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Ultrasonic cleaners - Questions for owners

34dean

34dean

AK Subscriber
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Hi guys, I am picking up a 6L ultrasonic cleaner to use with Tergi-clean. A few questions:

1. How man records do you clean at a time?
2. What temperature do you set at?
3. How long do you clean for?

Any other helpful hints or input is greatly appreciated!

Thank you
 
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I have the Vevor model, and it's pretty good. I pre-clean everything with my Spin Clean, set the temp to 38 C. let it get to temp and do one album at a time for 8 minutes. I've tried doing 3 at a time for 15 minutes but did not like the results so I only do one at a time now. General consensus here is the unit I have spins too fast...and it should be slowed down but I have not gone down this rabbit hole. I "filter" my solution once through a coffee filter and after the second run I discard completely. Others have pumps and filters down to the micron level but for the 4 or 500 albums I have I will just dump and run new. I do them in batches then put everything away. You will be amazed at what the machine will pull out of the grooves, even after a run in the Spin Clean.
 
I too have a Vevor tank. I clean one at a time at around 34C for a minimum of 5 minutes. I'll do another 5 minutes with a light scrub beforehand if the record is very dirty. This is followed by a thorough manual scrub with phantomrebel's formula, followed by a copious rinse and vacuum.

This sequence (US followed by manual scrub) may seem reversed to some, but I clean many records in the same tank solution before I change it. By scrubbing the record afterwards, I dont have to worry about debris in the tank contaminating the record when I pull it out. I've also found the US is more effective at loosening dirt than it is at removing it when compared to using the US alone.
 
34dean said:
Hi guys, I am picking up a 6L ultrasonic cleaner to use with Tergi-clean. A few questions:

1. How man records do you clean at a time?
2. What temperature do you set at?
3. How long do you clean for?

Any other helpful hints or input is greatly appreciated!

Thank you
Click to expand...


Four
35 Celsius
10 minutes
 
Vevor 6L Digital owner.
1) Four per load.
2) 30°C
3) 10 minute cycle.

No scientific data to back up, what I did. I set up a production run:
Load albums and start machine.
Internal to 10 mimute cycle:
I rinse in Spinclean.
Then Dry with wand/vac while manually spinning on old TT.
Dry missed water drops with cotton bar towels.
Set in drying rack.
I have three stacks of four album jackets on bartop. I move these as I replace old sleeves with new poly sleeves. I mark new inner sleeves with US. To show they have been cleaned.
So I have two production lines. Records on one bartop and covers on second bartop. Being organized so, saves time. Have to keep at it to keep up with 10 minute US cycle.
I have two dish drying racks. One for records out of US. One for final air drying, up to 12 records.

After cleaning, if a record is noisey. I clean it again, either by self or 2 records well spaced out.

If a record is very dirty, sometimes clean it first time by its self. Can pre clean with paint pad and or wood toothpick if I see finger prints and foreign material.
 
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Vevor here as well. But I've got the motor spinning at 1.3 revolutions/min.
I started out doing 4 at a time at 35°C for 15 mins, but now I do 9 at time at 35°C for 15 mins, then another 15 mins. I use distilled water with 99% isopropyl alcohol at 5% by volume. No rinse, out of the tank on the drying rack while the next batch goes in. When that batch is done the first 15 min cycle, the first batch gets lightly wiped down with microfiber and put away.
 
6 per run
35C
20 minutes

motor is running at half voltage, could/should be slower but haven't gotten around to it.

Bath is distilled water with a couple drops of Dawn and a couple drops of Jet Dry. No rinse, no pre-clean, no hand dry, just into the rack to air dry.
 
60/40 said:
I am interested in this also. I haven't purchased one yet due to the poor reviews.
Click to expand...
What item are you referring to?
VEVOR Ultrasonic Vinyl Record Cleaner 6L appears to be a great deal and gets good reviews on amazon.
The standard 6L which all appear to be the same design and transducers, also gets decent reviews.
 
peet_pete said:
What item are you referring to?
VEVOR Ultrasonic Vinyl Record Cleaner 6L appears to be a great deal and gets good reviews on amazon.
The standard 6L which all appear to be the same design and transducers, also gets decent reviews.
Click to expand...

Yes, that is the one.
 
Also have the 6L Vevor.
5L Distilled water in the tank, 4oz 99.9% alcohol, 4 drops of photoflo
30 degrees for 10 minutes - I checked the temperature with an instant read thermometer for the first few times I used it because some had reported variations from the digital readout on the tank. Mine was spot on.
5 records at at time then vacuum dry on Nitty Gitty cleaner.

This has produced great results on every record I've cleaned.
I think these US cleaners are fantastic and a great deal compared to some of the audiophile versions that can run into the multi thousands.
 
i have a 6L Rovsun unit and a vinyl factory cleaning system
i do 3 records at a time
distilled water temp between 95-100F
i forget how many drops of Turgikleen, always have to read the label and wingit. 5-8 drops i think
i do 15 minutes of time (1 rotation every 5 min, 3 rotations total)

i rinse with warm tap water, immediately micro-fiber dry, let dry in a rack for 10m then back into their cages

if you want to see all the gunk that comes out, drain your water slowly when done through a mini-keurig or a coffee filter. let dry. see junk no longer on your records.
 
No matter how you do it, you are going to have fun with this.
I'd say just try some with distilled water only and see how it goes.
I did plenty that way and they came out sounding great.
Then tried with some Fotoflo and recently got the Triton X-100 that I haven't used yet.
Air dry with a little computer fan on a rack. 30 c temp.
I do 5 records, 12 minutes, and never had much issue that didn't come down to some problematic records.
For instance, some late '50's to early '60's that had either been played to death or had been sitting in some paper sleeves for way too long.
Or could have been bad pressings to begin with I guess.
Vinyl looked immaculate, not scratches but the pops just didn't get much better.
But the majority I cleaned came out much improved if not nearly new sounding.
 
I've had some that were simply beyond help but with few exceptions I have gotten pretty nice improvements. The background noise level is what I notice the most drop in. The visible gak in the bottom of that tank tells me its definitely pulling something out.

Anyone else notice their water turning a brown color after a while? Thinking that might be old cigarette tar washing out.
 
Good stuff, guys.

Regarding the Tergi-kleen, how many drops do you guys use for the 6 L of water?
 
I have a 10L ultrasonic cleaner. I can do 8 records at a time.

I use warm filtered water, dawn dishsoap, iso propyl alcohol as a solution. I preclean all records with the same solution and a very soft oil painting brush. I use a dowel with rubber bumpers to keep the records spaced and held secure. I currently run them for 15 mins, manually rotating the records rvery 4 mins or so. I wipe dry with a microfibre cloth and use a dish rack to dry after final distilled water rinsing.

The difference is night and day. The solution is grey after doing 3 batches and disgarded.
I clean the jackets and lables with lemon lysol wipes that have been wrung out to great effect.

My next modification will be to add a gear reduced turntable motor to drive the records automatically via a truntable belt.
 
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I can do 10 in mine, but I choose 9 or less, due to the clearance with metal spindle. I've used Tergikleen when I vacuumed records and really liked it, I now use ISonic's detergent (half the recommended) and really like the results, no heat required if records aren't completed filthy.
 
honest question, whats the alcohol for? Using it for a solvent to dissolve oily fingerprints or something ?
 
So, what is the consensus on a solution to use in my distilled water? I do not have the Tergi-Kleen yet but want to get started today. A couple of drops of Dawn dish detergent?
 
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