We Vinyl Ultrasonic or Vacuum Cleaner?

@neonknight,

Windham Hill for the most part, used a HDPE record liner and good vinyl. Some of the black vinyl if you holdup to light are translucent brown.  So, they are generally in very good condition upon receipt.  I do not recall anyone of their records being delivered with a paper sleeve, which I have stopped buying NOS records that are known to have used paper sleeves.  The paper is not acid-free, and a few decades of storage; likely in a pressed condition, causes what I call sleeve rash - and there is no recovery cleaning process.

Before spending for a UT Tank, suggest you first use your OkkiNokki but with a cleaning solution using a good brush (I use the Amazon.com: Record Doctor Clean Sweep LP Vinyl Cleaning Brush : Electronics), with good technique - quick back & forth motion; it's not about bearing down on the brush, let the fluid agitation do the work.  Then use a double-rinse to ensure all cleaning agent is removed.  Blower style vacuum-RCM does not suck up all the fluid, as much as 30% is evaporated/dried in-place (confirmed by testing; see Chapter XIII of this free book -Precision Aqueous Cleaning of Vinyl Records-3rd Edition - The Vinyl Press.

The 132-kHz  High-Frequency Ultrasonic Cleaner UC-8180L (132 kHz; 6 liter; 110V) – CleanerVinyl sounds impressive except the power rating of 180W is low for that size of tank (the Degritter 120-kHz is 300W into 1.4-L) and the Chinese made 60W/transducer power rating (3 installed) is a bit optimistic.  If you plug the UT into an inexpensive wattmeter, you will more than likely see a power considerably less.  The problem is that as the kHz increases, the power needed for cavitation increases; see the beginning of Chapter XIV of the book for the basic thumb-rules for UT.  Industrial table-top units with high kHz are often 240VAC for the necessary power and their power ratings are verified.  

The catch-22 is if you buy the higher kHz unit, you may find that even for new records, you will need to preclean with your  OkkiNokki; and for DIY UT, many people use a vacuum-RCM (with rinse) to dry after UT cleaning.  It avoids the need or filtration to keep the UT clean of frequent tank refresh.  This is what makes the one-stop clean/dry units such as the HummingGuru, Degritter and KLAudio so appealing.

Good Luck,

OP,

We sound like we may have a similar approach to life... I want to spend as little time doing mundane tasks and as much time doing high value activities... minimize cleaning the house, doing laundry and maximize music listening and climbing mountains. 

I have an Okki Nokki vacuum RCM and a Degritter II ultrasonic. 

I clean all my new records before playing them in the Degritter using distilled water only, and no cleaning formula. For used records or ones that are otherwise soiled and need a deep clean, I use my Okki Nokki as a presoak with AIVS Formula #15 enzymatic solution, followed by a two tank cleaning in the Degritter. The first tank has Degritter’s cleaning formula and the second tank is a pure distilled water rinse cycle.

This process has been extremely effective for me. I have about 5000 LPs I’ve collected over the last 50 years or so, and continue to buy about 200 LPs every year.

@dogberry I too have a Loricraft. Never thought about an ultrasonic clean after as I thought that the Loricraft 4(pre SME version) with its hospital grade pump was good enough. I guess that you notice a big difference using the Degritter afterwards vs the Loricraft alone? Ever try only the Degritter? 

Perhaps the Degritter is something I should consider. How long from start to finish does your complete cleaning proceedures take. Are you using the new Mark II model? 

Do you use the L'art Du Son with your Loricraft and your Degritter? 

Thanks!

@neonknight which ultrasonic do you have?  My HumminGuru takes little to no effort to use so I was confused about your comment about how much commitment was required for your ultrasonic clean.

My prior Happy Buy (which is similar to the Vevor many people mention) took all kinds of time and effort which is why I moved on from that product.  It sounds like that may be what you are using?  I would highly suggest looking at a single disc ultrasonic, as they require almost no effort at all.