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DIY Merrill record cleaner

88gibson said:
I'll post pics from todays adventure with a detailed parts list. :thmbsp:
Click to expand...

I've always heard that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. However, posting details of how to knock off someone else's design seems a bit over the line to me. Don't get me wrong, I'm a DIYer in the truest form so I'm all about building things myself for myself. Do you really want to post a detailed parts list?

I'm also a bit biased here because I happen to know George and he runs a one man shop selling turntables and accessory's and doing repairs. Fine guy and best TT guy I know. I've been to his shop and listened to his system, very nice indeed. Just recently used George to put a new tonearm on my table and have been listening to it this weekend. Very happy with his work :)

Peace,
ck
 
Ciscokid said:
I've always heard that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. However, posting details of how to knock off someone else's design seems a bit over the line to me. Don't get me wrong, I'm a DIYer in the truest form so I'm all about building things myself for myself. Do you really want to post a detailed parts list?

I'm also a bit biased here because I happen to know George and he runs a one man shop selling turntables and accessory's and doing repairs. Fine guy and best TT guy I know. I've been to his shop and listened to his system, very nice indeed. Just recently used George to put a new tonearm on my table and have been listening to it this weekend. Very happy with his work :)

Peace,
ck
Click to expand...

I'm sure he is a nice guy, and my intentions weren't to hurt anyone, or take away their bread and butter. There are AK members here that have built record cleaners based upon tried and true designs. This board has always embraced diy projects, for many members are on a shoe string budget. The stand I constructed was based upon a few photos of the real deal. I'm sure that many people will still buy George's stand, because they don't have the tools, or mechanical skills to put one together. In the long run it could boost his sales. If this is a sensitive subject I won't post the project. Members who want to build this version can PM me.

Sorry
Derek
 
i see absolutely nothing wrong with making your own project based on someone else's design, as long as you did steal the blueprints, work for the guy or are selling them.

like someone else said earlier, all the diy rcm's in here are based on one design or another. everyone makes their own cleaning formula based on last or discwasher or whatever. i call it creative thinking. if you can make something that works as good as something you can buy for 1/10th the price, i say all the power to you.

good job on the design and the thought to actually try to make it. looks like it turned out great.
 
The thing already looks DIY. Anyone who has ever walked through a Lowes or Home Depot can see what it is constructed of. I would say that Mr. Merril would do better doing a magazine article and offering a parts list and selling his blend of record cleaner or magic cleaning brush or whatever.
I do commend him for coming up with an effective way of clamping the LP and keeping water off of it using off the shelf parts.
 
Congratulations Derek. You did a great DIY job.

For those who are interested on this project, it will take a trip to your favorite hardware store and pick a few T's, end caps, elbows and tubing. The center piece and Groovmaster alike is a pair of 5" PVC caps with a center hole and foam material to protect the labels from wetting. I think anyone can do good with just 3/4" parts instead of 1" but both should work just find. The 1/2" parts are a bit thin.

This unit should be great to steam your records and use a sprayer to rinse away debries and particules while using distilled or better water.

Jose
 
Jose Garcia said:
Congratulations Derek. You did a great DIY job.

For those who are interested on this project, it will take a trip to your favorite hardware store and pick a few T's, end caps, elbows and tubing. The center piece and Groovmaster alike is a pair of 5" PVC caps with a center hole and foam material to protect the labels from wetting. I think anyone can do good with just 3/4" parts instead of 1" but both should work just find. The 1/2" parts are a bit thin.

This unit should be great to steam your records and use a sprayer to rinse away debries and particules while using distilled or better water.

Jose
Click to expand...
Thanks for all the interest and support. For those of you who I received private messages from I'll send out the information as soon as I can. I would like to mention a few things. George's stand allows rotation of the album, but mine does not. I just orient the sprayer at different angles. Mine should have a tighter seal around the label and has proven very effective in keeping the label dry(thanks to the rubber gaskets). George does issue a warning of not directing the spray directly at his clamp.

Thanks Again!
Derek

P.S. The end cap is 4 inches.
 
As hard as I looked, I could find no info at all, regarding any patents, pending or granted, nor copyrights afforded to Mr. Merrill. If he holds these, he makes no mention of it on his company websites, nor places a copyright logo on the products that I could see.

Mr. Merrill appears to be a successful businessman, involved in design and manufacture as well, and as such I am sure that he is well aware of the value of patenting his designs to protect his financial and intellectual properties.

I'm sure that Derek's version, inspired by Mr. Merrill's design, will not bring about the financial ruin of the Merrill empire, if a few people make there own DIY versions, inspired by both Derek's and Mr. Merrill's design.

Mr. Merrill sells turntables that cost $25,000, before you add optional items to it, so I can't imagine there being much of an impact to the wallet if a DIY'er or two made one instead of buying one. One would think that Mr. Merrill would be proud to see that his design has inspired some to build their own similar units.

If you really think about it, the odds of a DIY'er actually buying one of these from Mr. Merrill, after seeing how easily one could make a similar unit for themselves, for over $100 less, in an hour or two, are pretty slim, which means that in the real world, Mr. Merrill is probably not going to lose a single sale because of Derek's' desire to build his own version, and share it with the rest of us.

Just my Two Cents, nothing more, nothing less.....:thmbsp:
 
Birddog, I second your thoughts. Besides, as long as this is kept as a DIY project and not a business interest ( like selling the DIY design ) their should be no problem.

From GEM's picture:

(3) elbows
(3) end caps
(1) "Ts"
(2) 4" end caps ( labels are exactly 4" wide )
(2) 4" protecting material ( foam, mouse pads, etc)
(1) pipe tubing ( you could buy this by the feet -3'- or a whole unit -8'-)
(1) screw ( long enough to pass through the system)
(2) those round metal things....the size in compliance with the screw.
(1) butterfly nut.
(1) PVC glue

You are going to cut 5 pieces of pipe. Their size will depend on the measures of your sink. Nothing fancy just practical. You can't go wrong with this if cut to your needs.

All but the vertical one are about the same size ( like 6" since you will glue about 1/2" into the adapters and will left around 5" exposed). The longest one is the vertical piece with the holding atachment. This one is around 8".

If you need a cover to prevent the splashing, something like a square piece of acrilic or a cutting board from your nearest WalMart will do the trick.

The bigger caps will need to be drilled right in the middle to pass through the screw. The pipe post need to be drilled too... Cut the mouse pads to size and glue them to the caps to prevent your labels fron getting wet.

If you don't want to mess with the bigger caps, use other "Groovmaster" clones instead. Remember that the main purpose are to protect the labels, free your hands from the LP, rinse away the liquids and as a great tool to steam your records ( if you use this method too).

Jose.
 
Not much to it, is there Jose! Mr. Merrill came up with a very simple, cost effective design to clean LP's! :yes:
 
I would love to see pictures of this from a few different angles, and with the cap unscrewed. I think I get it, but I'm not totally clear about how the cap is attached to the pipe. Also, can anyone devise a way to get this thing to spin?
 
heyitsmedust said:
I would love to see pictures of this from a few different angles, and with the cap unscrewed. I think I get it, but I'm not totally clear about how the cap is attached to the pipe. Also, can anyone devise a way to get this thing to spin?
Click to expand...

The pipe has a hole to let pass through the screw attached to the label protector ( which could be similar to the GEM caps or any Groovemaster clone). If you want it to rotate, you could use a pair of nuts. One that hold the caps and one which allow a little space to rotate the system. The caps need to be clamped but the pipe could have some space ( 1/16" is enough).

NUT/WASHER/CAP/LP/CAP/WASHER/NUT/PIPE/SPACE/NUT

Jose
 
Ha! You said:

Jose Garcia said:
you could use a pair of nuts.
Click to expand...

ok, but seriously...

some more photos would be cool if it's not too much trouble. Some kind of DIY RCM or other type of record cleaning apparatus is in my near future. I'm sure the clamp here would keep water off the label in the cleaning process, but how do you make sure it doesn't drip on it when you're taking the record off the machine?

Also, what are you guys doing with this or any other RCM to let the vinyl dry? do you wipe them with something specific and then lay them out for a while? i would imagine putting them right back in the sleeve would not be good, even if you did pass a cloth or something over it.
 
Ciscokid said:
I've always heard that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. However, posting details of how to knock off someone else's design seems a bit over the line to me. Don't get me wrong, I'm a DIYer in the truest form so I'm all about building things myself for myself. Do you really want to post a detailed parts list?
Click to expand...


+1...
 
Hmm... I see the point about describing how to knock off someone's design.

However, what he's selling is $149 and made of PVC and nuts/washers. While it's simplicity seems to be most of it's beauty, he's got to know some people will see the simplicity of it and just do it themselves. He's got a photo of it on his site - it's not all that revealing, but it's enough for you to get the idea.

There are still plenty of people that would rather buy the whole package from the original designer with all the sprayer/fluids/etc included and not have to go through the trouble of a build themselves. Hell, if I had more disposable income, I'd buy one from him. As far as I'm concerned, there is no harm in copying the design and building one for personal use.

If you were to manufacture, market, and sell them, that'd be entirely different.
 
There are DIY instructions online for almost every product you could try to make yourself. The Big Mac uses thousand island dressing, and CAT-5 cables make great speaker wire. To submit your idea about how a product is manufactured is not against the law or morally unethical. Until someone obtains a copy of his design plans and posts those, it's just an approximation of how you think he does it.

Right now it's just a race to see who can put together the best tutorial with a specific parts list and pictures, and that person will become the hero of this thread. From there, people will submit suggestions and improvements and we may end up with a design that is nothing like original GEM at all!

That's the beauty of the internet and free sharing of information. Until something is patented, and until that patent is actually used as the starting point, you're free to make as many guesses as you want about how to reproduce an idea that you like.

Now, someone needs to get to work on a tutorial!!

-Dusty
 
heyitsmedust said:
There are DIY instructions online for almost every product you could try to make yourself. The Big Mac uses thousand island dressing, and CAT-5 cables make great speaker wire. To submit your idea about how a product is manufactured is not against the law or morally unethical. Until someone obtains a copy of his design plans and posts those, it's just an approximation of how you think he does it.

Right now it's just a race to see who can put together the best tutorial with a specific parts list and pictures, and that person will become the hero of this thread. From there, people will submit suggestions and improvements and we may end up with a design that is nothing like original GEM at all!

That's the beauty of the internet and free sharing of information. Until something is patented, and until that patent is actually used as the starting point, you're free to make as many guesses as you want about how to reproduce an idea that you like.

Now, someone needs to get to work on a tutorial!!

-Dusty
Click to expand...
Wow I wasn't aware there was a race. I've been pretty busy with my daughter, but I decided to get cracking today. I also decided to post the instructions in this thread.
 
Materials needed:

A large section of 1 inch pvc pipe (you'll have some left for another stand)
1- T piece female-female-female
3- Female to Female 90 degree pvc elbows
3- 1 inch pvc end caps
2- 4 inch pvc end caps threaded or non threaded(doesn't matter)
1- Threaded rod 10/24 * 12"
1- pkg of four 10/24 wing nuts (you will need 3 for my version)
3 fender washers 1 1/4 * 10/24 or larger (I could only find 1 1/4 * 1/4)
2 rubber sink strainer washers
PVC glue
PVC pipe cleaner
Gorilla Glue (small bottle)

Tools Needed:

Sandpaper (medium grit)
Drill bit (large enough for threaded rod)
Hack Saw (for cutting pvc pipe and threaded rod)
One pair of primate hands

Stay Tuned....
I have to go to an appointment.

Derek
:thmbsp:
 
Alright I'll be able to squeak in the first part of the project!

I: Clamp construction

1. Find the center of each end cap and drill a hole. (see pic 1)
2. Rinse the rubber gaskets thoroughly getting rid of and loose rubber particles.


3. Leaving the gaskets damp affix the gaskets to the pvc end caps (see pic2) using gorilla glue. Be careful not to use to much. A little goes a long way, for this glue expands as it dries! Leave them face down on a bench or place a heavy object on them.
 
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