Vinyl Care

rbull11

45 posts

04-26-2025 at 05:55pm 

Vevor makes an Ultrasonic record cleaner you can get a little over $100 that works well. It cleans 4 to 8 albums at a time depending on which model is used. I purchased to clean about 150 albums and it worked well. I'll use it to re-clean the albums I use more.

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Thank you.The price sounds right.

I will have to check it out.

I clean as little as possible. 

Pull them out of the sleeve, play, put them right back in. Keep them clean in the first place. 

When that fails, I use the basic VPI. I bought mine decades ago now for $300 or so. 

I use a Spin Clean with Tergikleen (Amazon) about 20 to 25 drops per gallon of distilled water. I rinse over the sink using a pump up plastic pressure sprayer (inexpensive, Mac Master Carr, Amazon...) again, distilled water. I use a Record Doctor machine to dry and vacuum. Then the records air dry in a bamboo dish rack for at least 15 minutes. I also purchased label protectors from Amazon, I like the long handle version.  I use a soft stylus brush to give the stylus a single swipe, back to front for every play. I also use a carbon fiber anti static brush on the vinyl, usually three revolutions, don't press hard, let the fibers do their thing, and I draw the brush off of the record edge as I finish. I do not use cleaning formulae on the vinyl or the stylus, I think the possibility of residue is too great. Tergikleen is like Kodak Foto Flow, a wetting and flow aid, non detergent. When dry the records go into an anti static inner sleeve, and I use a record album outer sleeve. I personally store my records out side of the cardboard sleeve, inside the album's outer sleeve, which is simply my preference. I tend to use three revolutions in both directions with the Spin Clean, and what ever it takes on the Record Doctor to remove most of the water. You will, no doubt, experiment with your technique. I have found this record cleaning method effective and economical.  But, I would still like an ultrasonic some day.

@puptent, 

Tergikleen is like Kodak Foto Flow, a wetting and flow aid, non detergent.

Actually, both are nonionic surfactants which at low concentration reduce the surface tension of water ergo wetting.  But at higher concentrations, nonionic surfactants act as emulsifying agents (breakup oil); ergo a form of detergency.  Tergikleen at the manufacturers recommended concentration will acts as both a wetting agent and as a detergent (oil emulsification).  But these are nothing like Dawn which is very different and is most people's perspective of a detergent.

I’ve been using just 8 drops per gallon of Tergikleen in my current US cleaner setup. Then I take the lp from the cleaner to my sink and pour distilled over it then back on my (spinning) Vinyl Stack to dry. No visible residue