Best Temporary Record Cleaning Options

I vote with Hdm, RRL + CF brushes + vacuum.

Vacuuming doesn't have to be expensive, though I draw the line at the notion that an EV1 or other DIY type machine can approximate a Loricraft. I own both and I'm confident that bit of hyperbole was, well, hyperbole! ;-)

But an EV1 doesn't cost $2K. Neither does a modded Shop Vac. Those can be found for $25 at Walmart, and you can tidy up the garage when you're not cleaning records. Try that with a DiscWasher!

There is no substitute for vacuuming. Dissolving dirt and leaving the scummy liquid in the grooves to evaporate leaves the dirt behind, emulsified into smaller particles, tougher to remove than before.

For truly inexpensive DIY RCM ideas, search the archives at Vinyl Asylum. There's no end of clever and determined though budget-challenged geniuses there.

Hdm,
We obviously agree on the main points for the Maineiac: RRL works very well and vacuuming is essential.

That KM/NG comparison was not meaningful. Try applying your argument to this (logically identical) experiment:
1. clean a record on the NG
2. clean the same record again on the NG
Observation: the record gets cleaner (happens all the time)

By your argument we would conclude that the NG works better than the NG, a logical absurdity. A more logical conclusion would be that two cleanings are better than one.

The fact that different cleaning fluids were used renders all conclusions meaningless anyway. No one can say with any confidence which variable was responsible for the results.

Dazzdax,

I have ruined records with tap water. Unless you run a chemical and particulates analysis on your water, get results many standard deviations purer than normal, and have confidence that those results will remain consistent going forward, you're merely guessing about what's going on your vinyl.

That might be an acceptable risk with a grungy $.25 thrift store find, but reissues and increasingly rare originals at $30+ a copy deserve more careful treatment.

And no sponge, cloth or brush can remove scummy liquid from inside the grooves. The grooves are too small. Only vacuum at fairly high velocities can do this.

A phono cartridge is a motion detection and amplification device. The better ones reliably generate electrical signals from even sub-micron deflections of the stylus. Put another way, top quality systems amplify stylus deflections by factors of 8,000 or even more. Therefore, any impurity above molecular sizes will be detected and amplified by a good system. Even those who don't have such systems today would be prudent to care for their records on the assumption that they might, someday.

Doug