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Precision Aqueous Cleaning of Vinyl Records

FYI, I have previously posted a bit of information on cleaning, and I have now complied that and much more into a paper titled “Precision Aqueous Cleaning of Vinyl Records”. Bill Hart of The Vinyl Press https://thevinylpress.com/ who has a keen interest in cleaning vinyl records is hosting the paper. He has written an article on the paper that captures it better than I could, and a link to the article that has the free-download load option for the paper (85 pages) is here: https://thevinylpress.com/precision-aqueous-cleaning-of-vinyl-records/ . If you have not been to his site, check-it out, there is a lot of good info, and its well written. While at his site, check out the about-tab and then scroll down and click on System-Notes-Austin-2017. He has a pretty impressive system and near the end shows quite a ‘cleaning station’; using both a Keith Monks vacuum-RCM and KL Audio UCM.

Best Regards and Stay Well,

Neil


antinn
antinn OP
443 posts
 

@billstevenson, 

The Kinetronics 10x18-Inch Tiger Cloth is available from many sites besides Amazon.  Just search "Kinetronics 10x18-Inch Tiger Cloth"; you may have to pay for shipping such as Kinetronics Soft Microfiber Anti-Static Cloth - 10 x 18" KSASC or eBay has Kinetronics Anti-Static Microfiber Cloth, 10x18-Inch Tiger Cloth | eBay with free shipping but a few dollars more than Amazon.  The cloth often sells out at Amazon (it's popular with many different users) only to show back up when negotiated pricing and stocks are available again.  

Take care,

Neil

slaw's avatar
slaw
23,108 posts
 

The Tiger Cloth is working well at wiping off dust particles on previously cleaned records. Thanks Neil.

billstevenson
564 posts
 

The UV flashlight, the TFE rod and the Tiger Cloth all finally assembled late yesterday.  I charged the battery overnight and this morning went to work.  Three brushes first: a Sage, a VPI and a RxCord Doctor all full of little white specs visible only under UV light.  Removal using the TFE rod was fairly easy as was clean up as I went along using the Tiger Rag.  Next and the bigger surprise were my two turntables.  My VPI HW40, with mostly smooth surfaces and few nooks and crannies was relatively clean with only a scant few little white particles here and there when examined under the UV light.  My Technics SL1200GAE, however, with many irregular surfaces, crevices and so forth lighted up like a Christmas tree.  I spent a lot of time and it is still not perfect.  So I have learned a very important lesson.  Getting a record clean is not the end of the battle.  I have no idea how many clean records I promptly recontaminated by putting them on a contaminated turntable.  Sheesh.  Thank you again for your continued insight.

antinn OP
443 posts
 

@slaw yes

@billstevenson, 

Do not drive yourself crazy with trying to remove all particles that UV can detect.  It's inherent to the environment but keeping it under 'reasonable' control benefits keeping the record clean - it's all about maintenance of cleanliness.  FYI, I use a fingerprint brush to dust the table - Amazon.com : fingerprint brush.  They last about 6-months before they get too dirty for further use.  I do not use it on the record; the fiberglass bristles are too fragile for that kind of dusting.  

Take care,

Neil

bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,208 posts
 

 

I've been using one of those old fashioned shaving cream brushes to clean my table platters for years.

 

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