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I like the "Santa Claus Lives in your Phonograph" cylinder so much I sold my original Diamond Disc version.

How many of these people make Blue Amberols? A lot of wax being made, but not the amberols. I have bought from Norman at Berlin, great cylinders.

I'm not sure if everyone posting here realizes this, but Rob's (Edisonia) cylinders are resin cast, somewhat like blue amberols, they're not wax, they're very sturdy and as far as I can tell, basically non-breakable. I have a few of them and they're very nice.

Sean

Orthosean,

Your observation is pretty much spot-on!

As far as I know, all of the presently manufactured cylinders other than the brown
wax ones, are being cast using epoxy resin.

The original old genuine Edison Blue Amberols
were made using a thin tubular sleeve of
celluloid. This celluloid is basically the
same nitrocellulose material used during that
same era to make movie film. It's the stuff
that would catch fire occasionally in the
movie projector, and very quickly ignite
and burn up the whole reel of film, in a
flash.

Since we here in the modern world have no
way to easily duplicate the complicated and
very large and ungainly machinery required
to produce these sleeves, then heat them,
press the sound grooves in, then shrink
it on to a plaster-paris core, it has
been found that casting these hard plastic
cylinders using epoxy resin is about the
only viable alternative.

As far as I know, Mr. Rob Lomas is using
about the same technique as our friends
at Vulcan Records across the Atlantic Ocean
are using.

It's the same material that Charley Hummel's
recently re-made Blue Amberol record cast
from one of the very few surviving genuine
Edison Blue Amberol molds, was made.

I believe the making of that record was contracted out to Vulcan.

There is some debate as to the relative hardness of the epoxy compared to the
original Blue Amberol celluloid.

My guess would be that it's probably at
least as hard and durable as the original
stuff, and probably even better.

The real test for this material would be to
play that Diamond Disc which Charley Hummel
had made. Play it a few hundred times and
see what happens. As far as I know, it too
is epoxy resin.

The Richards Laboratories blanks have been used as masters for some of these epoxy resin castings. I got one report back about them
which said that out of all the blanks currently made, the RL ones are the only ones that can stand up to the intense heat and cool
cycle involved in the process, to survive,
be shaved, and used again. The others
apparently crack apart, only being useful
for making one mold.

Chuck

Rob has awesome cylinders, they are very robust and great titles. I am looking forward to many more, especially those late issues like Vaughn Deleath etc.

I'd like to find a plastic copy of a Columbia wax record for my Columbia BS.

Rob,
You have a PM.
Thanks
John