GreatTone
Super Member
I know, another record cleaning machine (RCM) thread. But I am so excited about my DIY RCM, that I wanted others who might be on the fence to take the plunge. And you can make one for $50, max.
I have known I needed a RCM for a long time. I have a number of records that had a huge amount of surface noise -- crackling that was so loud, it actually competed with the level of the music. Some of these were thrift store finds that I thoroughly cleaned in the sink, but were still noisy. Some were old albums from my collection. Some were even $50 brand new audiophile reissues that arrived crackling like crazy. When I would come across an album like that, I suspected that a RCM would fix it, so I just put them away until the day I got one.
Now I have one and the results are beyond what I hoped.
I have been planning to build a RCM for some time, as I don't have $500+ to spend on a VPI or similar machine. I scrounged an old vacuum cleaner from the curb for the motor, and I was going to build it into a box with a junked turntable for the platter. But I could never seem to get around to it. So finally last weekend, I got sick of the crackling and went to Sears and bought their cheapest, smallest ShopVac for $30. Then I pulled out an old turntable I had in the attic. The most time-consuming part was modifying the vacuum's crevice tool to become a record-vac.
I cut the end off the crevice tool with a hack saw, then filled the opening with a piece of scrap. I then filled the end with epoxy, making sure to seal it. I let it dry, and here is what I ended up with:
Here is a shot of the sealed end:
I cut a 1/16th" slot along the edge using a cutoff wheel on my Dremel tool. I have some extra pads from my Mobile Fidelity record cleaning brush, so I cut out thin strips and affixed them to the sides of the slot. After that, I was pretty much done.
I set up the old TT in my shop, which is just a few steps from my listening area. The vac sits nearby. For cleaning fluid, I'm using MoFi's record wash -- I have both the super deep clean for a first step on really dirty records, and the regular wash for a second step, or the only step on records that aren't that dirty. You could make up your own fluid using a DIY recipe, using distilled water and a little Dawn detergent. Don't use any alcohol -- you only need that for evaporating purposes, which isn't relevant when you're vacuuming up the liquid. Also, the alcohol will dissolve the glue that holds the velvet cleaning pads on.
I have an old DiscWasher brush that I use for the first step -- the super deep cleaner -- if needed. I use my MoFi brush for the second step, which keeps the brushes separate, so the final cleaning brush isn't contaminated with too much dirt. You could also use a clean paint brush for applying the liquid.
The cheap ShopVac works great. It has just enough power to clean virtually all the liquid off in one pass. A couple of more passes around gets any remaining traces of fluid.
The results have been nothing short of spectacular. The first record I cleaned was a Speakers Corner jazz reissue that I bought new last year: Oliver Nelson's "Blues and the Abstract Truth." When I got it, it crackled like crazy. After cleaning, the background was dead silent.
Next up was a Nat King Cole reissue from Analogue Productions. This was a $50 45 rpm reissue, and it also crackled like mad from the first play. I had already returned one copy because of severe warping, so when I got this one, even though it was super noisy, I just put it away, hoping that someday a RCM would fix it. And it did. Dead silent backgrounds.
I also had a number of fairly rare jazz albums I'd found at the thrifts, which looked very clean and undamaged after a sink cleaning, but which had horrible surface noise. There was so much crud in the grooves, even after a thorough sink cleaning, that the stylus would dredge up a ball of fuzz after literally 30 seconds of play. After vacuuming, I played the whole side, and nothing came up on the stylus. Nice quiet backgrounds, clear, undistorted music.
Of course albums with groove damage are not going to be fixed by a RCM. Groove damage usually has the effect of creating distortion that increases with the volume of the music. It can also create crackling like dust, but is from fine scratches in the grooves. No RCM will fix those. But I've found some albums that I was sure were groove damaged, but they played great after vacuuming.
Even albums that didn't seem to have any audible problems benefit from at least a single pass with the RCM. Every time you play an album, some dust and vinyl flecks end up in the grooves. After vacuuming, the backgrounds are just so completely silent that it's kind of astonishing. Plus, there's more detail, better separation between instruments -- more of everything you look for in vinyl.
Listening to the first few albums after cleaning them, all I could think was, why didn't I do this sooner? Now I know why so many people say that a vacuum RCM was the biggest upgrade they made on their vinyl rigs -- making a bigger difference than a new stylus, cart, phono stage, etc. It's true. You need a vacuum RCM.
The biggest expense is the $30 shop vac. You can find an old turntable for five or ten bucks. It doesn't even have to work -- you can spin the platter by hand while you hold the brushes/vacuum tool. Considering how few spins you need for the whole process, it's really not a big deal. My tt works, but I still just spin it by hand.
This RCM won't win any beauty prizes, but it cleans records beyond what you probably thought was possible.
I have known I needed a RCM for a long time. I have a number of records that had a huge amount of surface noise -- crackling that was so loud, it actually competed with the level of the music. Some of these were thrift store finds that I thoroughly cleaned in the sink, but were still noisy. Some were old albums from my collection. Some were even $50 brand new audiophile reissues that arrived crackling like crazy. When I would come across an album like that, I suspected that a RCM would fix it, so I just put them away until the day I got one.
Now I have one and the results are beyond what I hoped.
I have been planning to build a RCM for some time, as I don't have $500+ to spend on a VPI or similar machine. I scrounged an old vacuum cleaner from the curb for the motor, and I was going to build it into a box with a junked turntable for the platter. But I could never seem to get around to it. So finally last weekend, I got sick of the crackling and went to Sears and bought their cheapest, smallest ShopVac for $30. Then I pulled out an old turntable I had in the attic. The most time-consuming part was modifying the vacuum's crevice tool to become a record-vac.
I cut the end off the crevice tool with a hack saw, then filled the opening with a piece of scrap. I then filled the end with epoxy, making sure to seal it. I let it dry, and here is what I ended up with:
Here is a shot of the sealed end:
I cut a 1/16th" slot along the edge using a cutoff wheel on my Dremel tool. I have some extra pads from my Mobile Fidelity record cleaning brush, so I cut out thin strips and affixed them to the sides of the slot. After that, I was pretty much done.
I set up the old TT in my shop, which is just a few steps from my listening area. The vac sits nearby. For cleaning fluid, I'm using MoFi's record wash -- I have both the super deep clean for a first step on really dirty records, and the regular wash for a second step, or the only step on records that aren't that dirty. You could make up your own fluid using a DIY recipe, using distilled water and a little Dawn detergent. Don't use any alcohol -- you only need that for evaporating purposes, which isn't relevant when you're vacuuming up the liquid. Also, the alcohol will dissolve the glue that holds the velvet cleaning pads on.
I have an old DiscWasher brush that I use for the first step -- the super deep cleaner -- if needed. I use my MoFi brush for the second step, which keeps the brushes separate, so the final cleaning brush isn't contaminated with too much dirt. You could also use a clean paint brush for applying the liquid.
The cheap ShopVac works great. It has just enough power to clean virtually all the liquid off in one pass. A couple of more passes around gets any remaining traces of fluid.
The results have been nothing short of spectacular. The first record I cleaned was a Speakers Corner jazz reissue that I bought new last year: Oliver Nelson's "Blues and the Abstract Truth." When I got it, it crackled like crazy. After cleaning, the background was dead silent.
Next up was a Nat King Cole reissue from Analogue Productions. This was a $50 45 rpm reissue, and it also crackled like mad from the first play. I had already returned one copy because of severe warping, so when I got this one, even though it was super noisy, I just put it away, hoping that someday a RCM would fix it. And it did. Dead silent backgrounds.
I also had a number of fairly rare jazz albums I'd found at the thrifts, which looked very clean and undamaged after a sink cleaning, but which had horrible surface noise. There was so much crud in the grooves, even after a thorough sink cleaning, that the stylus would dredge up a ball of fuzz after literally 30 seconds of play. After vacuuming, I played the whole side, and nothing came up on the stylus. Nice quiet backgrounds, clear, undistorted music.
Of course albums with groove damage are not going to be fixed by a RCM. Groove damage usually has the effect of creating distortion that increases with the volume of the music. It can also create crackling like dust, but is from fine scratches in the grooves. No RCM will fix those. But I've found some albums that I was sure were groove damaged, but they played great after vacuuming.
Even albums that didn't seem to have any audible problems benefit from at least a single pass with the RCM. Every time you play an album, some dust and vinyl flecks end up in the grooves. After vacuuming, the backgrounds are just so completely silent that it's kind of astonishing. Plus, there's more detail, better separation between instruments -- more of everything you look for in vinyl.
Listening to the first few albums after cleaning them, all I could think was, why didn't I do this sooner? Now I know why so many people say that a vacuum RCM was the biggest upgrade they made on their vinyl rigs -- making a bigger difference than a new stylus, cart, phono stage, etc. It's true. You need a vacuum RCM.
The biggest expense is the $30 shop vac. You can find an old turntable for five or ten bucks. It doesn't even have to work -- you can spin the platter by hand while you hold the brushes/vacuum tool. Considering how few spins you need for the whole process, it's really not a big deal. My tt works, but I still just spin it by hand.
This RCM won't win any beauty prizes, but it cleans records beyond what you probably thought was possible.
