Record Cleaning Machines
 

I've 10,000+ LPs - but no RCM. Maybe I should have - but..~5mins to
clean each LP....??
For just 50 LPs there's An Alternative.
Ignoring the prospect that your Iso-Alcohol formulations haven't led
to permanent crackles - and assuming that the 70/80s material is 'Pop'
then you could play them WET - the LP side could be re-wetted when
transcribing tracks if the surface dried out.
Although I'd not do the above, it's a safe bet that you'll potentially
get a silent backgound - even more so if you cleaned the LP beforehand
with a water/detergent solution -"Morning Fresh" 'Wildflower
Melody' (Mauve..) is pretty OK - no citric acid, I suspect..rinse
under running lukewarm water (if you're adept you can get an
immediately dry surface using that method..).
Wet-playing is well known to have some advantages - and, for your
application, might well be the answer.

Record Cleaning Machines
 

"Dave Matthews" wrote in message
...
"Keith G" wrote in message
...

Thanks for the info, Keith...


The Moth RCM (which I have)

Woah - the granddaddy of them all!


uses a vacuum cleaner motor but it is far noisier than a vacuum cleaner -
due to being closer to your ears than a vacuum cleaner normally is, if
nothing else.! I would certainly advise ear defenders if you were going
to do a lot or if you were going to listen to them immediately after
cleaning them!!

Good point. And I guess that with a vacuum cleaner, the carpet will
soak up a lot of the noise.



That all said, there is nothing like a nice, clean, *shiny liquorice*
record - enhances the whole experience of vinyl and is well worth the
effort/inconvenience in my book!!
But was it worth the money....? :-)


Beyond doubt! (A sine qua non in my book!!)

I guess the cost per record for me is in the order of 10p each so far. When
you can find a shop that actually *will* do them, it's usually about 1.50 ea
and a maximum of 10 at a time. (It really is mind-numbingly boring after 3
or 4 of them!) I mix my own juice (DW and Isoprop at 4:1) which works out
about 70p/lt - (from 25lt and 5 lt containers respectively) - not the 15
quid a litre that *someone* might charge!!

Anyway, I wouldn't be without mine - despite that it's fallen to bits once,
been fixed by Mr Moth (Mike Harris) himself and looks like it's going to
need fixing again!

Record Cleaning Machines
 

"Keith G" wrote in message
...


I guess the cost per record for me is in the order of 10p each so far.
When you can find a shop that actually *will* do them, it's usually about
1.50 ea and a maximum of 10 at a time. (It really is mind-numbingly boring
after 3 or 4 of them!)

That's a bargain when I consider how much time it could save me in terms
of attempting (probably unsuccessfully) to to a post-transcription "digital
clean-up".


Anyway, I wouldn't be without mine - despite that it's fallen to bits
once, been fixed by Mr Moth (Mike Harris) himself and looks like it's
going to need fixing again!

Well "granddaddies" reserve the right to be a bit decrepit!

--

Cheers,


Dave

Record Cleaning Machines
 

"frankwm" wrote in message
ups.com...
I've 10,000+ LPs - but no RCM. Maybe I should have - but..~5mins to
clean each LP....??
For just 50 LPs there's An Alternative.
Ignoring the prospect that your Iso-Alcohol formulations haven't led
to permanent crackles - and assuming that the 70/80s material is 'Pop'
then you could play them WET - the LP side could be re-wetted when
transcribing tracks if the surface dried out.
Although I'd not do the above, it's a safe bet that you'll potentially
get a silent backgound - even more so if you cleaned the LP beforehand
with a water/detergent solution -"Morning Fresh" 'Wildflower
Melody' (Mauve..) is pretty OK - no citric acid, I suspect..rinse
under running lukewarm water (if you're adept you can get an
immediately dry surface using that method..).
Wet-playing is well known to have some advantages - and, for your
application, might well be the answer.

Thanks for the suggestion! I've just tried that on one of the really
poor LPs (one that I'm not bothered about, I hasten to add) and it made an
amazing difference - other than the occasional crackle, the background noise
was near-absent, compared to previous attempts on it with cleaning but
allowing it to dry. I assume that I should ideally use distilled water for
wet-playing?

--

Cheers,


Dave

Record Cleaning Machines
 

"Dave Matthews" wrote in message
...
"Keith G" wrote in message
...


I guess the cost per record for me is in the order of 10p each so far.
When you can find a shop that actually *will* do them, it's usually about
1.50 ea and a maximum of 10 at a time. (It really is mind-numbingly
boring after 3 or 4 of them!)

That's a bargain when I consider how much time it could save me in
terms of attempting (probably unsuccessfully) to to a post-transcription
"digital clean-up".



The cleaning of a record won't necessarily remove all the artifacts that
some people don't want with vinyl. I never use 'digital clean-up' methods
myself, in fact I usually do absolutely nothing with a transcription - what
doesn't bother me with a record isn't going to bother me with the
'digitised' version!! I might take a loud pop out here and there, but always
'by hand' in Sound Forge!




Anyway, I wouldn't be without mine - despite that it's fallen to bits
once, been fixed by Mr Moth (Mike Harris) himself and looks like it's
going to need fixing again!

Well "granddaddies" reserve the right to be a bit decrepit!



It's not a big thing, but it is awkward - the 'turntable' goes a bit wobbly
and tries to 'cam' itself off the drive shaft!

The problem stems from the whole thing being just a little bit *too
powerful* - the vacuum is so fierce the record clamp has to be screwed on
very tight to prevent the record being 'seized' (I use paper washers to
preserve the labels), screwing it up so tight places a lot of strain on the
grubscrew, which starts to slip:

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/driveshaft.JPG


So you tighten it up and it cuts just a little deeper....!!

;-)

Remember though - this is after *thousands* of records and my impatient,
hamfisted 'wringing it against the rotation' method to do up and undo the
(screw on) clamp!

Record Cleaning Machines
 

Dave Matthews wrote:
"frankwm" wrote in message
ups.com...
I've 10,000+ LPs - but no RCM. Maybe I should have - but..~5mins to
clean each LP....??
For just 50 LPs there's An Alternative.
Ignoring the prospect that your Iso-Alcohol formulations haven't led
to permanent crackles - and assuming that the 70/80s material is
'Pop' then you could play them WET - the LP side could be re-wetted
when transcribing tracks if the surface dried out.
Although I'd not do the above, it's a safe bet that you'll
potentially get a silent backgound - even more so if you cleaned the
LP beforehand with a water/detergent solution -"Morning Fresh"
'Wildflower Melody' (Mauve..) is pretty OK - no citric acid, I
suspect..rinse
under running lukewarm water (if you're adept you can get an
immediately dry surface using that method..).
Wet-playing is well known to have some advantages - and, for your
application, might well be the answer.

Thanks for the suggestion! I've just tried that on one of the
really poor LPs (one that I'm not bothered about, I hasten to add)
and it made an amazing difference - other than the occasional
crackle, the background noise was near-absent, compared to previous
attempts on it with cleaning but allowing it to dry. I assume that I
should ideally use distilled water for wet-playing?

Doesn't the sound alter, I would have thought it would have 'dampened' the
higher frequencies?
Perhaps if you did it with a touch of detergent and distilled (not dionised)
watee then thoughly rinsed them you'd clean them quite effectively?

Record Cleaning Machines
 

jasee wrote:

Perhaps if you did it with a touch of detergent and distilled (not dionised)
watee then thoughly rinsed them you'd clean them quite effectively?

What's the difference between distilled and de-ionized water?
I thought both methods just left H2O. Anyway, it's the rinse
water that should be pure, not necessarily the cleaning solution.

--
Eiron.

Record Cleaning Machines
 

You don't mention whether you've simply 'wet-played' - or combined
that with a detergent clean.
The fact you reduced the 'battleground effects' indicates that your
Iso-Alcohol method was leaving behind residues.
The 'crackle' may well be 'permanent' as Alcohol will damage the vinyl
- even with just one 'clean'...this is my experience (shudder)

The method following is 'mine' - & on an initially 'totally noise-free
disc' will create no deterioration whatsoever.
It relies on through-cleaning - and no 'cross-contamination' (as on
commercial RCM's) from disc-to-disc using shared 'brushes' for
solution application - or 'pads' leaving residue/contamination behind
in the non-vacuum types.

1x Plush Velvet cleaning pad (ie type seen in those feeble Carbon-
Fibre cleaners with the centre pad) - I once used the old 'Emitex'
cloth...the Milty DuoPad will also do the job - although the material
eventually comes adrift from the foam base.
Detergent - as above.
1: Damp pad and clean-off both LP sides. Rinsing pad.
2: Apply detergent to pad - small amount.
3: Holding LP with one hand against body (it's not really a good idea
to use the TT..) clean in 4-5 'sectors' half-dozen times - then, when
the foam has built up - in just 3 sectors. Rinse off pad - do other
side. You can apply quite a degree of pressure without damage.
4: Prior to detergent removal 'even up' the solution by one 'swish'
round the LP side.
5: You (preferably) need a fine stream of lukewarm water from the tap.
Hold the LP under the stream - which should 'land' on the dead-wax
area - to the RH side and you'll see the detergent being washed away -
with 1970s vinyl it quickly forms an 'edge' and rotating the LP anti-
clockwise (ensuring water/detergent is not passed onto the LP from
your Pinkies - it can be done..) carry that edge all the way back to
your start-point...then lift the LP up - moving the water stream the
LP edge - then remove.
The LP should be bone-dry You can continue the above method to
complete a second revolution - as, depending on water velocity/
detergent/rotation speed you could leave behind a slight detergent
trace - though the LP would appear dry.

Using this method there should be no need to wet-play the LP's - so
the question of 'distilled water' doesn't arise.
What wet-playing does is to put existing contaminants 'into
suspension' - hence reduced background noise.

Record Cleaning Machines
 

"Eiron" wrote in message
...
jasee wrote:

Perhaps if you did it with a touch of detergent and distilled (not
dionised) watee then thoughly rinsed them you'd clean them quite
effectively?

What's the difference between distilled and de-ionized water?
I thought both methods just left H2O. Anyway, it's the rinse
water that should be pure, not necessarily the cleaning solution.

Distilled water doesn't contain anything else but H20 so is a better solvent
and shouldn't leave any residues at all. It's theoretically possible that
there could be non ionic impurities in deionised water: I always use
distilled for cleaning camera lenses for example..

Record Cleaning Machines
 

"Keith G" wrote in message
...

The cleaning of a record won't necessarily remove all the artifacts that
some people don't want with vinyl. I never use 'digital clean-up' methods
myself, in fact I usually do absolutely nothing with a transcription -
what doesn't bother me with a record isn't going to bother me with the
'digitised' version!!

Well I've had 20 years of the "luxury" of CDs! When I started getting my
old LPs out of the loft a few months back, I found it quite a shock
listening to them in terms of surface noise alone - even the pristine ones.


I might take a loud pop out here and there, but always 'by hand' in Sound
Forge!

Indeed - I do all my clean-ups by hand - automated methods never work
satisfactorily.


http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/driveshaft.JPG

That's scary!

--

Cheers,


Dave