What's your thoughts on this Vinyl cleaner?

I prefer something more elaborate/invasive but think setups like these are a good initial step. I really wish more record flipper/hawker types would give their records this treatment before they ship them to you. It certainly can't do any harm and it gets the external surface clean enough to avoid grinding the dust and debris into the grooves during shipping. "Well it looked NM when I packed it up". You get the idea.
 
Try air drying instead, less work.

Just get a dish rack and let the LP air dry or use a shop vacuum to dry.

Avoid "fiber" if possible.

You will have to deal with cleaning and drying the fiber afterwards.........:eek:

I'll giver a try sir!
 
Incidentally one way to get more mileage out of your process is switching to Triton X-100 detergent. One tablespoon in 100ml of distilled water. Let it sit over night to fully dissolve/disperse. Then just a few drops in the tank and
get it good and sudsy. Rinse with distilled water and a few drops of alcohol and let it dry.
 
Here's my method FWIW:
I use the SpinClean to clean the records exactly as the instructions say, but then I use a second SpinClean to rinse with plain distilled water, then air dry. The rinse cycle seems to get them cleaner. The white drying cloths that come with it leave fibers that end up on my stylus. I have added a huge C-clamp to both of my SpinCleans so that it grips the record tighter. I'm happy with the results.
Don't forget to use new sleeves after cleaning (especially if the old sleeve has a big hole in the middle), or at least blow the dust and dirt out of the sleeve first.
Yes but now you have bought two of them, at $79 each that's $158. For just $41 more, you get a (Record Doctor 5) machine that can't leave anything on the record like the spin clean can. Spin Clean's fluid is supposed to last through what 20 washes? That's a lot of dirt in the cleaning solution. I used to use a paint pad and alcohol /water mix but it left the dirt on the record, no matter how I dried it. Then, the stylus picks out long beards worth of dust. I got fed up.
 
Yes but now you have bought two of them, at $79 each that's $158. For just $41 more, you get a (Record Doctor 5) machine that can't leave anything on the record like the spin clean can. Spin Clean's fluid is supposed to last through what 20 washes? That's a lot of dirt in the cleaning solution. I used to use a paint pad and alcohol /water mix but it left the dirt on the record, no matter how I dried it. Then, the stylus picks out long beards worth of dust. I got fed up.

No, actually I only paid about $35 for the Studebaker record cleaner............if memory serves me right.
I know it wasn't $79, just can't do that. I'm a old broke has been truck driver that's disabled now and on SS and without my shop I'm unable to make pipes which brang in the extra cash
to subsidize it. Not whining here, just stating the facts. Besides wood glue is about the cheapest thing around and if I'm not satisfied with the cleaner there's always that.
I do appreciate your help and tips sir, maybe when I get my shop back I can look forward to things like a real vinyl cleaner.
 
No, actually I only paid about $35 for the Studebaker record cleaner............if memory serves me right.
I know it wasn't $79, just can't do that. I'm a old broke has been truck driver that's disabled now and on SS and without my shop I'm unable to make pipes which brang in the extra cash
to subsidize it. Not whining here, just stating the facts. Besides wood glue is about the cheapest thing around and if I'm not satisfied with the cleaner there's always that.
I do appreciate your help and tips sir, maybe when I get my shop back I can look forward to things like a real vinyl cleaner.
Sorry, the comment was really for Jeff 449 but the sentiment applies to all.
 
Actually $35 bucks sounds good and I'm guessing more in line with what the Spin Clean (as much as I love it) should cost. I would have probably bought two of them to do a water only rinse if they were $35 or $40 bucks.
 
Actually $35 bucks sounds good and I'm guessing more in line with what the Spin Clean (as much as I love it) should cost. I would have probably bought two of them to do a water only rinse if they were $35 or $40 bucks.

Must be nice to have money! cheesy.gif
 
The important thing is that you've discovered cleaning your records. :D I wouldn't bother with the wood glue...it's expensive and inefficient when you consider the time and the amount of glue involved.

I'll make my pitch for the Record Doctor V: $199 shipped... Here's the deal in comparing it to Spin-Clean and clones like your current one. The Spin-Clean is only truly clean on the first record. With each subsequent record, the bath gets dirtier and dirtier, until you have to change out the fluid. Records have to manually dry...either by air or with very clean microfiber towels. Air drying allows the record to be recontaminated with airborne dust, and any particles in the successively dirtier bath end up back on the record. Towel drying introduces particles that might be on the towel and smears around any particles that were in the bath.

With the Record Doctor V, you use the paint pad to swirl around/scrub the grooves after applying record cleaning fluid. Once thoroughly coated with fluid, you flip the record over, then apply to the other side. Then turn the unit on and, using the vacuum (and gravity), suck the fluid off the underside of the record (the first side you applied fluid to/scrubbed). Then flip over again and repeat. Because of the small platter size (it's the size of the label), your grooves never touch anything after they've been cleaned. All fluid is sucked off of the record, as are the contaminants. When you're done, you lift a dry, pristine on both sides record off of the unit and are ready to play it.

The fluid that I use is made in my town by a local record enthusiast who's launched his own company. www.soundsolutionproducts.com I used to make my own, but this works much better and is fairly affordable...I get the 16 oz bottles and they last me for about 100 or so cleanings. The paint pad I picked up at my local big box lumber store. Look for one with a 4" pad... 4 inches is the distance from the label to the record edge.
 
That sounds great sir and I'd love to have a unit as such but, I just can't afford that kind of money, maybe someday but, not today.
I do appreciate your help and suggestions.
 
If you can't locate distilled water easily, just run your hot water until it gets real hot then fill a gallon jug. Let it cool then use that. Most minerals and nasties in the water usually will settle in the bottom of the water heater. It's the next best think. Also works well for your wet cell batteries. ( automotive type.)
Rubbish. Might drive off some of the volatiles such as chlorine, but does absolutely nothing for dissolved solids, such as iron, calcium carbonate, manganese (i.e. the things cause hard water), nor salt.
 
Here's another thing to try. Do you have a vacuum cleaner with a hose or hose attachment? You can purchase a wand on the auction site for about $25 that will connect to your vacuum and then, using either your turntable or (better) an old broken one as the work surface, do pretty much the same thing...apply record cleaning fluid (you can make a pretty good one out of distilled water, 90-something percent iso alcohol and a few drops of Dawn), swirl/scrub with a paint pad and then vacuum it off with the wand and turning the record by hand. Flip, repeat.

I did this for many years before I bought my Record Doctor V. At first, I made my own wand out of PVC pipe and later bought one that was nicer and a little better constructed.

The downside to this is you have to drag all the stuff out whenever you want to clean a record. Inconvenience, in short. But the price is right.
 
Here's another thing to try. Do you have a vacuum cleaner with a hose or hose attachment? You can purchase a wand on the auction site for about $25 that will connect to your vacuum and then, using either your turntable or (better) an old broken one as the work surface, do pretty much the same thing...apply record cleaning fluid (you can make a pretty good one out of distilled water, 90-something percent iso alcohol and a few drops of Dawn), swirl/scrub with a paint pad and then vacuum it off with the wand and turning the record by hand. Flip, repeat.

I did this for many years before I bought my Record Doctor V. At first, I made my own wand out of PVC pipe and later bought one that was nicer and a little better constructed.

The downside to this is you have to drag all the stuff out whenever you want to clean a record. Inconvenience, in short. But the price is right.

I'll look into that sir, my shop vac (water compatible) is in storage right now but, we'll get'er out and give that a try when time and my back permits.;)
 
Actually, the amount of fluid on the record is almost completely vaporized by the time it travels up the hose...you don't necessarily have to use a vac designed for vacuuming up puddles. :D

And it's Madame, but don't call me that, it sounds like I run a whorehouse.
 
Oops! Sorry Ma'am, I see your point but, just don't want the least bit of moisture in the hose of my nice home vacuum, it'll mix with any dust that's in it and make muddy spots.
 
Tedrick, if it doesn't remove a lot of the nasties, then why does the hot water lines in a camper or a house freeze before the cold, also what is all the crap in the bottom of the water heater if you flush it out periodically.
 
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