Vinyl Records Stamper Manufacturing

A lacquer is received from a cutting house with a packing slip that provides the matrix number of the lacquer, what type of lacquer the music was cut into (Apollo lacquer, Transco lacquer or MDC lacquer) the process required for the for this lacquer (1-step, 2-step or 3-step), which pressing facility the end stamper needs to be shipped too.

The lacquer is inspected as it’s taken out of its shipping box, the label area and the outside edge is prepped for the silvering process.

Once lacquers are prepped they are processed through the cleaning methods through several soap and rinsing baths.

The lacquer is next sprayed with silver nitrate with the purpose of making the music side conductive and ready for plating.

Once the silvering process is complete, the lacquer is mounted to a spindle and placed in the cooler pre-plate tank for a set time and amperage.

Once the pre-plate cycle is complete the lacquer is placed in the high speed plating tank, run at higher amps and remains in the tank until the desired thickness is achieved.

Pull completed lacquer from the high speed tank, unmount the lacquer disk from the spindle, rinse and dry the lacquer / metal master which is still attached.

Take dry lacquer and separated the metal master from the lacquer. The sprayed silver is now stuck to the metal master. Stack the spent lacquer in a safe location for listening to if needed later. At this point the metal master can be considered a “1-step operation” and the metal master is turned into a production stamper OR the metal master continues to be used as the next step in making a metal mother.

Take the metal master, clean it and remount it to the spindle and load into the high speed plating tank for the set amount of power and time to make the replicated copy that will be called the mother.

Once the cycle is completed, remove the metal master with the plated mother from the spindle, rinse and dry the part.

Separate the metal mother from the metal master and place both items in a non-contact stack of similar items for the next step of processing. At this point the metal master can now be processed into a stamper making this a “2-step operation” and the metal mother is file away and used to make replacement stampers at a later time. If this matrix number is slated to be a 3-step operation the next steps will take place.

Immediately after separating the metal master from the 1^st metal mother the metal master is remounted and loaded back into the high speed plating tank and a second mother is plated under the full cycle and time as the first. The metal master is then removed from the tank, unmounted, rinsed and dried before being put away as a filed part for future use. This is a key operation that saves the delicate silver surface from oxidizing on the master and if needed, a second mother for future stampers. To be clear, the metal master and 2^nd metal mother are not separated and are files as a single unit. This is now considered a 3-step operation where the master is saved and the 1^st mother is used to make the set of stampers that will be shipped to the pressing company.