Vinyl care.

[nicbwalker]

Hello,

Having made numerous charity shop record purchases I have a care process in place, but am interested to hear other peoples routines / processes.

I clean all records (new or second hand) with a Spin Clean record washer and then place all in to a new polythene lined inner sleeve and the record is then placed into a polythene outer sleeve before being placed into my Ikea record rack. It is scary how much grime is removed by the record washer.

Do other members have vinyl routines?

Regards.

[chelsea]

http://kosty.at/Okkinokki/okkinokki2.jpg

[Thing Fish]

I clean all mine with a wet vacuum machine.

Not always straight away but pretty soon.

[ninedecks]

I couldn't justify the expense of an electric vacuum cleaner so went in the same direction as yourself.
2 Disco antistat, one for cleaning and one for rinsing. I'm even making up my own cleaning fluid.
It really does make an enormous difference doesn't it.

[Oldpinkman]

There is another long thread on this subject. I took Marco's advice - ponced an unused Moth RCM from Arthur - and have been delighted with the results

Particularly on a David Oistrach recording of Bachs double violin concerto - which produced a moment which frankly made my entire AOS experience to date worthwile :)

[Clive197]

I'm lucky in that I have a friend who has a Keith Monks disc washer which I use for new/secondhand vinyl. After washing I place the record into a new anti-static sleeve.
I wipe the record before each use with a Roksan record cleaner.

[Ali Tait]

For folks with RCM's, how often do you clean your vinyl?

[Reffc]

I use my own DIY record cleaning set up (old TT/modified vacuum nozzle, wet&dry vacuum cleaner and IPA cleaning solution) then place records in anti-static sleeves.

[Clive197]

I try to only wash a record when I first get it. Keeping a record and stylus clean is usually enough. I have a lot of LP's that I have owned for forty to fifty years that still play exceptionally well. Not getting finger prints all over them helps.

[Ali Tait]

Ok cheers. Is it not good to wash too often?

[johnB]

2 Disco antistat, one for cleaning and one for rinsing.

do most people do a second rinse with purified water? I've been getting a residue build up on stylus after I clean with my Okki Nokki, and am wondering whether a second wash with water would stop this?

[chelsea]

I don't but probably should as you can end up with a line of dirt once the arm lifts up.

Must try it.

[nicbwalker]

I haven't rinsed any of my records post cleaning and haven't had any issues. One of the reasons I chose the Spin Clean record washer over the Disco Antistat was on-line reports of residue being left on the cleaned records.

I have only used the supplied cleaning solution, and still have half a bottle left so it will be a while before I need to contemplate buying more or making my own.

I have never tried any of the vacuum cleaners, and to be fair it may be overkill given the size of my record collection and my set-up.

[keiths]

I clean EVERY record when I get it on my Moth RCM and pop it into a new inner sleeve.

http://www.simister.com/public/rcm2.jpg


For folks with RCM's, how often do you clean your vinyl?

Once they've been cleaned once on the Moth, I don't wet clean them again as I find they don't get dirty with normal use - careful handling to avoid touching the playing surface and removing from the turntable and putting back into the sleeve immediately after playing is essential here. I think the Transfi ResoMat that I have on my Lenco helps keep records dust free as the contact between the record and the mat is minimal

http://www.simister.com/public/reso-mat.jpg


Ok cheers. Is it not good to wash too often?

No - especially if you use an alcohol-based cleaning fluid, excessive cleaning can cause loss of plasicizer effecting vinyl stability.

[twotone]

I haven't rinsed any of my records post cleaning and haven't had any issues. One of the reasons I chose the Spin Clean record washer over the Disco Antistat was on-line reports of residue being left on the cleaned records.

I have only used the supplied cleaning solution, and still have half a bottle left so it will be a while before I need to contemplate buying more or making my own.

I have never tried any of the vacuum cleaners, and to be fair it may be overkill given the size of my record collection and my set-up.

I bought a spin clean record washer in the summer but have never used, is it easy to use?

Tony

[AlfaGTV]

Must say, that i have finally decided to return my Okki Nokki to dealer for warranty repair. (I have the 2010 version, chinese made?)
After 6 months it decided to start humming when connected to mains (not necessarily spinning or hoovering)
A couple of weeks later i discovered that the suction arm base shows some corrosion, and the paint is starting to fall off.
I belive this is due to the former error, which MAY cause galvanic currents and hence, corrosion.

Whats worse though is the fact that the threads on the center spindle was so poorly executed in conjunction with a brass screw-on-top, that the threads now are gone completely... = useless...

Admittedly i have been using it quite a lot, but it still should withstand some use! :/

Bah... we'll se what the repairs amounts to...

Regards /Mike

[Magna Audio]

Yep.
All new / old are DIY washed / suck dried by this

http://i727.photobucket.com/albums/ww272/speedysteve7/Record%20cleaning%20machine/IMG_6868.jpg (http://s727.photobucket.com/user/speedysteve7/media/Record%20cleaning%20machine/IMG_6868.jpg.html)

Inspired by seeing Keith Monks machine clean one of my purchases at a record fair.
All are Zero stat zapped before and after and old ones or dusty ones are brushed thoroughly prior to wet cleaning.
After that it's polyvinyl sleeve and then each side play is zapped by Zerostat gun and brushed with carbon fibre / felt brush.

Further Zerostat zap when replaced into sleeve.

I pretty much never have to wet wash discs again following this procedure!

[Mike g]

Sorry for the quick thread jack but...Keiths where did you get your lenco plinth from- that looks brilliant.

[The Grand Wazoo]

It doesn't look like Keith's on board the good ship AoS at the moment, but I can confirm that he found his plinth buried in a pile of sawdust that he had created. Use the AoS search facility and you'll find his thread about how he built it.

[keiths]

Sorry for the quick thread jack but...Keiths where did you get your lenco plinth from- that looks brilliant.

The photo flatters it somewhat Mike, but I made it myself. It's 12 layers of birch ply topped off with black walnut veneer.

[Ali Tait]

I clean EVERY record when I get it on my Moth RCM and pop it into a new inner sleeve.

http://www.simister.com/public/rcm2.jpg



Once they've been cleaned once on the Moth, I don't wet clean them again as I find they don't get dirty with normal use - careful handling to avoid touching the playing surface and removing from the turntable and putting back into the sleeve immediately after playing is essential here. I think the Transfi ResoMat that I have on my Lenco helps keep records dust free as the contact between the record and the mat is minimal

http://www.simister.com/public/reso-mat.jpg



No - especially if you use an alcohol-based cleaning fluid, excessive cleaning can cause loss of plasicizer effecting vinyl stability.

Ok, cheers, thanks for the info.

[Haselsh1]

I have just bought a Spin Clean machine from Analogue Seduction and I am waiting to collect it from the sorting office this very morning. At the moment, I can't wait to get stuck in and clean my secondhand vinyl collection. I am starting with the secondhand stuff before moving on to the new stuff just so that I can gauge the efficiency of the thing.

[Haselsh1]

Well, I got my Spin Clean record cleaning machine from the local sorting office yesterday morning and set about cleaning seven records during the afternoon. This morning (Sunday) I had a vinyl session and would like to report that in my honest opinion, I have just wasted ninety quid including courier delivery as the cleaning machine has made little or no difference at all.

Using my reference recording which is Brand X, Morrocan Roll I noticed that there was a slight increase in surface noise especially during the very quiet passages but that any surface noise was masked during the loudest parts. I now find that during the quietest passages, there is more surface noise than there used to be before the ‘cleaning’ took place.

My turntable is a modified Project RPM-4 with standard arm and an Ortofon OM30 cartridge which I am to upgrade to an OM40 very soon. I find that with my latest revelation on vinyl that I may put the 240 quid for the OM40 stylus towards an Audiolab M-DAC which would give a much better result than with vinyl. Maybe I was expecting far too much from the record cleaning machine but I certainly wasn’t expecting it to increase the low level surface noise the way it clearly has. To say that I am disappointed would be an understatement especially as I have now paid out around 90 quid which would have bought me quite a few CD’s but I guess I shall just have to live and learn and stick with digital in the form of CD even though I honestly believe analogue to be superior. The depth of the sound and the depth of the stereo is far superior with vinyl and because of that it gives a much more convincing picture but I feel my vinyl days are drawing to a close.

[AlfaGTV]

Maybe I was expecting far too much from the record cleaning machine but I certainly wasn’t expecting it to increase the low level surface noise the way it clearly has.

Some things not right here! Wont you describe your cleaning procedure?
To me cleaning records lowers surface noice, elliminates static electricity and provides clearly audible improvements!
Your experience should be similar!

Regards Mike

[Macca]

The Spin Clean isn't a proper wet/vacuum machine, that's why you are not getting great results. You are moving dirt around the grooves instead of removing it. There really is no free lunch with record cleaners. I looked into all the options before I got my Moth and came to the conclusion that it was best just to take the £400 hit. Never regretted it. If you are handy you can buy the kit and build one like Keith did.

[Haselsh1]

The Spin Clean isn't a proper wet/vacuum machine, that's why you are not getting great results. You are moving dirt around the grooves instead of removing it. There really is no free lunch with record cleaners. I looked into all the options before I got my Moth and came to the conclusion that it was best just to take the £400 hit. Never regretted it. If you are handy you can buy the kit and build one like Keith did.

I honestly do understand that everything is a trade off but £400 would just about buy me an Audiolab M-DAC and I have always walked a very thin line between vinyl and CD. After this latest experience, I may well stick with CD. Since I changed from Van Den Hul cables to Atlas I am now getting amazing amounts of information from my CD's and I am constantly thinking that this is where I should be sticking. I shall keep a vinyl side to my system as a token gesture but I could have bought a lot of CD's for the 90 quid the Spin Clean cost me so I am now down by around nine CD's and very disappointed. To answer the other question, the technique I used was exactly as described in the instructions as I was very new to this machine and didn't want to deviate.

[Haselsh1]

I also understand that the only dirt that is going to be completely removed by the Spin Clean machine is dirt that is water soluble. Other kinds of dirt are simply going to be moved around the grooves. I guess very little of the dirt is water soluble.