Record Cleaner Advice?

When you are using surfactants for the final clean step, and you are not going to do a final rinse, you can do it, but the surfactant and its concentration has to be near perfect to get a near residue-free surface.  In my discussion above, 0.01% tergitol which is equal to 100 ppm (or 100 mg/L) will achieve a surface tension of 30 dynes/cm.  If  you were to leave 2 mL on the surface to dry, you would leave a residue of 0.2 mg which is essentially insignificant.   Now this assumes a clean tank, but most good DIY setups are filtering the tank.

But, if you are using who knows what at  who knows what concentration, you are asking for trouble if you are not going to rinse.

This has been quite a technical tour de force.  One surprise is the respect the old Nitty Gritty units still garner.

It has me wondering if I should do my deep cleaning with my old NG 1.5 (using Tergitol or distilled water) and acquire a VPI 16.5 or 17 for pre-listening treatments.  (I don't care about noise during cleaning.)

None of this would be ultrasonic, but would it do the job?  Also, would I still need an anti-static brush?

@keegiam,

The disadvantage with the NG 1.5 is that you cannot work the surface of the record with cleaner/brush and this is noted in this review comparing it to a VPI  Record cleaning machines - Clearaudio Smart Matrix, Nitty Gritty 1.5 and VPI HW 16.5 [English] (tnt-audio.com).  The benefit of the VPI (and similar units) is that you can apply steps as follows:

1.  Pre-clean dirty records with say Alconox Liquinox at 0.5% - vacuum but do not fully dry.
2.  Rinse pre-cleaner with DIW  - vacuum, but do not fully dry.
3.  Final clean with say Tergitol 15-S-9 at 0.05% - vacuum and do not fully dry.
4.  Rinse final cleaner with DIW - vacuum and fully dry.

There is manual labor with using a brush - I like the Record Dr bursh  Amazon.com: Record Doctor Clean Sweep Brush: Home Audio & Theater - you can use one brush - just rinse with water after each cleaner use (it can be tap water); and there is some technique - you have to work the brush and cleaner.  Will it do the job, yes and more than likely better than ultrasonics because you are using a multi-step process with fresh cleaner and rinse water for each step.  Something like the Degritter is convenient and easy to use with no manual labor, but as single step machine it has limitations. 

Once the record is deep wet cleaned, if you take reasonable care, store in an antistatic sleeve, there should be no reason to clean again.  Static is something you cause.  You can use an anti-static brush - but only just touch the record surface and the brush and you need a path to ground (touch something metal that is grounded).  Otherwise, I use no brushes, just a swipe with the Kinetronics anti-static tiger cloth  Amazon.com: Kinetronics Anti-Static Microfiber Cloth, 10x18-Inch Tiger Cloth: Camera & Photo  to remove surface particles.

Neil, many many thanks for all the time you spent getting me on the right road (not to mention your amazing treatise from last May that explains everything so well).  Thanks again to the other posters as well.

I now have the entire process planned out, including chemicals, materials, tools and dilution amounts.  I plan to purchase a VPI and in fact have already picked out a handy spot on my kitchen counter to become the cleaning center.

One question left: do you use the VPI for every step of the cleaning?  That seems extremely convenient to me, but I don't want to mess up the machine any more than necessary.

@keegiam,

People using the procedure use just one vacuum-RCM.  They are not using multiple vacuum-RCM.  Note that this device  Amazon.com : RONXS Lighter, Upgraded Candle Lighter Camping Lighter Grill Lighter USB Lighter Plasma Arc with LED Battery Display Safety Switch, Longer Flexible Neck for Candle Cooking BBQs Fireworks (Black) : Sports & Outdoors can neutralize static on a record.  Just energize for a few seconds while circling around the record about 1" above; keep away from the cartridge.