Record Cleaning Using Vacuum Machine for Cleaning and Ultrasonic for Final Rinse

@billstevenson 

I was going to post that the third edition is now on-line but you beat me to it!

By coincidence I spent the last few days cleaning my scant record collection though a cheap Chinese ultrasonic machine, 9 records at a time, having scoured Sydney to find Polysorbate 20 and Ilfoton.  By and large, the results have impressed me no end though obviously nothing can fix scratches. Clicks that have been audible on every play have magically gone away.

Only one record does not look spotless, and I think it was the one the police dusted for fingerprints after the turntable it was on was stolen around 1980!

I took several shortcuts which will probably horrify Neil.  For example, because Canberra's water supply comes from the Snowy Mountains, it is very clean, so I just used tap water passed through a Brita de-ionising filter instead of distilled water.  I just let the records air dry vertically in a rack after wetting in the Ilfoton bath.

@antinn I would like to thank you most sincerely for a truly impressive 'work of art and science' that obviously has been a labour of love for you.  In my opinion it is the most trustworthy document I have found through this forum.

@lewm 

I gather NIH is the National Institute of Health?  I gathered you are a medical professional ... having an unlimited supply of pure water would certainly help with rinsing!

@antinn 

Otherwise, assuming you bought a 6L UT tank reducing the number of records to no more than three and space them out about 25-cm and slowing the rotation speed to about 1.5-2-rpm should provide you with a cleaner record

Yes, the cheap Chinese machine I bought has a 6-litre tank.  I have not measured the record rotation speed but it is quite slow.  The unit is very noisy when operating.  I have been using two 30-minute ultrasonic sessions for each batch of records, set to a maximum of 40 degrees Celsius. 

I read version 2 of your book pretty much cover to cover a few months ago, and have not had time to do more than dip into version 3 (looking for dilution ratios)!

Before my new ultrasonic cleaning regime, I had to clean my stylus every few sides (new records left whiskers) but now it stays much cleaner.

So the records look sparkly clean, almost all my known clicks and pops have gone and the stylus stays clean.  Thanks again!

@lewm 

my RCM is a VPI HW17, not a US machine

You might have picked up that I have a problem with TLAs!

In this context, does US mean useless or United States?  I thought the VPI was built in New Jersey?

By the way, I now enjoy my meagre collection of records as much as playing CDs.  The physical effort does make vinyl more involving!

Now when I am buying music in physical formats, I buy the SACD version if there is one, then vinyl if there is one, then CD if that is the only option.

Now to try to reduce the residual noise in my venerable Garrard 301.  It is not really audible at my normal listening position, but close up it is there!  Hard to know what comes from the vinyl ...

@billstevenson

OMG, I've just realised that US means Ultrasonic, not useless or United States.

Also any concentration of ethyl alcohol above 5% should be hitting the back of one's throat!

@antinn 

Now that I am satisfied that ultrasonic cleaning leaves my records better than they were (except for one new one I managed to scratch) I am happy to try to make them even better.  Will follow your suggestions more thoroughly!

Will even try secondhand!

Cheers