from the base. What a mess. I can only wonder how it would be to remove from the tiny sometimes fragile grooves of a diaphragm?

On the Viva Tonal I used a standard round rope type rubber gasket and it played beautifully. I would experiment with any product that could easily be reversed but cured silicone is not one of those in my book.

Larry

Just use a silicone stripper, no worries. Available everywhere, cost a few $ for a can.

[OrthoFan]

Wow, I would resist just sort of caulking the diaphragms in place with any silicone. Larry

Hi Larry:

I think what they're talking about, though, is using silicone for the back flange gasket of the sound box -- where it connects to the tonearm -- and not for the diaphragm, itself.

You can (barely) see the red colored back flange gasket in this image:

[larryh]

Ok, I screwed up, I wasn't reading carefully enough to catch the fact it was the tone arm seal. That makes a lot more sense, Still how does it form a seal without grabbing to both sides making removal difficult?

[OrthoFan]

... Still how does it form a seal without grabbing to both sides making removal difficult?

I think in the case of a #2 or #4 sound box, it would be a relatively permanent installation, so removal would not be that much of an issue. (As noted above, there are silicone removers available, so it could be removed if needed, at some point.)

In the case of a Viva-Tonal sound box, I would spread some silicone caulk--of the appropriate thickness; leveling the surface--onto a non-stick surface, such as an old Teflon coated pan, or a plastic laminated surface. After it dries, it can be carefully peeled off and cut to the appropriate shape. Removal should then be easy, if a more appropriate gasketing material becomes available at some point.