My friend who makes and sells tube amps and other delicate gear uses a paint brush to dust his gear. I am now also following suite. My RAAl VM-1a tube amp for example is almost impossible to clean with most regular methods and a breeze with the soft paint brush.
Dusting gear and turntable
I've decided I need to do a better job keeping my gear/rack clean. Despite the wipe down and vacuum every few months I need a weekly solution. Looking at a feather duster but I think that is just going to spread stuff around. Also looking at the Swiffer duster. Something to help reduce static would be great also. I remember Millercarbon saying he would wipe everything down with dryer sheets. I won't be doing that but definitely more frequent cleanings. Especially on top where the TT sits and dusting the TT itself.
I just did a search and read what I could but any ideas welcome.
Thanks
25 responses Add your response
I have a custom cloth cover for the dust cover of my old SOTA Star Sapphire. I don't recall who made it, but it's nice not to have to dust the turntable's acrylic dust cover often. I use a combination of my vacuum and impregnated dust rags for dusting the gear racks. There are some tight spaces on the sides of the gear that is in enclosed cabinets that can be hard to reach, especially for gear that has rackmount facies, but that dust on the shelves is not all that harmful. An important bit of occasional maintenance is to open the covers of my amps and blow out the dust inside. I've only done this once in the 35 years I've had them. I keep clear plastic covers on them when they're not on, so that reduces the dust accumulation externally and internally. |
@oldaudiophile hey, you asked, so I answered. I don't bother with a dust cover. I wouldn't be able to fit one for my turntable anyway, and it's really not a big problem. |
@dwette thanks for the lead. However, 400 bucks for a dust cover? Probably more for custom jobs? If you're handy and have the appropriate tools, you can buy plexiglass panels from a building supplies store, cut 'em down with a glass cutter and do the appropriate joinery yourself, thereby avoiding the labor charge. The computer & office equipment dust covers are way cheaper, overall, as long as you don't mind the aesthetics issue. Still, thanks for the lead! P.S. Arts & Crafts stores like Michael's sometime have plexiglass cases in various sizes that you could use as a dust cover for a whole lot cheaper. |
Having destroyed a needle trying to clean my TT, got more of a hands off approach now. Also never going to buy anything Piano Black again! Impossible to keep clean. Actually used car care products on my TT, got a ceramic spray, that I spray on a MF towel then clean all my gear with that. Wood cleaner for the rack, and wood parts. Every once in a while, I'll just bring in my portable air compressor, use that to blow everything out. It's amazing how dust gets everywhere, even with a TT cover on, generally being in a clean room. But I got a kid and 2 dogs. |
If you keep your room appropiately clean, a dust cover isn't at all necessary IMO. If you don't keep it clean enough - why not? I could see a big heavy dust cover being maybe appropriate if you have a cat, but then you better hope they stay away from your speakers too (some love to claw at drivers). It could also be advisable if you had a linear tracker arm with a mile of precision bearing surface to collect dust and get gummed up over time (e.g. ET 2). |
FWIW: I HATE dusting! It's a thankless job! However, when necessary, I use a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter. Since the late 70s, however, I've been in the habit of using dust covers to entirely cover my TT, amp and CD transport when not in use. I had some old computer & office equipment dust covers that work perfectly for this. Aesthetics be damned! When the music is playing and the dust covers are off, of course, everything looks pretty. When not, well, dust is the enemy of any electronic equipment, and I don't give a damn about the aesthetics. When removing the dust covers, of course, even though there isn't much dust on them to speak of, I walk them gently to another room or the porch and shake them out. I'm surprised some clever audiophile marketer hasn't already devised a way to manufacture custom dust covers for this and sell them for the usual exorbitant audiophile equipment prices ... or have they? |
The swiffer dry dusters are great. They definitely "trap" much more than they "spread". You just have to be really careful around a cart / cantilever - nothing new there, and better if you can dismount it before a clean (another reason to love headshell’d arms). I guess I’ve been lucky as far as static electricity. Never been much of an issue in my systems. There was one time I THOUGHT I had a problem, but it turned out to be something else entirely. I even got a humidifier and the Hudson arm brush in hopes they would help - but they had no effect, here. |
Swifter. Great device, inexpensive... holds lots of dust... quick. My man cave is a floor in the house... so every week out comes the swifter... my Roomba gets the floors three times a week. I use a Hudson arm while playing to ground the top of the record and get rid of static electricity. If you are getting shocked, take off your shoes. |
