Are you moving on getting a system together?
Ultrasonic Record Cleaner
- Thread starter mozcho
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- cleaner ultrasonic
mozcho
Well-Known Member
Oh I have bought one and have cleaned close to 100 of LPs (see my first post here). Mine has no heating function though.
mozcho
Well-Known Member
Forgot to ask: Do you use any cleaning fluid? The manufacturer of the unit I bought advised that clean/distill water works best.
captouch
Addicted Member
Yes, people typically use some additives tomthe water. There's a long thread on this with a recipe in there for a cleaning solution that many people use. If you can't find it, let me know.
At the minimum, some isopropyl alcohol is typically added because water alone tends not to want to get into the grooves - I forgot the terminology, but I think it's due to the surface tension properties of water. If you put some water on a record, it tends to bead up vs flatten out and go right into the grooves. The alcohol offsets that to a large degree and allows the solution to make its way more easily into the grooves.
In my 2 gal/ 10L tank I add about 4-5 oz 90% ISP alcohol a couple drops dish soap and a drop or two of photo-flow. With the agitation of ultrasonics you don't need many or much solvents to do the job. Hear again I'm a less is more guy and not wanting to subject the surface of a record to more than is needed.
However I understand some contaminants like cigaret nicotine from smoke will wash off with water and soap. And oils will wash off with solvents like alcohol so they are added to do some work on what's commonly found on old records. But I also don't want so much soaps in the mix that it forces me to wash the soap off with clean water. If your just replacing one contaminate with another one why bother washing records in the first place.
Thunderbox
Super Member
Has a lot to do with what you are using in your cleaning fluid.
captouch
Addicted Member
I agree that if you have to fault on one side, less is better. Some of the recipes I've seen suggest 5-10% alcohol, which would be more than 12oz in a 10L/2G tank, which intuitively seems way too much to me. If you look at the ultrasonic thread, the chemist who's researched this stuff recently posted that he's gotten good/better results with lower concentrations of the additives.
I vacuum my records dry because, for me, the con of contacting the record and possibly adding static back is outweighed by the pro of removing as much of the cleaning solution as possible. Some people add extra rinse steps afterwards, but that is more extra work than I'd like, so I just vacuum dry and it seems like it's worked fine.
I have no doubt I can get incrementally better results by adding more steps, but if the process because too cumbersome, I know I won't do it or I'll procrastinate because it's so painful. If I can get 80-90% of the benefit of ultrasonic cleaning using a relatively streamlined process, that's enough for me. Maybe for the handful or records that don't respond as well as I think they should I would be willing to do extra steps, but not for all records that get cleaned.
I vacuum my records dry because, for me, the con of contacting the record and possibly adding static back is outweighed by the pro of removing as much of the cleaning solution as possible. Some people add extra rinse steps afterwards, but that is more extra work than I'd like, so I just vacuum dry and it seems like it's worked fine.
I have no doubt I can get incrementally better results by adding more steps, but if the process because too cumbersome, I know I won't do it or I'll procrastinate because it's so painful. If I can get 80-90% of the benefit of ultrasonic cleaning using a relatively streamlined process, that's enough for me. Maybe for the handful or records that don't respond as well as I think they should I would be willing to do extra steps, but not for all records that get cleaned.
SaSi
Seriously Illogical
Since most LPs don't need a deep cleaning and multiple steps, my first - do all - process is to clean a dozen at a time with filtered tap water with a 2-3 oz of dishwasher fluid - I prefer "Finish" with the lemon flavor. That acts as a wetting agent to go through the grooves. 15 minutes cycle and remove, let dry and put in new poly sleeves to eliminate dust and lint coming back to the surface.
From that point on I can enjoy LPs and if one, or two, or few, show they need more processing and cleaning, they go through it. So far it has been around 1 out of 10 in a ~1800 LP collection and having checked only 300 of them.
The deep cleaning process involves a bath with detergent and wetting agent for 30 minutes, 3 at a time at a very slow rotation speed and then vacuum RCM cleaning. It has worked well for me for at least 9 out of 10 of my LPs. The ones that don't improve, I still work on them (experimentally) but so far nothing seems to clean them better except (for a few) elevating the bath temperature to 40 C and doing quick rotation baths and then RCM clean them.
From that point on I can enjoy LPs and if one, or two, or few, show they need more processing and cleaning, they go through it. So far it has been around 1 out of 10 in a ~1800 LP collection and having checked only 300 of them.
The deep cleaning process involves a bath with detergent and wetting agent for 30 minutes, 3 at a time at a very slow rotation speed and then vacuum RCM cleaning. It has worked well for me for at least 9 out of 10 of my LPs. The ones that don't improve, I still work on them (experimentally) but so far nothing seems to clean them better except (for a few) elevating the bath temperature to 40 C and doing quick rotation baths and then RCM clean them.
mozcho
Well-Known Member
some update: My tank was bought without the heating function, but I've just bought a small fish tank heater and tried it to clean 5 LPs yesterday. It can raise the temperature to around 39-40 C because the tank is small. I still haven't gone to put any cleaning agent/fluid yet. The result is quite satisfactory (I ran it for 20 minutes). Perhaps for the dirtiest ones I'll be forced to add fluid.
DaaDaa
Set the controls for the heart of the pun
DaaDaa
Set the controls for the heart of the pun
jesus.
DaaDaa
Set the controls for the heart of the pun
I will need the complete vinyl cleaning apparatus as well. there are a few on aliexpress 150 to 200 usd
When I searched for seller:tws, all I got was someone selling bluetooth earbuds. When I searched for "Ultrasonic Vinyl Record Cleaning System Vinyl Stack LP Cleaner Kit", I found the seller you were talking about. Their seller id is, as you said, tws. Strange.
Upside is they have several sizes and also a clever drying rack.
We have a commercial unit which cost around $40,000.00 and was made in Italy. It includes a Purelab Prima lab-quality water purifier. Ours does 20 LPs at a time. It has a slow roll cleaning process and 2000rpm spin dry cycle. We use it to clean 78s and LPs before digitizing them. When in full production we digitize 4000 records/month.
A couple of hints. After putting the records on the spindle, rotate every other one 180 degrees. This will help balance the load and allow it to spin better. Also to keep the labels from getting wet we made center drilled aluminum discs a little larger than the label. Around the outside edges of both sides we've glued an O-ring. We alternate the discs with the records on the spindle. The O-ring make a seal around the labels keeping them dry.
A couple of hints. After putting the records on the spindle, rotate every other one 180 degrees. This will help balance the load and allow it to spin better. Also to keep the labels from getting wet we made center drilled aluminum discs a little larger than the label. Around the outside edges of both sides we've glued an O-ring. We alternate the discs with the records on the spindle. The O-ring make a seal around the labels keeping them dry.
HBTim
Critical listener of beer fizz
I bought one of these waterproof label savers for tub bath and it works very good. (no affiliation) Then I do a US clean.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PKGNWGB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
What a huge difference.
I have a rubber tooth dish sponge sorta thing. looks like a normal scrubber but all rubber and has rubber prongs?? anyway, I use a little dish washing detergent, soak and rub the scrubber around the record a bit. Maybe 2 min each side. Rinse and put them on a US clean...
vacuum wand off before play and boom. Done.
Before every play I do a quick spray solution and vacuum wand. So far, I have only had to put my albums once through the tub, US clean. Just a quick wand before each play or even every other, other play.
works for me!!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PKGNWGB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
What a huge difference.
I have a rubber tooth dish sponge sorta thing. looks like a normal scrubber but all rubber and has rubber prongs?? anyway, I use a little dish washing detergent, soak and rub the scrubber around the record a bit. Maybe 2 min each side. Rinse and put them on a US clean...
vacuum wand off before play and boom. Done.
Before every play I do a quick spray solution and vacuum wand. So far, I have only had to put my albums once through the tub, US clean. Just a quick wand before each play or even every other, other play.
works for me!!
