Record Cleaner Advice?

@billstevenson -that paper, written by Neil Antin, seems almost overwhelming at first but Neil does an excellent job of methodically explaining not only what he is doing, but why. Neil was responsible for the cleaning protocols of oxygen systems on submarines as part of NAVSEA and dealt with life-critical systems. He knows the chemistry, and has methods to evaluate effectiveness, including whether any residue of cleaning agent remains (which is regarded as a contaminant). 
I think Neil is registered to Audiogon, so can be reached to answer questions. Disclaimer: I published the paper (which was an honor to do so).
Bill Hart

Ultrasonic cleaning is the best. There is now unit that is very inexpensive that also dries the record. Sorry I can remember the brand. If your records are very dirty you might want to use a Spin Clean first with distilled water and a surfactant prior to ultrasonic cleaning again using distilled water.

@billstevenson & @whart,

Hey guys thanks for the compliments.  Bill Hart, Bill Stevenson and I have conversated over at the VPI forum.  I am working on the "Second Edition" to the paper, and so far have added 25 pages of new info - its about the lessons learned and further; deeper research into some areas to better understand the why. 

For my own cleaning - for mixing chemicals I now just use disposable pipettes - they are cheap and easy to use  moveland 5ML Transfer Graduated Pipettes Plastic Essential Oils Dropper - 100 PCS: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific.  For those that do not use a vacuum-RCM (or blow dry), like a Spin Clean or full manual, this cleanroom sponge sucks up water like crazy, leaves no residue, and is cheap  -  PVA Clean Room Sponges, Wipes, and Mops (super-cool-products.com).  I use the sponge to remove DIW only, squeeze out if necessary and store damp/wet - if it dries it will dry hard as cardboard - but will rehydrate.  I have cleaned >50 records and the sponge is fine.  Then I do a final light wipe with the Kinetronics Anti-Static Tiger Cloth  Anti-Static Tiger Cloth | kinetronics; and put the record in the rack, and by the time I have cleaned the next record - the 1st is dry and ready to resleeve.

Take care,

Neil

@mijostyn,
 
The unit you are talking about is the  HumminGuru | All-in-One Ultrasonic Vinyl Record Cleaner.   HumminGuru | All-in-One Ultrasonic Vinyl Record Cleaner by Happywell — Kickstarter.  Is it going to be better than the Degritter - no.  Its a lower frequency 40kHz unit and using very little water it cannot be very powerful, and it has no filtration capability and you have to refill for each use.  

Is ultrasonic better than manual or vacuum-RCM - technically no, but it eliminates the user as being a variable, and as @whart so nicely captures - "method is more important to me than the particular machinery involved".  But, for many it will be very convenient and much quieter than a vacuum RCM; reliability is TBD.  Also, for 'dirty' records you would still want to pre-clean with a manual process like the Spin Clean (as you say) or vacuum-RCM.  I know the drying process will be convenient, but not sure of how well it will filter out ambient dust and rack drying can be better then blowing ambient dust into the record.  

My one concern with the  HumminGuru is that it is going to significantly expand the user base of ultrasonic record cleaning, and people are going to experiment.  You can bet that they are going to try isopropyl alcohol and recognizing that IPA at 20% is very flammable and vapors are explosive - and the device is not explosion proof - who is going to light themselves or blow themselves first.  

Thanks to all for the thorough and informative advice.
Knowing myself and my less-than-fastidious tendencies, I think I'll want a very convenient do-it-all unit for records that have already been thoroughly cleaned so I can pop them in, pull them out dry and play them.  I'll use the more manual deep-cleaning approach for older records that are really gunked up.
That said, which do-it-all unit do you think would work best as part of day-to day listening?