Record Cleaning Machines

I used to work in a HiFi shop and we ordered in one for a customer that rotated the record on a platter (much like a record player), and had an arm which slowly moved to the centre of the record (much like a record player) with an attachment with one pipe to blow liquid cleaner and another to suck it off again (much like a rec... oh hang on) Never tried it out myself, but the guy swore by it.

For us mere mortals, a good way for hard core cleaning is to firstly use your antistatic brush thingy (you learn these technical terms in HiFi shops), whenever you play your record, obv.

But if you need a thorough cleaning firstly rinse in mild detergent, and then get a lint-free cloth and follow the groove, although obviously NOT EVERY SINGLE groove. Then rinse with cold water (preferably sterilised/filtered - I forget the exact term for it, but you can buy it in bottles) and leave to dry somewhere dust free.

There's a website somewhere that shows you how to make your own record cleaner out of an old turntable - don't have the url handy though. It seems fairly extreme but if you buy really old, cheap second hand records its probably worth the effort.

I have washed records but it can go horribly wrong and create a record that looks clean but is covered with uber gunge that instantly clogs up your needle. I think this is because they weren't rinsed properly and the detergent left attracts and bonds with dirt. For rinsing I've heard distilled water, i.e. chemically pure H20, is what you need as otherwise it can leave deposits of whatever wasn't H2O when said H20 evaporates. Thats possibly why the machines actually vacums everything off.

I remember seeing a guy in college washing a record in the bathroom sink. And the public library used to clean records with windex and a paper towel.

I have always used distilled water and an "antistatic brush thingy". If it needs a better cleaning than that, it's time to replace.

"If it needs a better cleaning than that, it's time to replace"

This isnt true at all. If you have a large record collection you might want to invest in a record cleaner.... I forget the name (and if you really want it, I can find it)..but many vinylphiles swear by this record cleaner that costs around 200-300 I believe. It is a lot of money, but considering what dirty vinyl can do to a $300 cartridge- it is well worth it. It all depends on how much your vinyl/turntable cost and what they mean to you

So how did your records get so dirty?

The build your own machine page I was talking about:

http://www.teresaudio.com/haven/cleaner/cleaner.html#const

VPI, Keith Monks and Nitty Gritty make fluid'n'vacuum-based cleaners, all fairly expensive. I'm pretty sure some audiophiles prefer the method of cleaning their records with the appropriate gunk-dissolver and then play them *wet*, with all the crap in suspension around the stylus.

I did briefly consider getting one of these things (years ago), but I'm not that much of a thrift-store LP shopper and I'm not completely convinced old records merely need a quick wash to restore them. A lot just have massive groove-wall damage which isn't going to go away.

I think the cheapest vacuum machine is the Audio Connection's Disc doctor (actually made by Nitty Gritty), which is about $200 or maybe a bit less. It's a bit of a pain to use though, so if you have a lot of records you might want something better (the do it yourself one someone posted has a better design similar to a VPI machine, but if you don't have a dremel or a jigsaw for cutting MDF you may end up spending a bit more than $50 to build it. I have a lot of LPs so I got the cheapest VPI machine which is a bit better (and a bit more cash of course). It has a high torque motor which rotates the LP for you which is nice if you're gonna be cleaning a bunch of records at once. Michael is right, many old records are damaged beyond repair, but some can be fixed up significantly by wet cleaning. Most of the commercial LP cleaning fluids available will dissolve mold and other unseen contaminants as well as improving dust removal. Even new LPs can benefit from cleaning as some have some pressing gunk on them. PERsonally I just clean a record once when I first play it and then put it in a fresh sleeve. Some people clean every time but I think that is excessive.

...wipe on bottom corner of t-shirt/jumper.

Is the idea of "wet cleaning" that you wash it every time to get the gunk out of the bottom of the groove but not actually off the disc itself. Seems like a lot of hassle. I like the idea of something that'll do a dcent one-off or occaisional wash job.

Terminator X says “You too can ‘Bring the Noise’ with cheap handy Brillo pad!!”

tigerclawskank: you clean it wet and then vacuum it dry, thereby sucking the gunk/dust/cleaning solution/etc off the record. Not necessary to do it often

how good do you guys think something like this would work?

http://cgi.ebay.com/KNOSTI-DISCO-ANTISTAT-LP-RECORD-CLEANING-KIT-NEW_W0QQitemZ9716963635QQcategoryZ3283QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

um, no.

no good?