USNRET Posted February 2, 2009 Author Share Posted February 2, 2009 You should also have a spray bottle for rinsing with distilled water. Method? I envision something like shovel the dirt off, give it a ride on the RCM, it dispenses cleaner and brushes the groves and then the vacuum is turned on to remove fluid. At this point do you spray the water rinse on and re-vacuum or lint free wipe dry? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nu2toobs Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 You spray the distilled water on the spinning LP while the vacuum is removing the cleaning fluid, thus removing any residue from the fluid. This is done after you have used the VPI or Mofi brush during the cleaning step. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USNRET Posted February 3, 2009 Author Share Posted February 3, 2009 Thanks much, I will give it a shot when the big brown truck arrives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nu2toobs Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 It'll all make more sense once you get it up and running. You won't be sorry with this investment, especially with thrift store finds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batmans Robin Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 USNRET, You made the right choice. The Nitty Gritty is just a toy compared to the VPI and the difference in price is negligible. If you have an absolutely filthy record, you can take it to your kitchen sink and run water on the vinyl areas not the label and that will knock off the worst dirt. But that is not necessary for a normal record that needs a little cleaning. A record sitting in its jacket on the shelf for thirty years isn't going to be any dirtier than if it was there for thirty days. Instead of squirting on the cleaner fluid and letting the VPI brush spread it around, it's MUCH better to spread the fluid with a DiscDoctor brush by hand and then scrub the heck out of the record, along the direction of the grooves in a circular motion. Just think of your record as a dirty dish that you are washing by hand. This is the way I always washed dishes prior to the last ten years when I bought one of these new fangled dishwashing machines. If you just slightly graze the dirty dish with a dish towel, what chance do you have of getting it clean? You have to put some muscle behind it. Some fluids require a rinse afterwards and some do not. If you do rinse make sure to use plenty, don't be stingy. A few drops of rinse is not enough it would be like if you tried rinsing after a shower with one cup of water in 5 seconds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USNRET Posted February 6, 2009 Author Share Posted February 6, 2009 Should have plenty of cleaner, rinse and brushes. Got a few hundred worth of 'accessories' from Elusive Disc today. Tried out the VPI the other night just to see if it rotated and sucked, it did. Now to get into some scrubbing, gotta be ready when the Tercel arrives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batmans Robin Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 If you treat your records right after cleaning and put them in new, high quality sleeves, you'll never have to clean the same record twice on your VPI. The only "periodic maintenance" would be a very light brushing with a carbon fiber brush right before you play the side, when it's on your turntable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USNRET Posted February 6, 2009 Author Share Posted February 6, 2009 That's the plan. I got deep cleaner, regular cleaner, rinse, stylus cleaner, brush and pads, extra felt pad for the VPI, and a bunch of MoFi sleeves to put them back in. Need to get a couple of pickup tubes/felt pads for the RCM but they were not in stock. how hard is it to change just the felt on the VPI pickup tube if the tube is in good shape? I asked on the local community forum if any one had any LPs and got several hundred donated! Last year I asked if anyone had any big old ugly Klipsch speakers and got a pair of H1s on the really cheap, they live at dklowery's house now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batmans Robin Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 It's easy as can be to pull the felt off the tube UNLESS YOU BITE YOUR NAILS DOWN TO THE QUICK! It's just glued on. You don't have to change it very often at all unless you're really anal, or have obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshnich Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 BMR's is pretty spot on on this one. Here is a pretty good you tube video on part of the process. The video shows one step. I do it in two steps. I do the cleaning like illustrated in the video and then do the same thing with purified water as a rinse. If the record is really dirty I will really load up the cleaning solution and let it sit on the record almost like a lake for a little bit before spinning the turntable and using the brush. For the Rinse I use the disk doctor brush and keep adding purified water until the vaccum sucks up clear water. Josh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebes Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 One note on record cleaning that I have extracted from a post on an earlier thread: "Let me go on record as being firmly opposed to any record cleaning solution that uses alcohol. They say it does not harm anything but shellac records but I'm here to tell you they are wrong. Ipurchased a Nitty Gritty from a nice fellow Forum member and he threwin a commercial record cleaner with alcohol in it. I did about 100records with this solution and all of them now evidence something akinto static. DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nowit wasn't this person's fault, he was doing me a favor by passing thefluid along. You'll also have people chiming in saying they usemixtures with alcohol and it sounds great. THEY EITHER HAVE CRUMMYSYSTEMS OR REALLY BAD EARS. DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!! Idon't often tender technical advice cause mostly I know not of what Ispeak. I feel no reluctance in offering a firm opinon on this issue and I hope you will all take it to heart. There are too many alternatives to alcohol to take the chance on wrecking your records. Drink it, get a massage with it, use it with white shellac as a primer/sealer, but don't put it on your records." Garage-a-Records sells something that's almost too weak, but safe, it's the Spin Clean washing liquid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshnich Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 I have used a cleaning solution with alcohol and have not experienced the static thing. I have however noticed that the alcohol cleaners are harder to rinse clean so I have switched to the disk doctors cleaning fluid and feel that it works just as good and it rinses off easily and completely. So I too would say don't risk it as there are other products that work better with zero risk. Josh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batmans Robin Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 Alcohol has absolutely nothing to do with static forming on an LP or even that weird stuff known as "something akin to static." Traditionally, most record cleaning solutions had alcohol in them. Many still do. It is highly advantageous for a seller of non-alcohol cleaners to say that alcohol is bad, because then people aren't going to make home-brew solutions. They need only a few Chicken Littles squawking about alcohol ruining their records [bs] [bs] [bs] to scare people away from the cheap to the expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebes Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 Alcohol has absolutely nothing to do with static forming on an LP or even that weird stuff known as "something akin to static." Traditionally, most record cleaning solutions had alcohol in them. Many still do. It is highly advantageous for a seller of non-alcohol cleaners to say that alcohol is bad, because then people aren't going to make home-brew solutions. They need only a few Chicken Littles squawking about alcohol ruining their records to scare people away from the cheap to the expensive. Crapola, Dickweed. First you don't need alcohol to make a home brew cleaning fluid. My hair may be gone, but my ears aren't dead. It's my opinion not some sort of scare tactic. Hope you are enjoying your mental masturbation with your incessant baiting thinly masked as reasoned discourse. It's a shame some of our more rational disturbers of the body politic have been banned yet lesser minds lacking any panache are allowed to wander here at random. To bad Zeke, you occasionally had something interesting to say over at HIFi talk, to bad that's place is moribund and you are bored. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batmans Robin Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 Crapola, Dickweed. First you don't need alcohol to make a home brew cleaning fluid. My hair may be gone, but my ears aren't dead. It's my opinion not some sort of scare tactic. Hope you are enjoying your mental masturbation with your incessant baiting thinly masked as reasoned discourse. It's a shame some of our more rational disturbers of the body politic have been banned yet lesser minds lacking any panache are allowed to wander here at random. To bad Zeke, you occasionally had something interesting to say over at HIFi talk, to bad that's place is moribund and you are bored. What I am hoping is that ultimately I will pick up the Art of Reasoned Discourse from you by studying your non-alcohol saturated posts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLSamuel Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 Garage-a-Records sells something that's almost too weak, but safe, it's the Spin Clean washing liquid. I almost bought a Spin Clean once.... I've more recently bought one of those Perfection steam cleaners and am planning to try that.... Garage-A-Records is in Columbia City somewhere here in Hoosier land but I forget where CC is located. I ordered a turntable mat for a turntable I picked up from HarryO that needs a bit of work that I was going to try and make a homemade record cleaner out of but it's in pretty good shape so will probably use it as a 2nd turntable.... also ordered a turntable bubble level. I have a record cleaning fluid recipe that may not use alcohol but not sure I remember. I think I also have one from the Library of Congress but wasn't sure I could find it the last time I looked. I'm pretty sure it didn't contain alcohol but had some sort of chemical in it that may be difficult to find or to obtain but used maybe drops per gallon. I can try posting them if anyone's interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islander Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 also ordered a turntable bubble level Have you tried an 8-inch torpedo level? Not much (if any) more expensive and probably more accurate. Works for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLSamuel Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 also ordered a turntable bubble level Have you tried an 8-inch torpedo level? Not much (if any) more expensive and probably more accurate. Works for me. I think I have before but not for a long time. Anyway, I thought I'd just leave the bubble level on the turntable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLSamuel Posted November 22, 2010 Share Posted November 22, 2010 A good friend, husband of a very good friend from college, said he uses TV screen cleaning spray to clean LPs just before plahying and says it works wonders in reducing static. My zerostat seems to be pretty much dead and I can't afford a new one right now. I've also tried steam cleaning with good results but may have introduced a nasty edge warp on a relatively thin LP but it may have already been there. And I only use steam cleaning to clean up new acquisitions. Any thoughts on flatscreen cleaner. Makes sense it would help with the static build up. Any concerns about residue or longterm effects on the vinyl? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSnyder Posted November 22, 2010 Share Posted November 22, 2010 Alcohol has absolutely nothing to do with static forming on an LP or even that weird stuff known as "something akin to static." Traditionally, most record cleaning solutions had alcohol in them. Many still do. It is highly advantageous for a seller of non-alcohol cleaners to say that alcohol is bad, because then people aren't going to make home-brew solutions. They need only a few Chicken Littles squawking about alcohol ruining their records to scare people away from the cheap to the expensive. Though I do condone swearing in public since its' rude. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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