Record Cleaning

Hi

I'm thinking of buying one myself...... not sure as to the make though. You could try ringing Loricraft they may sell you some. Alternatively a car accessories shop (won't be cheap) used for topping up batteries. Let me know how you get on

Malcolm

Hi

I'm thinking of buying one myself...... not sure as to the make though. You could try ringing Loricraft they may sell you some. Alternatively a car accessories shop (won't be cheap) used for topping up batteries. Let me know how you get on

Malcolm

Moth Group, or the HFN Accessories people sell IPA as record cleaning fluid in 1 or 5 litre quantities.

Look down the page here.

Paul

I have the Moth kit. Got a carpenter friend to make the box. Easy to wire up. Just budget for ear defenders. Works as well as my dealers VPI.

Regards

Stephen

Experts agree, you can get the same (if not better) results with the Disc Doctor system, a wash and rinse protocol which requires no heavy, expensive machine. We got into a big discussion last time I brought this up about whether rinsing could be as effective as vacuuming, but all I can say is it's much cheaper than a VPI in the UK, so just try it.

www.discdoc.com

--Eric

I have the VPI 16.5 and it is a damn fine machine.

I got the isopropyl alcohol and the distilled water from my local village chemist, but they obviously thought I was completely mad when I told them it was cleaning records!

They had to order it in from thier supplier, but it only took a couple of days

I mix in the surfactant from VPI as well.

I tried life without alcohol at first, but I found that the water wouldn't spread easily across the surface. (was that the record or me ? - never mind)

Anybody else recommended a magic potion ?

DS

Hi all:

Check out

http://www.soundstage.com/synergize/synergize041998.htm

I'll be trying the on ewith Photoflo very shortly with my Nitty Gritty 1.5.

Best Regards,
Mark Dunn

and tell me what you think...
http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/fluids.html
iy has some good info...

James,

Thanks for the tip - I will try it when I make up the next batch of solution.

One question- do you not use any distilled water?

DS

Listener magazine did a big article on cleaning fluids a while back (maybe two years?). About a dozen writers / critics were polled on their fluid of choice. I don't have the issue here but I seem to recall several recommending Discdoctor fluid & brushes with a VPI 16.5 machine. I also rember reading somewhere that you should stay away from alcohol. I've used Vinyl-Zyme Gold from Buggtussel with great results. It uses natural enzymes and contains no man made chemicals. It's also alcohol free. It's particularly good for very old records.

quote:

---

problems tracking down Isopropyl Alcohol as Boots and most other chemists didn't stock it and everyone thinks you are mad asking.

---

err - not mad. Isopropyl Alcohol is used in large quantities when cooking down cannabis plants into cannabis resin. Of course, this presents a flash-risk at the temperatures reached. Chemists are usually suspicious, or at least wary, of anyone normally asking for quantities of more than 100mls.

Rico - SM/Mullet Audio

The Moth kit machine is superb. I made one (cabinet and all) and it was very straightforward; even for a non-DIYer like me!!

I also beleive that they can supply factory made machines for less than the VPI.

...don't clean records...they just play them while 'entertaining' real women.

Craig
PS. Of course occasional pre/post 'entertainment' stylus pruning is considered an acceptable behaviourism.

It's true, I've heard that truly flat folk don't bother with cleaning records; the Hunt EDA brush being the weapon of choice for overly dusty albums.

Myself, I'd rather go easy on the stylus pruning and give an LP one nice vaccum wash (while no one's around, as it really is an uncool activity).

Hi Mick
Sorry for the late reply. There are several places to get a VPI record cleaner.
http://www.cherished-record-company.co.uk who are the UK distributors, hififorsale.com who handle it as well as the excellent Loricraft cleaners and some hifi dealers including Phonography in Ringwood, Hampshire (01425 461 230).
Good luck and I hope that you get good results.
Raphael

Thanks for everyone who replied to my posting about where to get Isopropyl alcohol - I did not succeed in any local little supplier and have now resorted to buying it from an industrial supplier and should have 5 litres of the stuff winging its way to me soon. This is probably enough for more records than I can even imagine so if anyone wants to visit me in Basingstoke and get some from me then please feel free to email me directly off line.
Regards
Raphael

Oooops sorry wrong sort ..
Anyway an unusal source of IPA and Dissy water may be your local printers we use gallons of the stuff(100litres IPA a week).
I pay 70p/litre IPA and 40p/litre Dissy water.
This may or may not be any use but hey just thought I'd pass it on .


Mike

I have one. Cost me 39.99. Money well spent afaic - well sort of...

I think I read somewhere a post from Garyi complaining about crud coating the stylus after cleaning a record. I have also experienced this. The dirtier the record was to start with the worse the crud situation is post cleaning. If you clean a cleanish record, you don't get the crud.

Basically, for this device to be worthwhile you have to pursevere. What seems to happen is that the first clean removes grease but leaves some dust and vinyl shards in the grooves which gets picked up onto the stylus as you play it. This makes things unlistenable after about 30 seconds. Not to be defeated, I tried playing an album several times, cleaning the stylus after each side. This gradually reduces the amount of muck being extracted but after 4 plays, there was still too much for my liking.

So I cleaned them again. If the disk had been played after the first clean and was just averagely filthy at the start of the process this did the trick. If you don't play it between first and second clean, it makes no difference (I assume the stylus is loosening crap at the bottom of the groove). For the very worst albums, a third cycle is required.

In summary, it's a time consuming pain in the ass which will leave you wishing you had a bank of cheap TT's for playing between cleanings. But the results are worth the hassle. An unlistenable copy of Can't buy a thrill has now been transformed into one of the best sounding albums I own.

Regards
Steve

Steve I was impressed to start with, however it is more than obvious to me now the cleaning soloution should not be used more than a few times, this is where I cocked up, reusing the soloution was leaving more badnes, the crud on the stylus was alarming and hard to remove so I have shyd away in fear which is a shame.

In conclusion then does any one have a good soloution mix, using I assume alcahol/distilled water?

I tried with a little washing up liquid as well but again I think this does more harm then good, mabye a detergent that dosn't foam.

Anyhoo I have read the post but a difinative answer would be great.

Could I get a way with meths?

Lots of recipes for cleaning solutions here:

http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/fluids.html

Photo-flo is probably a better surfactant than dishwashing liquid - it should not leave any deposit. I would probably not use meths, it has all sorts of shite added - primarily to stop you drinking it.

Simon

Sorry.. just seen samo7 pointed to the tnt site on the previous page.

Thanks, managed to skim right by that!

Steve, this is what I was led to believe as well. However after about 30 records the liquid darkens regardless of the filter, it goes grungy and effects the records quite badly, the layer is quite visable as a film once dried, (I unfortuanly had done a lot fo records by then. This is what comes off on the cartridge literaly as a gresay sort of deposit, which is very hard to remove and I suspect is better off not there in the first place ;-)

This is why I want to know about own soloutions, so I can make it up fresh should I need it, because the actual unit itself although cheap does a fine job, just the soloution is cak.

Steve
Gary is right, the filter supplied does not filter out everything by any means. I put the used solution into another container and after about a day to settle you can see a layer of crud in the bottom. There is a thin black layer at the very bottom (presumably vinyl) and a finer light grey layer over the top of it. I might be getting better results because I have been very careful to leave this behind by decanting. If you are going to re-use the solution I recommend practicing the technique with bottle conditioned beers until you get the hang of it.

I have also been making the solution go further by topping up with distilled water and after 60 washes (30 albums * 2) I'm now going to use the 'dirty' solution for first wash only with a fresh batch for the second wash.

If you can't be arsed with all this bother and can't afford/justify a more expensive cleaning system, check whether your dealer offers a record cleaning service. They don't tend to advertise it because it's not a very thrilling job but if you have spent lots of money with them they might own up to it!

Regards
Steve