Vinyl “Pops & Clicks” eliminators

Elizabeth, ok, so I will take a one inch square metal rod place it on the top of your head and put 2000 lb on it. Any idea? Math is just that, Math. Math allows us to predict what will happen in real terms. Pressure produces heat. Next time you are near a compressor after it runs place your hand on the tank (not the motor). It gets pretty warm and that is only about 120 psi. Now when a stylus runs into a piece of dirt and can do one of three things. It can push it out of the way. It can capture it (the stuff you clean off with your stylus brush or it can run over it in which case it actually accelerates the dust into the vinyl wedging it firmly in place. That tiny amount of heat is like a spark which is enough applied to a very small particle to "melt" the dust into the vinyl and there are electron micrographs of this. But really, just play an really old record that you have played 100 times. A bit more pops and clicks than when it was new. And no matter how many times you try to clean that record it will always be noisier than when it was new because you can not clean that embedded dust off. I have records I got in the late 60's before I had perfected my record maintenance method. I always had a good stylus and was using cartridges that tracked at 0.75 grams but no matter how I clean those records, and I have used ultrasonic cleaners and brush/vacuum cleaners, there is never any significant improvement. 
Cleeds, get a dust cover from those people I mention above and you will be happy as a lark. As for the math? I can do the same 2000 lb/per square inch experiment on your head if you like. Now just for fun here is the math. Soundsmith says the contact area of it's line contact stylus is 50um2. 1 um2 = 1.55 e-9 inches2. This means 50 um2 = 0.0000000077 inches2. 2 grams = 0.004 lb . 0.004/0.0000000077 = 51,948lb/inches2.
52 thousand psi. So now guys lets do the same experiment on cleed but we will put 52 thousand pounds on his head. We can skip the metal rod.

mijostyn

Soundsmith says the contact area of it’s line contact stylus is 50um2. 1 um2 = 1.55 e-9 inches2. This means 50 um2 = 0.0000000077 inches2. 2 grams = 0.004 lb . 0.004/0.0000000077 = 51,948lb/inches2.52 thousand psi. So now guys lets do the same experiment on cleed but we will put 52 thousand pounds on his head. We can skip the metal rod.

You’ll need to double-check your math. First, Soundsmith defines the contact area not as 50um, but 6 x 50 um. "Rather than providing a small circular 'dot' contact point with the groove, the more complex shape of the Shibata allowed a long vertical line of contact to be achieved with the groove wall."
Details here.

Math is just that, Math. Math allows us to predict what will happen in real terms.

Ok.
I tried a common sense test by lowering my stylus onto my finger. I left it in place for more than a minute. If it was true that the stylus exerted anything near 52,000 psi on my finger, I’m sure I’d have been in pain, especially given my low tolerance for pain. But I didn’t feel any discomfort at all. You’ll need to double-check your math.

I keep a dust cover on my VPI while playing, and I have not observed any degradation.

To keep uncovered exposure of my vinyl to a minimum, my dust cover is suspended on string cabling and counterweighted, so I can just lift it up then pull it down without having to move it to a separate resting place.  Yes, I would have preferred a hinge, but none was available.

cleeds. half way down is a chart showing the contact area of Soundsmith's styli.   https://www.sound-smith.com/articles/stylus-shape-information The Line Contact stylus is listed as 46.7 micrometers squared. 6 X 50 micrometers defines the tip shape of the stylus not the contact surface area. I rounded out the 46.7 to 50 for simplicity's sake. The reason that the stylus does not perforate your finger is that skin is soft an flexible. The tip become buried in your skin which then also contacts the rest of the stylus and the cantilever spreading out the contact surface area by several orders of magnitude. If I took a very sharp sowing needle and used the tip to apply two grams of pressure to the tip of your finger I promise you will not be a happy camper. Common sense does not work very well. Scientist design experiments for just that reason. If you continue to use "common sense" as your principle metric in life I guarantee you will make one mistake after another. 

jameswei, add the sweep arm. It is only $20.00. Your records will stay even cleaner as they will not hold any static charge so will not attract duct on their way back and forth to the record cover and any incidental dust on the record will be swept out of the way of your 52,000 psi stylus.