A guy at the Columbus record show told me to heat my blanks before cutting, and my grooves stopped cracking
I was at a small record show in Columbus last month and got talking to this older guy who cuts his own dubplates at home. He watched me complain about my styrene blanks cracking near the edge and just said 'warm them up first, dummy.' I started putting my blanks on a $15 seedling heat mat for about 20 minutes before cutting, and the difference was nuts, no more chipping and the grooves came out way cleaner. Tbh I wasted probably 30 blanks over 6 months thinking my cutting head was the problem. Has anyone else tried warming their blanks, or do you just deal with the cracks?
Wait, a seedling heat mat? That's wild, I would've never thought to use something from a garden store on blanks. I mean 30 blanks down the drain over 6 months is rough, that's real money just gone. Maybe it's just me but I'd be kinda mad nobody told me sooner.