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Custom Record Cleaner

The lamp has only one brightness.

I made the thing modular.
What I did was this.....

All switches on top control specific 110 plug sockets on the bottom.
for example, when you push the squirter, one of the 110 sockets on the
bottom has power. Then I went up to my local surplus store and spent 5
bucks on a 1 amp 12 volt power pack to power the windshield washer squirter. The resevoir and squirter was 20 bucks shipped on ebay....

The light for instance... I noticed it has a 12 volt halogen in it, it was on
sales at office max. Tore it apart, made a wood base, hooked it up to
an appropriate power pack. 15 bucks.

The motor, also 12 volt 1 amp at 16 rpm, same deal,
It needed a dptp switch to make it reverse. All of this bought for
a few trinkets at the electronics surplus store.
Motor was 25 buck on ebay.

And of course the shop vac needed no voltage conversion,
straight into the plug, no wall wart necessary.

Why do it this way? Well, simple.
It gives you complete freedom to change out any part of the setup
that you can improve. Very modular. Like cool lego blocks.

My turntable was free.
Almost all of the wood except the oak trim was free.
The laminate on the top was scrap.

I am guessing I have a max of 300 bucks into it.
Keep in mind, the base can be built any way you want.
Probably 100 bucks worth of material to do it nice.
 
VERY nice work! I like the modular approach, and visually that must be just about the best-looking DIY RCM I've seen yet (at least the top part). Thanks for sharing that! :thmbsp:
 
I drastically need a record clamp.
Right now I have to apply pressure to the center
during the record vacuum phase, or it will lift right up.
I have a small lathe and I have been thing about turning
one out of laminated corian. Corian turns really well for pens
and little things, I was going to make it black and white checks...
Why? I dunno, just strange I guess.
 
I need to get that VPI upgrade kit for my home made rcm I bought at an auction. Would be a lot nicer than using the loose hose to vacuum the record clean. Other than that it's a sweet rcm.
 
coop402 said:
Here is one link. Same motor.
Mine measured out right at 16 rmp at 12 volt, but the cool thing is,
if you dont like the speed you can up the size of the power pack
or add a resistor.

http://cgi.ebay.com/PITTMAN-PRECISI...in_0?hash=item3c9a91af5b&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

Oh, the turntable is a PX-3 that I picked up on craiglist for 75 bucks,
cleaned it, recapped it for giggles and tightened the springs on the main belt,
I have been running it for a year.
Click to expand...

How's the torque on that motor? Mine has plenty of grunt but spins rather fast for my liking.
 
The torque is pretty strong.
Keeping in mind that the motor can take more than 12 volts, it really does the trick.
It is not a quiet, fancy motor, just sort of a workhorse.
Pretty hard to stop it.
It would make the worlds worst turntable motor, but real nice for a cleaner.
Running it under max voltage probably will keep it running for a long time,
and keep the rpms down to where you like it. 12 volts 1 amp seemed to do the trick for my run of the mill power supply.
 
Nice job , we share the same vacum by the look of yours , but that's about all as I spin by hand and loose hose . But what a difference it makes on the LP's !
Great job on your unit !
 
I'd like saying, very nice work. :yes:

May I make a few comments? Hope you won't mind, and hoping my comments offer good ideas.

Yes, a Threaded Spindle is a must! As you probably already know, VPI's Spindles, both on the Turntables, and RCM's are a simple 1/4"-20 Thread.
Other than that, no need to get fancy, just a simple knurled Nut, similar to the VPI 16.5, which is basically plastic-nylon, and although there are makers of more elaborate clamp down nuts, I personally like/prefer the plastic-nylon, versus others which are made from Metal. I feel there's less potential for record damage, should it be accidently dropped upon a record.

I see you made mention of the reversible switch. This is a great addition, and allows scrubbing both ways, just like VPi's better RCM's, and others of high calibre.

You'll note since you have the entire VPi Vacuum Tower Assembly, and that the Vacuum Wand possesses a Locating Pin. The Slot in the Wand is not precisely placed perpendicular to the Record's surface, and there is of course a valid reason for this. It is so the Vacuum will pick up fluids more efficiently, in the same directional rotation as if the Record were in play with a Stylus.

With that said, I'm of course implying fluids should be picked up in one direction only.

Ole Harry at VPI is a pretty sharp cookie, and although i know Harry's more expensive models offer greater suction power, I think the paramount consideration, is volume of fluid pickup, not so much how much vacuum bar a suction wand can develope. The 16.5's vacuum efficiency is quite adequate.


Lastly, the Cleaning Fluid Tank is ingenious, and with a Tank of that size, I could forsee enough Fluid Capacity to clean a 1000 LP collection!

But, I wonder, and somewhat doubt that the Plastic in use for this application is adequate-safe, even short term, let alone long term. If it isn't, then chemicals-by products of the Plastic Holding Tank may possibly contaminate-infect you Cleaning Fluid, whether DIY, or commercially bought.

Containers-Vessels for cleaning fluids should be at minimum HDPE, or the best plastic container of choice, would be Nalgene. Mark
 
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Buy a hockey puck for ~$4, drill the hole slightly smaller than the spindle, "screw" on and you're golden.
 
dodog said:
Buy a hockey puck for ~$4, drill the hole slightly smaller than the spindle, "screw" on and you're golden.
Click to expand...

That "might" work? But most likely, it won't. Reason is, if the LP isn't really "tightly" coupled-locked to Platter, the suction from the Vacuum wand will seize the Record, place it at a stabdstill, and in the meantime, the Platter continues to spin beneath the record. If this happens, as one can imagine, marring will occur to the underside of Record.
Mark
 
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About my comments earlier, regarding the type of holding vessel for record cleaners, the topic is quite complex, and one I myself have a hard time understanding fully.

I know there are people here, who have a greater grasp, and knowledge of such, in pertinence to cleaners, and what types of cleaners will/would be used upon a record.

Such as a surfactant based cleaner, I understand that water purity is not so critical, as generally, the contaminants in the surfactant itself usually far exceed what contaminants are in clean water. Again, perhaps not so critical, that one needs ultra high purity cleaners, when they are being placed upon a record which can contain all sorts of various "nasties". Note, I'm specifically talking about "surfactant based cleaners" only here, in regards to cleaning fluid purity.

But, we'll assume that anyone who has gone as far as using-making an RCM, and has interest in getting thier records thier cleanest, that they would be using a finishing, pure water rinse. (of some sort?).

It is likely, that this final phase of the cleaning process should have high quality vessel containers, to contain-store such high quality, pure waters.

Sorry to somewhat veer this thread off on a tangent, but I feel it does associate well, with the use of RCM's. I think all can agree, that the efficiency of any RCM machine, will be highly influenced by the quality-effectiveness of the cleaners-rinses being used with it. (not to mention technique as well)

Again, thanks for sharing the pics, a very cool looking machine! :thmbsp: Mark
 
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