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Watts Dust Bug

gillsev

gillsev

Well-Known Member
Does anybody here still use the Watts Dust Bug? It's been with me all this time in my junk pile stuff, but never had the chance to install it until just now when I found it again while cleaning up. I remember I got this little bonus when I won a Zero 100 from the Bay so long ago.

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Well, this thing is pretty cool as it tracks the record simultaneously with the tonearm, cleaning it in real time. When the music ends on the run out groove, so does the dust bug. Why didn't I do this before? I could have saved me more life for my stylus.
Anyway, I still do the usual brushing with my carbon fiber brush before putting on the dust bug ... then lastly, putting on the tonearm to play the music. I'm using it with my Lab 80. :thmbsp:
 
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I used one back in 73 when I had I had an AR-XA table and left the dust cover off while the record was spinning. I still have a couple to remind me of the old days but I use a table now that I can close the dust cover after a pre-play carbon fiber brush swipe.
 
HI,
Yep. I used one starting with my 1964 Thorens TD124 and continued with various turntables until I bought a B&O 4004 in 1975. I have always thought it was one of the most effective gadgets ever.

Sparky
 
I have a dustbug or dustbuglike contraption on all of my working decks. You can clean all you want.. the dustbug will still find something to pick up..love the concept of keeping anything I can from the stylus.
 
Yeah, it was the New Formula Antistatic Fluid they used to slightly damp the roller. I couldn't find the original formula anymore anywhere. Most I find are just empty bottles with evaporated fluids. I think the Discwasher fluid would do the job too.
 
Moahunter said:
...But what about static?
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There was a version of that (not sure if it was the Watts or another manufacturer's version of the same basic thing) that had a grounding wire connected to it. The idea was to ground it to the turntable chassis and let it discharge the static while it cleaned the record. On this one particular turntable I bought with one attached to it the PO had cut a notch out of the dust cover back to allow for the wire to pass through. I think the cleaning arm was made by Audio Technica but I'm not 100% sure and I don't have it anymore. Seemed like a good idea, though.
 
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audiojones said:
There was a version of that (not sure if it was the Watts or another manufacturer's version of the same basic thing) that had a grounding wire connected to it. The idea was to ground it to the turntable chassis and let it discharge the static while it cleaned the record. On this particular turntable the PO had cut a notch out of the dust cover back to allow for the wire to pass through. I think this one might have been made by Audio Technica but I'm not 100% sure and I don't have it anymore. Seemed like a good idea, though.
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This one?

http://www.decibelhifi.com.au./prod418.htm
 
Wow, that's nice but it wasn't as fancy as that. It was black metal and looked pretty simple, just held in place with a suction cup type of deal (which left a permanent ring on the turntable deck).
 
I use the bib as well. Very cheap (~$25) and works like a charm. The amount of dust it pulls is really something.
 
Moahunter said:
Still using my Watts. Wasn't there a liquid you could also use?
But what about static?
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Sometimes, especially during the winter, I'll hold the spray bottle of homebrew cleaning fluid (traditional recipe, distilled water, alcohol, one drop of dawn), about a foot away from the velvet roller and brush, and give a light spray in that general direction, just enough to slightly dampen the roller, like slightly. Works nicely and seems to help some with the static a bit. Of course the humidifier on the furnace helps a whole lot more.
 
I’ve been using a Watts Dust Bug since the 1980’s. I also have one from another manufacturer which is slightly better, in that it comes with a heavy metal base, so you don’t have to stick it to the turntable – it just sits there, and doesn’t need to be stuck down with double sided tape like the Watts ones.

I also used to own a British-made one which had a “linear tracking” arrangement, with two metal rods that the brush and roller went along as it tracked the grooves. I think it was called the Lin-a-trac, or something like that, and Bib also made a linear tracking one, which was also called the Groov-Kleen (source: Stereo Buyer’s Guide Turntables No. 10 1981 p.123). Like many of the other members that use them, I’ve always found that even though my records are sealed inside plastic covers, and in a dust-proof cupboard, and I play them with the turntable dust cover closed, and brush them with a carbon fibre cleaner before play, the rollers on the cleaners always have a very small amount of dust on them after play.

There were quite a few manufacturers of record cleaners which tracked the grooves – Nagaoka, the Japanese cartridge and accessories maker, used to have several different models in the 1970’s and 80’s. According to my small 1980 Stereo Buyer’s Guide Directory, they had the Nagaoka Vertical-1 (a tangential tracking one), the Auto-1, and the Clean-Master record cleaners, which were all similar in operation to the Dust Bug, but with extra improvements. They all had heavy weighted bases, so they just sat there on the turntable. The Vertical-1 had an arm which is “locked in position throughout playing of records while cleaning pad tracks records tangentially”, according to the brief SBG description, while the Auto-1 and Clean-Master were pivoting like the Dust Bug, but with extra adjustments and counterweights to reduce drag on the turntable.
 
The base is heavy, maybe steel...It has felt under it and you just place it where you want it, set it's height and let it do what it does..
 
davidro said:
Wouldn't they produce negative effects such as extra vibration etc? Just curious.
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Yes, that may be a problem - certain ones do introduce some vibration of the record surface. But then, so does the stylus. The Watts Dust Bug is actually one of the worst for vibration, because the brush on it is quite a stiff one. On the other hand, picking up any dust on the record has benefits in sound quality, by not allowing the stylus to become clogged. You certainly notice the diffference when you use a dust bug type device, as the stylus picks up very little dust. Fix one problem, and introduce another, I suppose! Everything's a compromise. I use a Nagaoka record weight, which helps in damping any vibration in the record that the cleaner introduces.
 
Some you can hear playing if the brush bristles are stiffer nylon, I prefer the schmancier chrome looking kind with the soft artist kinda brushes. I think the roller deadens extra vibration, if there is any.
 
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