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Record Cleaning Machines.

Mullardman

Moderately extreme...
I'm a bit out of touch with current products. Some might say I'm a bit out of touch with reality...;)
Considering getting a machine ....preferably sensibly priced..say under £ 500
Minimum fuss and as compact as practicable ...and of course..effective.
What does the team think?
 
Record cleaning is a fuss no matter whether you go ultrasonic, wet vac or both.

Velvet Vortex is an effective ultrasonic cleaner, made by a very nice man.


*No hiding, I know Tim, wouldn’t recommend a dud though…
 
Then the plastic Ronco record wrecker cleaner is for you!

(I just use a finger of washing-up liquid and the sink)

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I'm a bit out of touch with current products. Some might say I'm a bit out of touch with reality...;)
Considering getting a machine ....preferably sensibly priced..say under £ 500
Minimum fuss and as compact as practicable ...and of course..effective.
What does the team think?

Do you want a nice quiet unit or one the makes you DEAF :eek:
 
Quiet wet clean+vacuum will cost you... I went from the effective and NOISY Moth to the effective and relatively quiet Clearaudio Smart Matrix Pro (at about double the budget you mentioned). Think seriously about ear protection if you intend to clean more than one record at a time with a lot of the cheaper machines.?.
 
I too use a Project, a black one bought just when tge new silver ones were introduced, good machine, very effective, not as ugly or as noisy as the Moth I previously owned, but a good tool
 
I'm really not one for dragging a bit of nylon string or brushes over a record
I also don't think vacuum alone is enough for an effective clean

So that just leaves one choice for me (and the one I went for...and am happy with). Ultrasound bath cleaner
 
My method is ultrasonic first and once only ,
Then a wet wash and vac on my Loricraft PRC4 as needed ,
In 5 years of wet washing the brush and cord have never done any harm to any of my LP's

Zero years a Naim owner :D
 
Another very happy Project VC-S Mk2 user here.
Got it NOS just as the aluminium models came out for £279.
It gives grubby second hand records a new lease of life and magically gets rid of static on new ones.
A quick wash and vac and a fresh Nagaoka sleeve and you're good to go.
 
I had a Keith Monks way back in the early 80’s worked well then later I bought aVP1 16.5 very good machine but noisy.

Regards,

Martin
 
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I've had a Nitty-Gritty 1.0 since 1985, and it still works just fine. It has rescued many used-record-store finds.

If I had to replace it, though, I'd go with a Pro-Ject or Okki-Nokki, something that rotates the records with a motor. The NG is all-manual.
 
DIY ultrasonic cleaning is a time and motion nightmare and once you've put several litres of cleaning solution in the tank, you have to decant it or use it before it goes rancid. It takes a long time and is very noisy and you still have to vacuum clean the record to finish it off.

A good vacuum RCM is great, if noisy. Make sure you put a few drops of tergitol in your homebrew fluid, though. I like the moth as you can apply water to one side whilst vacuuming, with the assistance of gravity, the other. Get a kitchen timer to time how long the solution stays on (2-5 minutes depending on dirtiness in my experience).
 
Back in the past I went record hunting with a 1970s DJ who had an encyclopaedic knowledge of music. I remember him buying a stack of 2nd hand jazz and funk records, some 10" albums. Then we went back to his house and had his wife's shepherd's pie while he washed the records in the slop-stone sink with drops of fairy liquid. Magic restoration. That's why I started doing it.
No matter how many records anyone has (and they don't all need washing!) and if they're passionate about their music in that way, spending a Sunday afternoon cleaning some records manually is not a chore it's a pleasure. The technology does the things I can't do and I do the things I can.
 
There is a used VPI 16 with what looks to be the upgraded 16.5? suction arm on ebay at the moment with a starting bid of £350 plus £30 UK postage:

VPI HW16 record cleaner | eBay

Something like this should be a good purchase. You just then need some fluid and time.
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.


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