Step 2: Electroplating

The second step includes an electrolysis process followed by creating a father and mother. Initially the lacquer disc is coated in a thin silver layer. Next, the electrolysis bath plates the lacquers with a thin layer of nickel.

The father is created from the lacquer, which is therefore a negative copy of the lacquer.

The mother, which is used to create the stamper in the third step, is made from the father. The mother matches the grooves in the original lacquer. We often listen to the mothers on a record player to look for impurities before moving to Step 3.

Effective May 1, 2024, The Vinyl Lab now offers electroplating! We now create the fathers, mothers and stampers in-house!

Step 4: Vinyl Pressing

We use the the fully automated Pheenix Alpha AD12, the most sophisticated vinyl pressing machine on the market.

The pressing machine also requires several pieces of supporting equipment, such as our 30hp boiler that creates over 1000 pounds of steam per hour at 200 PSI to deliver steam in 11 second cycles to make the vinyl puck malleable enough to be pressed into the stampers along with a 500 gallon hot cold tank, and chiller when the humidity is high, used to deliver cold water to the press at 200 psi in 11 second intervals to cool the vinyl so that it can be handled without damage.

The water is then returned to the hot side of the tank in a closed loop system to begin cooling for it to be recycled back into the press. The stamper set (sides A and B) are used to stamp the vinyl puck made of PVC into the vinyl record using the combination of steam and chilled water. 

Step 6: Packaging

The packaging can include the center label on the vinyl record (inserted into the sleeve), sleeve (inserted into the jacket), jacket, any items to insert into the jacket, shrink wrap and any stickers for the outer wrapping of each vinyl record.

All of these options are customizable for your specific project and individual needs. The center label is applied during Step 4 above, during the vinyl pressing process. After some wait time to ensure flatness, the vinyl record is inserted into the sleeve, then the sleeve is inserted into the jacket.

Any insertions, such as download cards, stickers, booklets or other printed materials, are subsequently inserted into the jacket. The vinyl records are now in jackets, then shrink-wrapped. As on option, we can then apply any required stickers to the shrink wrap.