Ultra Sonic cleaner

[Thunderbox]

Back home now and I have cleaned about 3 dozen records. I use a solution of .1% triton x-100 and about 2.5% alcohol. I run the US cleaner for 11 minutes and when completed I vacuum the records to get the solution off and then rinse with distilled water and vacuum that off also. It seems to work well and is better than any single method I have previously used. When the weather warms up I am going to try this method in conjunction with a high pressure washer I am experimenting with.

 

[dcmfan]

hi dcmfan looks like you've got the same chinese ultrasonic cleaner. Cheap in Australia 220aud. and it works well. I am using tapwater with 2 drops of detergent and a few drops of photo negative wetting agent. I am setting the temp at 30C start but it creeps up to 40C at the end of the batch. I use a dowell through the records, separated by clothes pegs so there are 3 on each side of the basket handles.I set for 5mins ,rotate 45 degrees and start again , giving about 20 mins. total. let dry under fan and wipe with new microfibre cloth. Works for me but doesnt remove deep impacted particles that give loud pops .

Yup, I definitely went to the cheap side for the ultrasonic cleaner, but it works well for me.

In my cleaning solution, I'm using a higher amount of detergent (about 5ml per gallon) and nothing like a wetting agent. Everything gets a separate rinse after the US cleaning so I can go with a higher detergent in my cleaning solution.

I had the same issue with heat that you describe - I can set the temperature on the unit and the heating starts, but it doesn't shut off when the target temperature is reached. I have to watch it and manually shut it off when the temperature gets close to 30C. A couple of times I've let it run too long and had to float a small plastic bag of ice in the tank to cool it back down to where I wanted it to be.