Cleaning vinyl by hand

KlipschFan61 said:

I just use mild soap wash, (diluted Dawn) scrub with a good quality brand new sponge and finish with a thorough warm water rinse. Dry well with a microfiber towel and the records sound incredible.

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KlipschFan61 said:

I just use mild soap wash, (diluted Dawn) scrub with a good quality brand new sponge and finish with a thorough warm water rinse. Dry well with a microfiber towel and the records sound incredible.

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Leestereo said:

Dawn dishwashing liquid is often used in DIY solutions since it is easy to obtain. If you can get some Triton X-100, a laboratory reagent that would be preferred.And yes clean new records whenever possible. In setting the VTF and the antiskating, it is better to err on being a bit heavier rather than lighter. Mistracking can be heard as distortion; try female vocals as a good test. For the Ortofon FF15 cartridge you have, the recommended VTF range is 1.5g to 2.25g. I was using it at 1.5g without any problems so I never felt a need to increase it.

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www.records said:

You might look and see if you can find 2 Nitty Gritty brushes and an Audioquest carbon fiber brush. One NG for cleaning with solutions, one for distilled water rinsing, and the AQ brush for using before each play. There are much better brushes available than the old Discwashers.

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JimmyNeutron said:

...You need to use a "small" amount of detergent, not any more than a few drops per gallon of DISTLLED water. DAWN is cheap, and has little to next to nothing additives (which is why it's a good record cleaner). Go to the store and buy a gallon of distilled water for $1.00, a pint of Dawn detergent for $1.00. Next get yourself some isopropyl alcohol (70 - 90 % is good enough and is available at any grocery store). Mix 3 parts distilled water to 1 part alcohol and add 2 drops Dawn detergent. That's it. You now have a very good cleaning liquid that will not leave any deposits or minerals on your record and will have just enough sufficants for the water and alcohol to penetrate into the record grooves rather than just bubble on the surface, and will clean it good and evaporate fast.

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JimmyNeutron said:

Kodak Photo-flo is commonly used as a wetting agent in DIY cleaning fluids. The correct mixture would be 3 parts distilled water, 1 part isopropyl alcohal, and 2 - 3 drops of Photo flo. Don't do a 3/1/1 part as too much photo flo would make suds and bubbles on the record. You only want to use it as a sufficant, ie, get the water to penetrate into the record grooves rather than just bubble on the surface, as normal water would.

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outlawmws said:

what NT said about the photoflo. It's a tiny amount used. My wife is taking B&W photography at the local Jr. col (After being away from school for 30 years, and deciding to get back into B&W photo after 20 years). And was saying 1-1/2 ml (Milliliters) per 10 fl oz of water is what is used for the final rinse in the film developing process. (Just verified off the bottle...) This is done to avoid water spots and allow the water to sheet off cleanly. (Works both ways, getting the water where you want it, and getting it back off)

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ron-c said:

A weak solution of dawn and mineral free water, which is rinsed off while scrubbing with a soft brush, I use the Last brushes, then vacuumed with a record cleaner leaves no film. I would not use the dawn if I did not have very clean water to rinse or a vacuum cleaner.

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Inkmo said:

Hmm, If vacuuming isn't going to be an option for me, maybe I ought to avoid the dawn? Hoping to get some of my old records out and clean them. Gonna see if I can salvage my roommate's parent's copy of Tommy. I think it had some paint on it, among other things...

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ron-c said:

You can try the dawn, but use it weak and scrub with the soft brush and rinse and brush until the water sheets off the records.

thanks,
Ron-C

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ron-c said:

Until you use a vacuum machine to dry your records you will not know what clean is. Sorry, it is that big of a difference.

Thanks,
Ron-C

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outlawmws said:

Note that is every case, their recommendation is to rinse the cleaning solution off with DI or Distilled water.


http://www.musiclibraryassoc.org/BCC/BCC-Historical/BCC2002/LC2002.html




http://www.loc.gov/preserv/care/record.html



http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byauth/st-laurent/care.html

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dini said:

Some records are just too beat up to keep.

However, I have been buying old vinyl at thrift stores and libraries and have found that most are playable with very few scratches that come through if you do a couple of things. They look worse than they are and I buy stuff from the late sixties.

Make your own record cleaning solution: 80% distilled water, 20% isopropyl alcohol (90%), plus 3 drops of photoflow (or skip that). I found it on the web and it works most of the time. What I recommend is buying an anti static cloth to use with the cleaner. I found that this works great.
The solution was around in the late sixties as D3 but it's the anti static cloth I think that makes the difference.

Sometimes old records might have a substance on them that does not respond to alcohol. An example might be incense residue or soot from a candle. I found that gently washing the record in the sink with warm water and a little dish detergent will take care of it. Then spray it and anti static it.

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soundhd said:

I agree with your post about cleanning old records and the fact that some are just to far gone to bother with...as for the best way to clean them I have seen and tried alot of the different cleaning solutions (store bought and DIY) and methods (different cloths, brushes, etc...) but if you can afford one (the prices have come down some) or have the savy to build your own, purchase or build a record cleaning machine (one that uses a vacume)...this is the best way to clean up and old vinyl record..after I purchased one some of the old vinyl records that I have "cleaned" using differnt solutions, rags, brushes just came to life after I cleaned it on my record cleaning machine......this is the best way to go........granted there are still agruments about different cleaning solutions, bushes to use during the cleaning process, etc....but the best way to get all the dirt, left over cleaning solution, etc....off the surface of the record is to use a vacume device.......period.
It is pretty easy to do a test comparison, this is how I did it.....I took a vinyl disk that I had cleaned (or thought I had cleaned) up to a local stereo shop that cleaned records for a fee using a record cleaning machine....I had the disc cleaned, brought it home and was amazed at the difference.....I was sold, went out and ordered one.....was the best investment that I ever made. Hope this helps.............:thmbsp:

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CharlieBee said:

Another common surfactant is Calgon, a laundry additive. Sodium Hexametaphoshate is the active ingredient and is use as a wetting agent for laboratory particle size analyzers.
Calgon is cheap and should be available in grocery stores and you can add a little to your window cleaning bucket or house spray and not have spots on windows when drying without wiping.

Charlie

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ozmoid said:

Humidity can play a HUGE role in quiet playback. :yes:

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riffer said:

I hate to link a commercial site, but the Disc Doctor one is pretty good:

http://www.discdoc.com/p14.html

Also, if at all possible, I would try to get some sort of mechanical device. Before I bought an automated Nitty Gritty, I used a Spin Clean for the rinse stage and it was a big help.

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vinyl1 said:

I also endorse the Disc Doctor cleaning brushes and fluid. The cost is not high, and they do a much more thorough job than any homebrew solution.

Having a RCM makes the process easier, but they were designed for manual cleaning.

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