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Need information on the silvering process for lacquer master recordings

I am new to the silvering process used to coat lacquer masters to make vinyl records from. I am looking for a knowledgable plating engineer with experience in this process to ask questions. The problem I am having is when we separate the silvered master from the lacquer, tiny pieces of silver are adhereing to the lacquer. That means the silvered surface of the master is no longer smooth and pure. The nickel plates then made from that silvered master will carry those defects over to the vinyl record when they are pressed. I am looking for information about stannous chloride, Quillia (saponin), the silvering solution and how they actually interplay with each other.
Any help is this area would be greatly appreciated.

Jay Fairfax
record manufacturing - Canoga Park, California
May 9, 2008

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Hi, Jay. IF you have access to old issues of the plating magazines like Plating & Surface Finishing and "Products Finishing" you can do a computerizeed literature search and find articles about this. Two-part silvering was used in videodisc manufacturing and the early days od CD-like specialty optical discs, so it offers far more than enough resolution for vinyl discs. My understanding is that some manufacturers left the silver ragged as you described, whereas others stripped the silver from the mother. It may be that your silver is too thick. Do you apply it on a spin table?

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
May 28, 2008