Record Cleaning Machines

It finally dawned on me why the handle "antinn" sounded familiar! When I re-read this thread, terry9's contribution suddenly helped turn the lights on! Thanks, terry9!

Antinn, first, my sincere thanks for your March 2021 second edition paper incorporating the subject we are discussing here. Very impressive, comprehensive and informative piece of work! Thank you!

I'm offering the following in the hopes I can get you to comment on my present labor of love. It's a little more detail about my present cleaning methodology. I'll try to keep it short and to the point.

I use an RoHS model 30A (6 liter) 180 watt US power, 200 watt heating power, 40 kHz US machine. I don't use heat. The tank fluid always stays around room temperature (e.g. 65 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit). I use CleanerVinyl adapters to rotate 3 LPs slowly (probably a little less than 3 RPM) in Mobile Fidelity Super Record Wash, advertised as an "alcohol-free" fluid incorporating "non-toxic, natural degreasers and dirt solvents in combination with quadruple-distilled, hyper-pure water base". They further state this fluid is a "high-surface-tension water composition". After US cleaning, my next step is rinsing the LPs, using a Knosti Disco Anti-Stat filled with distilled water. The Knosti is the German version of the Spin-Clean and uses brushes, instead of pads. Next, I lay the records on LP-sized high quality microfiber cloths for a pre-drying and, then, transfer them to the Knosti drying rack for complete air-drying. My final step involves treating them with LAST record preservative. Thus far, I've never seen grit, particles or accumulated dirt of any kind in the bottom of the US tank when I'm finished. I've also never seen anything like that in the filters I use (Melitta coffee filters) to drain the cleaning fluid back into their containers. I generally do 15 LPs at a time, which takes me around 3 hours from start to finish, including set-up, clean-up & tear down. I could probably reduce the time but I amuse myself in the interim periods.

As I indicated earlier, I'm getting what I consider great audio results. However, if the Degritter can achieve the same or better audio results, I would seriously consider it or, for that matter, any other reasonably priced cleaner or cleaning system. As another poster indicated, the HumminGuru caught my interest, as well, but this is still a work in progress and details are sketchy.

Thoughts?

I guess I am “old school”. Use the legendary Keith Monks Discovery RCM. BBC, Library of Congress, etc. used to be a thread on nozzle at the end of a tone arm like moving arm. Now just a high suction devise using a very strong German medical grade pump. It vacuums one grove at a time well removing all fluid and dirt. And the KM fluid produces the white substance when brushed in. And the whole process takes a bit over a minute a side.

@oldaudiophile,

1. If you read the book Chapter XIV.5.3, and you apply your tank volume of 6L with 3 records, the fastest you should spin is 1 rpm. If you clean just one record at a time, then 3 rpm is the fastest you should spin. The problem with spinning too fast is that it agitates the fluid and if the fluid is agitated at >50% of tank volume/min, for lower frequency UCM such as 40 kHz, the cavitation intensity decreases and 3 records at 3 rpm in a 6L tank, the cavitation intensity could be 50% less. Note that if the spinner motor is 12/24VDC, you can buy a variable speed power supply such as these which should get the speed down to 1 rpm Amazon.com: SHNITPWR 60W Universal Power Supply DC 3V 4V 4.5V 5V 6V 7V 7.5V 8V 9V 10V 11V 12V Adjustable Variable Power Adapter 100V-240V AC to DC Converter 1A 2A 2.5A 3A 4A 5A with 14 Tips & Polarity Converter : Electronics or Amazon.com: SHNITPWR 3V ~ 24V 3A 72W Power Supply Adjustable DC 3V 5V 6V 9V 12V 15V 16V 18V 19V 20V 24V Variable Universal AC/DC Adapter 100V-240V AC to DC Converter with 14 Tips 5.5x2.5mm 4.0x1.7mm 3.5x1.35mm : Electronics

2. Mobile Fidelity Super Record Wash has no detailed MSDS so I cannot make any assessment - other than if its working and your happy with the results - if its not broke, don’t fix it. Otherwise, stating that the fluid is a "high-surface-tension water composition" has to be a typo. It should state "low-surface-tension water composition". A "high-surface-tension water composition" would not wet the record and overall be a poor water-based detergent.

3. Rinsing is important to reduce the risk of cleaner residue; and not knowing the constituents/concentration of the Mobile Fidelity Super Record Wash rinsing is prudent and using the Knosti Disco Anti-Stat filled with distilled water is a good process.

4. So long as the microfiber cloths are clean and lint-free, there should be limited risk. Knowing for sure they are lint-free is another story. Unless you are using a UV light as I address in Chapter II and IV, you may not know for sure. I made a dumb mistake by using a cotton towel to dry my gloved hands and when I inspected a ’clean’ record it was full of lint (under UV light). There was enough transfer from the cloth to my gloves (the cloths never touched the record) to contaminate the record - good-bye cotton cloths at any step.

5. The fact that you ’never’ see grit, particles or accumulated dirt of any kind..." in my world is a red-flag. If the cleaning process is truly efficient, you should on occasion see something. The fact that you see nothing - either your records are all exceptionally clean to begin with or your cleaning process has some weakness. As I address above, you may want to try cleaning just one record at a time and see if that changes the equation as they say.

Good luck,
Neil

@mglik,

The Keith Monks Discovery RCM is an awesome machine.  I have worked with some people over at the VPI forum with VPI vacuum RCMs and the Loricraft™ PRC-4 RCM with the following cleaning process (as quoting from the book Chapter XIII): 

XIII.4.a Pre-clean exceptionally dirty records with Alconox™ Liquinox™ at 0.5% (5 mL/L) - vacuum but do not fully dry. Depending on the record condition, two pre-clean steps may be required. Although the Alconox™ Liquinox™ will foam, most of the foam is collected in the brush as noted Figure 15.

XIII.4.b Rinse pre-cleaner with DIW - vacuum, but do not fully dry.

XIII.4.c Final clean with Dow™ Tergitol 15-S-9 at 0.05% (0.5 mL/L) - vacuum and do not fully dry. There will be some foam as noted Figure 17, but most of the foam will be in the brush.

XIII.4.d Rinse final cleaner with DIW - vacuum and fully dry. When drying be careful of drying too long that can cause static to form.

I purchased a Degritter just over a year ago, after using a DIY ultra-sonic setup for 3 yrs. with basically good results. I got tired of wasting an entire afternoon/evening performing labor intensive, noisy work to clean records, of which I own thousands- both LPs and 45s. I am extremely pleased with the Degritter. I generally use the medium length clean cycle, and generally get anywhere from 6-12 records cleaned before the cooling water cycle kicks in. I found if I use the quick clean (shortest) cycle, I almost never have the unit stop to cool. If I have a bunch to clean, then I can use the short cycle 2-3 times for each record. If you like, you can shorten the drying cycle with a quick turn of the knob, and make time between cycles even faster, and on the last cycle, adjust the drying time a bit longer. Not a big deal. Or you can leave it set, and just go about your business doing other things. I premix Tergikleen in a gallon jug of distilled water and add that to the tank. For a rinse cycle, I use distilled water with just a "splash" of 99.9% medical grade Iso alcohol on the short clean cycle. The records come out spotlessly, beautifully clean. This machine has saved me countless hours of cleaning records, and was worth every penny for me.