How to Pirate a Vinyl Record the Hard Way

One of my most fun projects to date! I take a Johnny Cash reissue 7” vinyl record and duplicate it with a silicone rubber mold and liquid plastic. To be quite honest I was surprised on how much detail the mold can handle as the duplicated record played almost perfectly. You can listen to the ripped audio on my website. There was a few more pops and clicks than the original record and I’m guessing that’s from dust or not cleaning the original enough beforehand. Obviously pirating and duplicating any copyrighted material is prohibited but in the spirit of making and experimentation this was a fun project.

Nail, screw or glue 4 pieces of wood big enough to hold your record. Here I'm just using plywood and some screws. You'll want it to be an inch or two bigger than your record. The internal dimensions of my mold is 9".

Using some tub and tile adhesive attach your mold to a piece of glass. I'm using a large mirror I have laying around.

Now caulk the inside of the mold. This will keep the silicone rubber from leaking out.

Now mix up equal parts Smooth-On Silicone OOMOO 30. This is a silicone rubber compound for making molds. You'll want to mix this thoroughly for 3 minutes.

Pour in just enough to cover the record. You'll also want to plug the spindle hole of your record. I'm using a 45 RPM adapter/plastic insert.

Use a brush to push in the silicone rubber into the record grooves. This will ensure there is no trapped air.

Pour in the rest of the silicone mixture making sure everything is covered edge-to-edge. Let this dry overnight.

Once the silicone rubber has had a chance to dry overnight carefully peel it out of the mold.

You should have a clean mold free of air bubbles. It's pretty amazing how these tiny grooves leave an impression in the silicone rubber.

Now it's time to mix up the liquid plastic resin. I'm using Smooth-On Smooth-Cast 300. Make sure to mix thoroughly and work quickly as the liquid plastic starts to set in just a few minutes.

Now pour in the liquid plastic resin into the silicone mold. Try your best to keep it from spilling out of the round impression. I did get some spill-over because my bench is not level. This can be cleaned up with a knife or bandsaw later. You'll also want to plug the spindle hole of your record. I'm using a 45 RPM adapter/plastic insert. Let this cure for at least 1 hour.

Once it has time to cure for at least one hour you can pull it out of the mold. Since I had some spill-over I'm cleaning up the edges on my bandsaw. You could easily do this with a utility knife.

I took a photo of the label and printed it out on on some shipping label stock. Cut it out with some scissors or an X-Acto knife at attach it to the record.

And that's it! Put on that record and turn it up! You can listen to a ripped copy of the duplicated record on my website along with many more tutorials!

https://makesomething.tv/how-pirate-vinyl-record-hard-way