The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

It's difficult to believe how complicated this project has been. This is by far the most pieces I've ever needed to build for a mold.
The end result however is a great sounding reproducer, with a nice squishy, properly fitting gasket. It's a direct copy from a few good condition gaskets I had found, please don't ask how many reproducers I had to buy to find them
There are still a few issues with air bubbles, trimming and then color; but those are all cosmetic issues....

Fascinating! I didn't even know the originals were one piece, but it always seemed like it on the few I've opened up and chipped apart. Do you mold the rubber directly around the diaphragm? I appreciate all of you who tinker with replacing rubber components with modern materials.

I have used an industrial, 2 part Silicone for custom O-rings and the color was a nice reddish brown. No bubbles or voids either. I used brass molds, but Teflon would probably be a good mold material for this application.

I may be wrong but I thought the best gaskets to use on these Victor reproducers are the newly made (one piece) thin hollow core gaskets I've seen poping up at the Wayne talking machine show (?)

The new gaskets being sold are not one piece gaskets....

Sean

I wasn't sure,,, thanks

The single piece red rubber gasket rings have been available to buy for many years. They are exact replicas and I've seen them on UK Ebay. Personally speaking I just use replacement tubing of the appropriate size and replace the gaskets as I would any other sound-box but for those who have to have an identical part for the sake of authenticity I'd recommend buying the new parts. The UK seller 'soundgen' used to have them (a member here) but I can't be certain if they're still available. If not, you might try Ko Notenboom in the Netherlands.

I should have clarified, the one piece gaskets aren't readily available from suppliers here like Ron Sitko.

Sean

Donnie,
I am looking forward to trying out one of your gaskets. I've certainly been underwhelmed by the replacement #2 gaskets I've had so far. (By the way, I kind of like the blue color. ).

Martin

Jwb88 wrote: Do you mold the rubber directly around the diaphragm?

Yes. I'm not 100% positive that it's the original spec, but it seems correct.

And I've not been able to locate a correct one piece gasket ANYWHERE. If one is available then I just blew a whole lot of time building this mold