Record Cleaning: Developing the Best Possible Methods

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I appreciate the comments, but for me right now is more important to clean at least a few records with what's available right away locally. If I can get Triton solution in the future, then obviously great, but I don't see it in the stores.

Basic record cleaning solution that worked well for me ... common ingredients available most places locally. When using grocery store ingredients ... I would add at least one water rinse cycle.

84% Aquafina or Distilled water.

12% Isopropyl Alcohol (91%)

04% Seventh Generation APC or any general purpose high quality "green" type cleaner using natural ingredients.

Couple drops of Kodak Photo Flo per 12oz (camera store) ... you could skip this step but it does a good job as a Surfactant.

I've moved on since this home brew ... but it worked well for me for years.
 
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I see.
I know. By volume it will last my lifetime; but Talas says the shelf life is 2 years. We'll see,
Ah, ok. I've got the Terg3/9 I bought from Talas nearly 10 years ago, still in their original containers on a shelf in the basement. They still do the job, as far as I can tell. :idea:
 
The ethoxylate detergents like Tergitols and Tritons are very stable in their concentrated forms as they oxidize very slowly. The only thing that prematurely breaks them down is enzymatic action from fungal contamination. Without this, 10 years storage in a sealed container is easily achievable.
 
Unfortunately, not everyone on this forum lives in the US of A. I'll find a distributor in Canada eventually.
Talas will ship to Canada...at last they used to. Mind you, shipping costs are pretty extreme these days.

If you do find a CDN distributor, please post it here so others can obtain their own supply more easily.
 
These will all work. You don't need Molecular Bio grade (the IBI one at Amazon) as it involves extra cost since they they certify these to be free of Protease, RNAse and DNase. We don't care about this in record cleaning (in fact it would be better if it had these activities!).
 
Hi everyone, thank you all for this wonderfully informative thread.

For 500 ml of solution I use
Hepa 1.0 ml/0.2%
Triton 1.4 ml/0.28%
ISO 25 ml/5%
Rinse/vac twice with distilled water using a different brush.
Is the Triton in this particular formula diluted or full strength?
 
Hi everyone, thank you all for this wonderfully informative thread.


Is the Triton in this particular formula diluted or full strength?


That would be raw stock, 1.0ml of undiluted Hepastat, 1.4ml of undiluted Triton, 25ml of 95% or higher isopropyl alcohol, and 474.6ml of distilled or reagent grade water.
 
I would not worry overmuch about a pad touching the record surfaces. I have many very high value LPs and I clean and rinse all of them with a soft fiber pad. I've never had a problem with introducing noise onto an LP by the use of an appropriate pad. Today for my final high purity water rinse, I'm using a painter's edging pad from Home Depot. Works like a charm.
 
I've been having good luck with AI #6 and a paint pad, using a squirt bottle to rinse the first side (Aquafina) and then doing the 2nd side and rinsing in an Aquafina filled spin clean. Once in a while the record is poppy and I have to re-wash but its the best I have gotten. I buy mostly new and VG+ discs.

I am contemplating moving to the AI 3 step if I can facilitate it without a vacuum.
 
new here, great thread, I read just around 20 pages, any discussion about the vacuum DRY best method after a ultrasonic baths?
I'm think buy a https://www.kabusa.com/frameset.htm?/ev1.htm $169 + shipping,
any other ways to dry without any pad touch the record or something?
I use something like this; but it cost a lot less. You can also buy just the vacuum attachment. I use a $9 shop vacuum I got at Home Depot that attaches to bucket.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/301890996703?
 
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