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Wood Glue as Vinyl Cleaner

Grainger49 said:
At bed time the glue was 95% dried. But of course I will have to wait till morning, 5:00, and it will be fully dried. Then I can peel the first side.
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I find it more convenient to do both sides and then peel them off at the same time. Otherwise, handling the LP to get the glue removed is more tedius as I try not to contaminate the clean side.

The dry glue won't stick to a steel platter - in case you apply glue on a rotating platter. So I do side A with the LP on the rubber mat and side B with the rubber mat removed.
 
Up at 5:00 and now I have a problem. The glue was 100% dried, of course, when I got up. I tried to start the peel at the lead in groove and couldn't. I tried tape to no avail. I tried rotating the LP on the platter of my 16.5 working the edge with my thumb nail and the insurance card but couldn't get any lift.

So I figured I hadn't taken the glue far enough to the edge. I have put more glue all the way to the edge and will try to lift it when it dries completely.

Any other suggestions will be happily tried.

SaSi, I glue on my 16.5. I can't imagine flipping the LP before it is dried. I won't be gluing batches of LPs. Just a few one side at a time.
 
Or maybe it wasn't quite thick enough at the edge to get a fingernail under it.

I think you'll like the way Aleene's peels (though you've got to really tug), you may not like how it spreads.

I had just a little Aleene's left in the bottle last night and tried an experiment. I added a bit of distilled water and a bit of IPA (just a splash of each, and I cannot really say how much glue was left in the bottom of the bottle - very unscientific). I shook and shook until it seemed all mixed and I glued an album. It spread much more easily, though I think a little less thinning would allow me to get a more uniform coverage. I set it to dry with a fan. It still took 6 hours to dry, and there was still a hint of white at the thickest points. I peeled it anyway with no trouble.
 
It didn't go all the way to the edge. So I ran some glue around the edge and let it dry.

Lesson learned, all the way to the edge!

I peeled it about a half hour ago and it is clean. Now for the listening test.
 
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TEST RESULTS: ALEENE'S TACKY GLUE

I'll cut to the chase. its cheap and easy to find (Wal-Mart for starters) so I had to try it. All comparisons are being made to Titebond-II. (TBII)

Pour: much harder, requires a much harder squeeze on the bottle, almost tiring.

Spread: Extreme effort using thin plastic card. Requires tremendous down force and much consternation compared to the easy spreading of TBII.

Dry Time: Faster than TBII... perhaps 5-6 hours with no fan.

Adhesion & Peel: Extremely EASY to start, dried Aleene's is very much rubber and elastic. Very much Stretch Armstrong toy-like. I like this aspect for the fact that there is literally ZERO edge shards, the mask will stay 100% intact every time. Requires alot of stretching to remove, but adhesion is not the issue, stretchability is.

Cleaning Ability: I am suspect that Aleene's may not clean as well as TBII, although I cannot say for sure. I feel, at worst, Aleene's is VERY close, but may not be "snagging" all the fine particulates. I am not confident that it gets down as deep into the grooves as TBII. Test cleanings left some ticks on a very nice ffrr piano LP, while background "floor" was immaculately clean.

DECISION & NEXT IDEA: I want to mix a 70/30 formula of Aleene's and Titebond II. I believe this will give a "perfect" Glue for cleaning LP's, the solid stregnth of TBII and the elasticity of Aleene's, with, hopefully, the elimination of any chance of edge remnants, while retaining the ease of application and flow of TBII.
 
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LPMike said:
TEST RESULTS: ALEENE'S TACKY GLUE

DECISION & NEXT IDEA: I want to mix a 70/30 formula of Aleene's and Titebond II. I believe this will give a "perfect" Glue for cleaning LP's, the solid stregnth of TBII and the elasticity of Aleene's, with, hopefully, the elimination of any chance of edge remnants, while retaining the ease of application and flow of TBII.
Click to expand...

:lurk::lurk::lurk::lurk:

You might also try simply thinning the Aleene's a little. I used some distilled water and some IPA. I don't know if one or the other alone would be better. It made it much easier to apply - both squeezing from the bottle and spreading on the vinyl. Despite the difficulty in spreading the neat Aleene's, I feel that it is actually easier to get a uniform coating. The glue doesn't migrate the way the others do. It lives up to its name as "Tacky."
 
I considered that, Jon, but Im not happy with (my perception of) the ability of Aleene's to "grip" the vinyl. I get the feel that TBII adheres so much better than Aleene's. But I love the "rubberyness" of the dried Aleene's!

EDIT: add: I meant in 70/30, 70% TBII and 30% Aleene's, the way i posted that earlier it seemed the other way around. Still havnt done it yet though.
 
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Wow, my Aleene's grips the vinyl so tightly I'm amazed I can pull it off at all. Very strange, how different these glues behave for us.
 
Got up an hour ago, the Titebond II I put on an LP last night wasn't completely dry. There was a thick area near the edge (don't want a peel problem today) and it is not quite dry. It got cool here and it seems the temperature is affecting the glue.

Edit: I got the glue off. I need to find a new method, my thumbnails are as thin as paper due to Diabetes.

I had glued a MOFI DSOTM yesterday because of noise. I'm selling it to an AKer for a really nominal price but after cleaning with liquids it was really noisy.

This LP sounds amazingly quiet now! He's really getting a deal. The second side is drying now. Then I clean my DSOTM.
 
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I'm about to get to the end of my first bottle of Titebond II (bought 2 8 oz. bottles). It cost about $3. It will be empty today. I guess I'm going to get the gallon next.

I'm very pleased with the results on undamaged LPs. Next I will try one of Doug's LPs (audio buddy who has a lot of dust & TCP on his 70s LPs he gave me). I haven't played any of them because they are so dirty I didn't want to risk my stylus.

I might not even try Aileen's since I am doing so well with the Titebond II.

Thanks to all for the help.

Edit:

And now the second bottle is gone. It is drying in about 4 hours time.

I am preparing for some listening the first weekend in October. So I'm dragging out some old favorites.

Now I really have to get that gallon.
 
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Ok update: I went and got a couple of bottles of the CVS Caliber school glue gel and it worked ok but it is fairly thick and difficult to spread (compared to these new gel types I have been trying.) I have tried more experimenting with the Elmer's washable Clear school glue and I think we have a winner. First this glue is thin enough that you can see the air bubble in the bottle, and when you tip the bottle, the air bubble reacts almost like thick water or something. I first had tried spreading it with a paintbrush but that leaves it too thin. I found that the tried and true method of spreading it with a card and making sure you have plenty of glue on the disc (there should be a lot of excess on the card when you are done you have to throw away) does a fabulous job and dries in 2 hours every time (with a fan.) I believe this glue is thin enough that it really gets down into the grooves. While it is not super hard to pull up like Aleene's I think that it does at least as good of a job (if not better) at getting the junk out of the grooves. I have found this glue at several Wal-Marts I frequent, it shouldn't be hard to find I would be interested to hear what others think of it.

23810-1600-3ww-l.jpg
 
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A cost update:

I bought two 8 Oz bottles, costing $3 each. Yesterday at HD I bought a gallon (16-8 Oz bottles if my math is correct) for $16.

Even if my math is off this is a huge savings.

Like my Halloween avatar? She was my wife's favorite Halloween costume.

(This is Elvira not Paula)
 
TEST FORMULA!

Since I am amazed at the elastic properties of Aleene's but cant stand its thickness, difficulty spreading and strange removal ultra-stretchiness... and as I believe Elmer's Interior Carpenters Wood glue cleans as well as Titebond-II but has serious problems with brittleness and dry-time sensitive removal issues... I feel the two glues if combined might make a GREAT Vinyl Cleaning Glue!

Of course the reason im doing this is an experiment in cost savings/economy. And maybe something that can clean as well as Titebond-II but be easier to remove and less prone to edge remnants.

FORMULA #1
4 oz. Aleene's Tacky Glue
4 oz. Elmers Interior Carpenter's Wood Glue
1 Tbs. Water
(to make about 9 oz.)

Mix well. pour into a cleaned glue bottle. (I like the slotted pop-up cap type, not the round hole type)

Application: Flow is VERY nice. Much like Titebond-II. Spreadability os slightly THICKER than Titebond-II but nowhere near as strenuous as Aleene's.

(4) LP Sides are currently drying. Results to follow tommorrow!
 
:lurk:
Would love to get the 1 - 2 hour dry time of the Elmer's school gels as the third property.
 
I was getting a 3 to 4 hour dry time with Titebond II in Tennessee last week. The temperature and humidity conditions really affect the drying times.
 
Woke up this morning 7am and the (4) sides were 90-95% dry. (put them on at 10pm night before)... But the house was cool (63 F) where the LPs are. (no fan)

I decided to glue the other sides, and peel them all after work. (house will be warmer during the day)

I believe that the 50/50 Aleene's/Elmers Wood gives a dry time close to Titebond II, (faster than Elmers Wood - slower than Aleene's) But a formula of 70 Titebond II to 30 Aleene's might actually be the magic mix, and would also be faster than Titebond II alone. We'll see how this 50/50 performs when I peel them later!
 
Well, I read every page of this discussion, then decided to join the forums...have been patiently waiting for two days to get approved....anyway.

I tried my first one yesterday.

Album: RUSH 2112
Glue: Titebond II

I started with a shot glass full of glue....long story short...it was not enough glue...it was a 2cl european shotglass :thumbsdn:...seems that is all I have (stationed in Europe toooo long)

After it dried, the peel was a little difficult to say the least...so I went to plan "B"

Smother the darn thing in glue, I used the "flower" method as described in the youtube video for the blue gel...let it dry overnight. Mind you I have sick kids..so glue went on at midnight....sick kids were up at six am...peeled the glue at about 8am....:thmbsp:

WHAT A DIFFERENCE...The glue came of in one single sheet, very easily I might add...and the sound is awesome compared to Side B which was not cleaned.

As of right now, I have 5 Albums drying...I glued side A then flipped them after 1hr and glued side B. I placed the albums on newspaper on a worktable to apply the glue and rested them on tuna cans after it was applied.

RUSH- RUSH
Eagles- Greatest Hits Vol 2
Led Zeppelin- IV
Neil Diamond- Live at The Troubadour
Rolling Stones- Hot Rocks (both records)
 
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