Possibly you're enhancing the static charge by rubbing it so often.
Turntable dust cover cleaning
Howdy. I have an issue with my Sota turntable dust cover. Pretty much every day, I have to clean streaks off the cover. There is a very high amount of static. I do run a very small humidifier as well. I live in Colorado (very dry climate) and the problem is worse on very dry days. I use Sprayway glass cleaner which has no ammonia and is safe for plastic. I'm assuming the cover is either plastic or plexiglass.
Here's a photo of it - https://imgpile.com/images/G1MMZ8.jpg
Any ideas?
Thanks much !
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Hi Hazeloop, I am another long term SOTA owner. It looks to me that you have swirl marks on the dust cover. You can bring it back with a little elbow grease or a random orbital polisher if you have one. Go to Autogeeks and get the smallest bottle of Menzerna 2500. You can use a soft foam polishing pad on a random orbital polisher or a clean microfiber cloth and elbow grease. Rub vigorously in a straight line across the entire surface. Repeat until the marks are gone. After you bring it back clean only with a fresh microfiber cloth. Any dirt will scratch the cover. I spray with 50% isopropyl in distilled water. This will safely remove any fingerprints. |
I had a client tell me "I don’t have to do anything". No matter what you do, dust will come in your situation. Get it as clean as you can, dry to have no streaks, then: do nothing, and occasionally a light drag of a large lint free cloth, just get excess, live with a generally dusty look, it’s doing it’s job.
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Novus plastic polishing kit. As @mijostyn said, work in straight lines. I don’t know if you will get them out, but you may be able to make them somewhat less visible. After that, just dust with a swiffer. If you can’t get anywhere with the Novus, buy a new one and just dust with a swiffer. |
Nasty Scratches I made a terrible mess out of a dust cover which was under something else I was working on. STUPID! . I took it to my auto body shop. They got it down to the point where I could perfect it with the Nova 3 step kit They also can buff up old cloudy plastic headlight covers on cars, big differences: amount of light and appearance |
Seems to me that whatever you are using to "clean" is the cause of the residue in the photo. I have used Sprayway myself for windows and it is far from streak-free. You might get better results with a mild solution of distilled water and white vinegar. For windows, I spray the window and then buff it dry with newsprint (yes, newsprint), but for the turntable cover I would use a soft, liny free cloth like one used to clean computer screens. Not sure why all the talk about swirls, when that isn't the issue. |
Thanks all for the feedback and advice. There are a couple of suggestions I'll try here regarding cleaning solution and microfiber cloths. I'll report back on results. And, as several have mentioned, it is not a scratch issue as the cover is in perfect condition. It is very much about the film that is a result of both the static from the dry climate, and perhaps use of Sprayway. I have a "Hudson Hi-Fi Vinyl Record Cleaning Arm Anti Static Brush" that will move around when I'm running a cloth over it, from the crazy amount of static. |
@hazeloop are you saying that your Hudson HiFi anti static brush (under the dust cover) will move around when you’re running a cloth on the outside of the cover? |
@rhg3 - correct. It's picking up the static from the cloth. Same effect even if I run my hand across the cover. |
