With my vinyl record collection now around the 400 unit mark and that is made up about 20% of new vinyl and 80% of used vinyl, a good record cleaner is a must. I started off using a Spin Clean MKII which got the initial job done. But, I was worried about swirling my records around in a bath of dirty water, especially if you wash records in quick succession. I used the standard Spin Clean cleaning fluid, mixed as directed. While it got rid of a lot of dirt, my records where always full of crackles and pops now matter what I tried.
In my quest for a better cleaning system, I looked at a few options, including vacuum based cleaners. With my budget not stretching to vacuum or ultrasonic cleaners, I kept looking for a more affordable solution. Enter the George E. Merrill Hydraulic LP Cleaning Apparatus MKII. Big name for a simple system. Have a look here for some photos. http://www.hifigem.com/hydraulic-lp-cleaning-apparatusMKII.html. This is effectively a bunch of PVC piping with a screen at the back to stop water splashing and a mandrel with two acrylic circles, each with a recessed O-ring. This gets clamped onto the record to keep the label dry. Works a treat. Once the dirty record is in the system, it gets wetted with GEM Dandy cleaning fluid from an atomizer. An even coat gets applied without making the record dripping wet. This stands for a minute and then gets rinsed off using normal tap water. The water shoots from a small brass nozzle attached to a small diameter clear plastic pipe, it in turn attached to a standard 1/2" hosepipe mount. The kit is supplied with a 1/2" adapter to fit a hosepipe connector or a tap. I just bought some RECO bits from the garden section at Builders Warehouse, to give me an inline, fine tuned tap for the nozzle pipe.
My sink in the man cave is too small for the cleaning system, so I use it outside under a tree with a goodly supply of cold craft beer on hand. In operation the record is rinsed by holding the water jet at around a 45 degree angle to the record. This makes the record rotate in the mandrel. I adjust the water pressure to get the record spinning at maybe 60 rpm or so. The angle of the water shoots high-pressure water into the nooks and crannies of the record. Once done, the o-ring seals gets loosened and the record removed for drying. I am currently using Gerber Birdseye Nappies as drying cloths (I know!), works great. After a dry using the cloths, I place the record on a normal dish drying rack set up inside the house. Here the record air dries further, while I mount the next dirty record on the mandrel. While the record is wetted and waiting for one minute, I go inside, take the air dried record, fit it inside a diskeeper 2.0 anti-static sleeve, and finally place the outer sleeve in a 2.5mm Sleevecity acrylic cover.
The results are spectacular. I have now cleaned around 50 records with the system and I am amazed! I have silent records, with almost no pops or clicks. Proof of the pudding was a bunch of particularly grotty records bought at a small vinyl faire in Pretoria on Saturday. The purveyors at this event sell their records as they find them, with no attempt at cleaning them. Exhibit A is a copy of Santana's Moonflower. This record seemed fairly surface scratch free, but was actually brown with dust and had clear fingerprints on it (I could have forensically identified the previous owner by those prints!!). Running it through the process described above, I have a pristine record (I am listening to it as I write this), with low surface noise and no irritating pops and clicks. I keep being amazed by this system.
Now, having never used a vacuum system, I cannot comment on the Dandy versus vacuum systems. It does slap the Spin Clean like a red headed stepchild. My landed cost on the unit was probably in the region of R 3100.00. It was shipped via a freight forwarding provider with some other goodies. After cleaning a bunch of records, I decided to buy an additional two bottles of cleaning fluid. In addition to the Dandy fluid, I also tried the Phoenix 2.0 cleaner by Sleevecity. The results are just as amazing. Fair to say I now have enough cleaning fluid to clean hundreds of records.
The enterprising DIYers on the forum could probably build a home grown version, but as my enthusiasm exceeds my abilities by a fair margin, I felt the USD 169 asking price was a bargain.
For the record, my playback system comprises a Valve Audio Exclame amplifier, Crane Audio Blu phonostage, pimped Rega Planar 2 with an acrylic platter, cork mat and Origin Live toneram, fitted with an Audio-Technica AT-120EB cartridge. It plays through a pair of Tannoy Saturn S10 speakers.
On the Dandy site, there is a review my Michael Fremer as well as a 6moons review. Highly recommended.
In my quest for a better cleaning system, I looked at a few options, including vacuum based cleaners. With my budget not stretching to vacuum or ultrasonic cleaners, I kept looking for a more affordable solution. Enter the George E. Merrill Hydraulic LP Cleaning Apparatus MKII. Big name for a simple system. Have a look here for some photos. http://www.hifigem.com/hydraulic-lp-cleaning-apparatusMKII.html. This is effectively a bunch of PVC piping with a screen at the back to stop water splashing and a mandrel with two acrylic circles, each with a recessed O-ring. This gets clamped onto the record to keep the label dry. Works a treat. Once the dirty record is in the system, it gets wetted with GEM Dandy cleaning fluid from an atomizer. An even coat gets applied without making the record dripping wet. This stands for a minute and then gets rinsed off using normal tap water. The water shoots from a small brass nozzle attached to a small diameter clear plastic pipe, it in turn attached to a standard 1/2" hosepipe mount. The kit is supplied with a 1/2" adapter to fit a hosepipe connector or a tap. I just bought some RECO bits from the garden section at Builders Warehouse, to give me an inline, fine tuned tap for the nozzle pipe.
My sink in the man cave is too small for the cleaning system, so I use it outside under a tree with a goodly supply of cold craft beer on hand. In operation the record is rinsed by holding the water jet at around a 45 degree angle to the record. This makes the record rotate in the mandrel. I adjust the water pressure to get the record spinning at maybe 60 rpm or so. The angle of the water shoots high-pressure water into the nooks and crannies of the record. Once done, the o-ring seals gets loosened and the record removed for drying. I am currently using Gerber Birdseye Nappies as drying cloths (I know!), works great. After a dry using the cloths, I place the record on a normal dish drying rack set up inside the house. Here the record air dries further, while I mount the next dirty record on the mandrel. While the record is wetted and waiting for one minute, I go inside, take the air dried record, fit it inside a diskeeper 2.0 anti-static sleeve, and finally place the outer sleeve in a 2.5mm Sleevecity acrylic cover.
The results are spectacular. I have now cleaned around 50 records with the system and I am amazed! I have silent records, with almost no pops or clicks. Proof of the pudding was a bunch of particularly grotty records bought at a small vinyl faire in Pretoria on Saturday. The purveyors at this event sell their records as they find them, with no attempt at cleaning them. Exhibit A is a copy of Santana's Moonflower. This record seemed fairly surface scratch free, but was actually brown with dust and had clear fingerprints on it (I could have forensically identified the previous owner by those prints!!). Running it through the process described above, I have a pristine record (I am listening to it as I write this), with low surface noise and no irritating pops and clicks. I keep being amazed by this system.
Now, having never used a vacuum system, I cannot comment on the Dandy versus vacuum systems. It does slap the Spin Clean like a red headed stepchild. My landed cost on the unit was probably in the region of R 3100.00. It was shipped via a freight forwarding provider with some other goodies. After cleaning a bunch of records, I decided to buy an additional two bottles of cleaning fluid. In addition to the Dandy fluid, I also tried the Phoenix 2.0 cleaner by Sleevecity. The results are just as amazing. Fair to say I now have enough cleaning fluid to clean hundreds of records.
The enterprising DIYers on the forum could probably build a home grown version, but as my enthusiasm exceeds my abilities by a fair margin, I felt the USD 169 asking price was a bargain.
For the record, my playback system comprises a Valve Audio Exclame amplifier, Crane Audio Blu phonostage, pimped Rega Planar 2 with an acrylic platter, cork mat and Origin Live toneram, fitted with an Audio-Technica AT-120EB cartridge. It plays through a pair of Tannoy Saturn S10 speakers.
On the Dandy site, there is a review my Michael Fremer as well as a 6moons review. Highly recommended.
