CHANGSTAR: Audiophile Headphone Reviews and Early 90s Style BBS

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Author Topic: Keeping your vinyl clean... And general vinyl woe.  (Read 603 times)

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Thad E Ginathom

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Re: Keeping your vinyl clean... In Praise Of MicroFibre
« Reply #10 on: September 02, 2015, 08:24:55 AM »

Personally not a fan of the "carbon fiber" junk they are peddling everywhere now.
Same, they don't get as much macro stuff as velvet

With the disclaimer that my turntable stands, these days, unused...

Microfibre Cloth. This is the best thing in the world for cleaning almost anything, and is absolutely wonderful for cleaning LPs. Don't give $£$ for vinyl gadgets made from exotic materials, give $-a-couple-of to your local household store for microfibre. It is as exotic as cleaning materials ever need to get (for everything, from car to bath) and only looks as if it isn't because it is cheap. Although, stuff like e-cloths (which I think were maybe the first makers of microfibre in UK) are actually not cheap.

I'm not saying that one can buy and use blind, especially with the very cheap stuff. It needs to have a pile, to get into those grooves, but it needs to not shed its pile. Try cleaning some glass to check this.

I'm also not saying that it rivals mechanical/fluid cleaners. I know that, when I used to make jewellery on a hobby basis, one of my dream tools was an ultrasonic cleaner, but I never had one (these days they can be had in cheep home versions). I'm sure they work wonders on LPs.
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Azteca X

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Re: Keeping your vinyl clean... And general vinyl woe.
« Reply #11 on: September 02, 2015, 01:58:51 PM »

With the disclaimer that my turntable stands, these days, unused...

Microfibre Cloth. This is the best thing in the world for cleaning almost anything, and is absolutely wonderful for cleaning LPs. Don't give $£$ for vinyl gadgets made from exotic materials, give $-a-couple-of to your local household store for microfibre. It is as exotic as cleaning materials ever need to get (for everything, from car to bath) and only looks as if it isn't because it is cheap. Although, stuff like e-cloths (which I think were maybe the first makers of microfibre in UK) are actually not cheap.

I'm not saying that one can buy and use blind, especially with the very cheap stuff. It needs to have a pile, to get into those grooves, but it needs to not shed its pile. Try cleaning some glass to check this.

I'm also not saying that it rivals mechanical/fluid cleaners. I know that, when I used to make jewellery on a hobby basis, one of my dream tools was an ultrasonic cleaner, but I never had one (these days they can be had in cheep home versions). I'm sure they work wonders on LPs.


I was about to post this. a FINE microfiber cloth that doesn't shed, like you would use for cleaning glasses. Cheap, catch a ridiculous amount of junk. First I use a damp one, then a dry one. My friend just got a VPI and I know it will be able to clean things up further on my noisy records - but this is good enough for cleaning your records enough to be confident in placing them in new, clean sleeves. The proof is in the pudding - look at the wet cloth when you clean a dollar bin find. Yep, it's working.
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Azteca X

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Re: Keeping your vinyl clean... And general vinyl woe.
« Reply #12 on: September 02, 2015, 02:02:10 PM »

Re: ultrasonic cleaners...this is as close to turnkey as you can get right now. $675+shipping.

https://www.tindie.com/products/VibratoLLC/vibrato-80khz-ultrasonic-cleaner-/

The best resource is this thread, and it's where I found the Vibrato dude. He used to work for Sonix, maybe, but he definitely is really experienced with ultrasonics and just made his own company. 80kHz is ideal for record cleaning and it only costs $50 more than 60kHz in his pricing. Many of the $2000+ ultrasonic systems are actually using 40kHz (and the designs from this thread).
Tons of good discussion - read as much of it as you want.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/analogue-source/218276-my-version-ultrasonic-record-cleaner-99.html#post4226898
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OJneg

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Re: Keeping your vinyl clean... And general vinyl woe.
« Reply #13 on: September 02, 2015, 02:52:40 PM »

My technique is basically cleaning my velvet brush on a microfiber towel then wiping the records. Seems to minimize static
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