Walker Vortex Vacuum Wand for VPI

While I suspect the product was flawed (how can you adjust the height for all record thicknesses?), I must admit I'm still using the two rings that keep the LP from being contaminated by the cork mat. I'm grateful for that. :-)

LoL...

My experience this morning has been dismal.

First of all, the slit in the Walker tube is thicker than my VPI tube. I was expecting the opposite (to increase suction).

I cannot get a record to vacuum dry. It still looks visibly wet and feels damp. I suspect some of that is because the felt on the VPI tube worked in tandem with suction to dry the LP.

I have spent an hour playing with height adjustments and while I've seen improvement, I don't feel it is right. I'm using a thin throw away record, but if the setup is this sensitive to height, using LPs of different thickness is going to be problematic.

Also, because of the rings, the tube makes more solid contact near the spindle than it does the edge.

At this point I'm at a loss of what to try next.

Update: I did notice that the slit in the tube wasn't oriented perfectly downwards so I adjusted it. Here's what I now experience:

I have the height so that I can see the record lift up slightly to meet the tube (which I assume is correct), but I get a screeching sound, sort of like a cross between a children's party horn and an elephant. It's quite, um, alarming, but the record does get vacuumed apart from the outer edge and close to the spindle which remains moistened.

Has anyone else experienced this sound? I'm afraid to try anything but a junk LP, but of course with junk LPs I can't tell if I'm adding snap, crackles and pops (no visible scarring).

I gave up on it. Happy with switching wands and not worrying.