View Full Version : Cheap Record Cleaning Dodge
walpurgis
21-09-2012, 19:18
This little trick works!
If, like most of us, you don't have a record cleaning machine, Here's a trick I've found that gets dirt from grooves rather well without harming records.
Use one of the clothes brushes with the very short red directional fibres which point in one way only. They are available in supermarkets and pound shops.
I've successfully cleaned up pretty gungy records from boot sales and charity shops with one of these brushes without any audible detrimental effects.
We've all had old records that looks almost grey from embedded dirt contamination of the grooves over the years. You'll find they come up much cleaner treated with one of these brushes. Just follow the grooves, forward then backwards and finish off with a proper record cleaner and you'll see and hear the difference.
If you have doubts, just try it on an old, unwanted record first.
Neat tip Geoff. Thanks. :)
sq225917
21-09-2012, 20:45
There's a record brush made out of exactly this napped material but in black. Nice wooden handle as well.
That would be the Discwasher:
http://www.needledoctor.com/Discwasher-D4-Kit
I've had one for about thirty years. It's brilliant! The pad is radiused, so you put a little fluid on the leading edge, then apply it to the disc as it rotates on the turntable. The fluid loosens the dirt, and as you rotate the pad, the fluid and the dirt are picked up by the dry part of the pad leaving the disc clean and dry, thus avoiding the problem with a flat pad of leaving a stripe of dirt behind as you lift it off. The pad itself can then be cleaned by brushing on a clean cloth in the direction of the fibres.
There's a record brush made out of exactly this napped material but in black. Nice wooden handle as well.
Yes, Discwasher D4 & comes with a bottle of cleaning solution, I've used it since the seventies. The next best thing to a RCM.
I have one of those but no fluid.
Anyone no what it is?
I have one of those but no fluid.
Anyone no what it is?
Hi Stu, I'm afraid they are not likely to tell us, but it contains no Silicon.
Unspecified solvent & anti-fungal agents are used.
Full details of D4 fluid here:
http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/vinyl/messages/338394.html
jandl100
10-10-2012, 13:39
Errr -- it doesn't get good reviews on Amazon! :scratch:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/DISCWASHER-D4-Record-Cleaning-System/dp/B000000X4N/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1349876208&sr=8-4
"this is not the discwasher of years ago. just a chunk of corduroy. the old ones had a directional fiber that realy picked up dust. shame on them for cheapening what was a great cleaner!"
Why oh why do people insist on wasting their money on that sort of shite, instead of something that will do the job properly, rather than making your records worse? :doh: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
An RCM is the ONLY way to clean records PROPERLY. Either save up for one (just think if you missed a few pints at the pub every week, gave up fags, or whatever other vices you have, how much money you could save pretty quickly, to buy one), or take your records to someone in your area on the forum, who owns an RCM, and let them clean them for you, for a token fee.
Marco.
jandl100
10-10-2012, 13:45
Why oh why do people insist on using that sort of shite, instead of something that will do the job properly, rather than making your records worse? :doh: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
Marco.
Money, space, noise, hassle. ;)
And you never know - it might just work. :eyebrows:
Lol - I can assure you that the results will be piss-poor compared with those of using an RCM.
The money thing is largely an excuse, when you consider what people here spend on other things, arguably far less important! ;)
It never ceases to amaze me, for example, how people with nice turntables and reasonable record collections will happily spend £400 on, say, a mains lead, before they'll buy an RCM!! :mental:
Marco.
jandl100
10-10-2012, 14:05
Oops :doh: -- we seem to have kicked Marco off onto one of his fave raves! :lol:
Not everyone is a perfectionist, and some improvement as reported in the OP is a worthwhile thing, imo.
Can it be done better? Yeah, of course. Can you be bothered? Well, maybe not!
The reasons I don't have a RCM are space and hassle and noise.
I used to have one of the Moth machines, it did the job nicely. But it was way too much hassle for me and was unacceptably noisy for the wife (and for me, tbh), so I sold it on.
I now don't clean records at all - I just donate the non-minty ones back to the charity shops! :)
Oops :doh: -- we seem to have kicked Marco off onto one of his fave raves! :lol:
Lol, you're right, so having said my piece, I'll leave it there! ;)
Here's an idea for folk who claim that they can't afford an RCM: divert the funds you'd usually spend on buying vinyl, for a few months, until you have saved enough up for an RCM. Trust me, those few months of pain will be more than made up for by YEARS of joy, listening to the significant sonic improvement and increased enjoyment gained, spinning your fav choons, when playing pristinely cleaned records!! :trust:
Marco.
isuckedmandelsonslemons
10-10-2012, 14:44
I'm a CD only man and also not very bright. I assume this RCM is a record cleaning machine. But what type and how much we talking?
About £400 for the cheapest.
Lol - I can assure you that the results will be piss-poor compared with those of using an RCM.
The money thing is largely an excuse, when you consider what people here spend on other things, arguably far less important! ;)
It never ceases to amaze me, for example, how people with nice turntables and reasonable record collections will happily spend £400 on, say, a mains lead, before they'll buy an RCM!! :mental:
Marco.
I agree that most record brushes are crap and that nothing will clean a really shitty record like an RCM, but the original Discwasher is the only thing I've ever found that lifts dust off a record in day-to-day use without leaving it all in a line across the disc. As such, it's a useful adjunct to an RCM, but definitely not a replacement for one.
I agree that most record brushes are crap and that nothing will clean a really shitty record like an RCM, but the original Discwasher is the only thing I've ever found that lifts dust off a record in day-to-day use without leaving it all in a line across the disc. As such, it's a useful adjunct to an RCM, but definitely not a replacement for one.
Do you use it dry shane?
Sure, Shane - I get that, and in that context I suppose it's fine :)
Marco.
Do you use it dry shane? I prefer not to, but if necessary I do. It doesn't seem to generate any static, so seems to be OK.
(Alternative answer before Marco supplies it: Yes, but it makes my eyes water a bit....)
stupinder
10-10-2012, 18:13
I use this. Get's right into the grooves and removes pretty much everything!
http://i342.photobucket.com/albums/o433/Stupinder/rotary-wire-brush.jpg
http://nickbaines.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/nuclear-explosion.jpg
That's those pesky fingerprints taken care of... :D
http://nickbaines.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/nuclear-explosion.jpg
That's those pesky fingerprints taken care of... :D
Hmm.. I've found that technique leaves a lot of static.
walpurgis
11-10-2012, 22:18
The Gamma pulse does little for nearby solid state equipment I've found.
If anyone wants to make their own RCM cheaply I may post a few details on here of how to do it and the photos of one I made myself. Minimal outlay and as good as a full blown RCM for a fraction of the cost. Clue is in the list of materials/tools:
"wet&dry" vacuum cleaner (or and ordinary one with a moisture trap*added);
"nooks and crannies" nozzle, hacksaw, and some carbon fibre self adhesive cleaning pads (mobile fidelity sell these);
Old TT. It doesn't need to work and needs to be minus tonearm with all leads removed.
IPA...99.9% pure lab grade;
De-ionised/distilled water (pure grade)
Ilford Ilfotol wetting agent
Plastic mini sanding tool (no sandpaper attached!) and more of those mobile fidelity pads
plastic laboratory squeezy dropper bottle and long nozzle.
Thats it. The bits can be made up within a few hours and you have a very effective cleaning "machine" and a very effective cleaning solution still used by many LP archivists today. Recipe to follow.
isuckedmandelsonslemons
13-10-2012, 18:43
Blimey. Now I realise the fun that I'm missing out on bt being CD only. :-)
tannoyman
28-10-2012, 20:54
A few thoughts on record cleaning machines
Hi Fi enthusiasts are often regarded by doubters as an obsessive compulsive, anally retentive set of anoraks who take themselves and their hobby much too seriously and who spend their spare time debating momentous subjects such as how many angels might dance on a pin head. This misguided view is not new. As long ago as 1959 Michael Flanders and Donald Swann in At the Drop of a Hat took a side swipe at us with their slightly risqué ditty entitled “A Song of Reproduction”. It is in fact fair to say the traitors’ are quite literally at the gate. Indeed my wife frequently accuses me having bought enough cable over the years to re-wire the BT Telecom Tower. This is of course an exaggeration – actually it might be just enough for the switchboard. Anyone with even a modicum of understanding of the art and science music reproduction would realise the importance of controlling every element of the hi-fi system and its environs and the extraordinary lengths and great personal sacrifices which may be necessary to achieve lastingly satisfying results – these have been known to last as long as a few days.
However I am digressing somewhat from the main point of this epistle which was to congratulate Paul Rigby of Hi Fi World on his recent article on record cleaning which I found most helpful and informative. I do however feel that there was a small omission. He did not deal adequately with the importance of ensuring that the cleaned record is perfectly dry when it is returned to its sleeve and it is on this subject which I would like to share my experiences.
I have used a Moth RCM for some years now and I recently discovered a really effective method of drying the records very important if you want to avoid the record sticking to the sleeve and leaving nasty residue behind. The Moth vacuum pump has some important characteristics. Firstly it makes enough noise to permanently damage the hearing of the user which of course fortuitously provides an instant cure for poor sounding records by rendering the listener stone deaf. More positively, it also provides a warm current of air from the exhaust vent of the case which can be usefully employed to speed the drying process of the record prior to re-sleeving and put away. The method I use is to stand two supports in the line of the vent draught (my preferred supports are food tins or jars) and place the half dry records on these and allow them to dry while the next record is on the platter being cleaned. In the course of using this approach I made an important discovery, namely that the supports used clearly influenced the sound quality of the cleaned records.
This blinding revelation prompted the inevitable question – which support produced the best sound? A visit to the kitchen cupboard provided a wide variety of tinned products to use for sonic comparison - but how to do it? The evaluations would inevitably be subjective but somehow I knew that the subjective element needed to be reduced if the results were to have any credibility. After much head scratching I decided to use a method called ‘Paired Comparisons’, often favoured in management circles, to rank subjective findings in order of preference. Using this approach the sound quality of each type of support was compared to every other support in the study and the result scored on a matrix. (ah … life is just a bowl of matrices!). If a support was better than another with which it was compared it scored 2. If it was considered equal it scored 1. If it was considered worse than the other it scored 0. After completing the sonic comparisons the final step was to aggregate the score for each support, the support with the highest overall score of course being the winner. In this case it was Heinz Baked Beans. I must confess that I was slightly mystified by this result and as yet I do not have a technical explanation. However I think that it may have something to do with the quality and quantity of wind generated.
Having devoted a large amount of time to this work I am gratified to think, that in my own small way, I may have added to the sum of human knowledge on what is clearly a topic of earth shattering importance which could change the course of record cleaning for ever – a truly monumental achievement by any standards!
:lol::lol::lol::cool:
I wholeheartedly agree that an RCM is a great investment for anyone with a decent LP collection.
I don't think anyone has mentioned the device I use - the KAB EV1. It's basically a Nitty Gritty without the vacuum pump. You connect it to a standard household vacuum cleaner instead. This has the added advantage of allowing you to place the latter on the other side of a partially closed door and save your hearing...
Anyway, when I bought mine about 5 years ago (imported from KAB in USA) it cost about £140 including postage and duty. It's probably more than that now but worth a look. It's an excellent cleaner (review on the TNT Audio site I think).
Since acquiring an RCM I've become a lot braver when it comes to buying filthy looking LPs at boot sales/charity shops etc. It's still hit and miss of course, but I've taken a punt on many an unpromising LP that has cleaned up beautifully.
Just as an aside, I have a small supply of isopropyl alcohol and fancy distilled water. Any recommendations for a good homebrew cleaning fluid?
Cheers
Martin
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