My Junkyard Wars RCM

Two of the biggest things you guys have introduced me to in the last six months are the fine line stylus and cleaning LPs. I was extremely impressed with the improvements I heard with just hand washing but the endless accolades some of you have heaped on record cleaning machines inspired me to build my own (not to mention that I’m on thin ice right now if I bring any more gear into the house).

After researching what other DIYers have done, I borrowed an idea from here and there and set out to see what I could scrounge up from all of my treasures (I am a pack rat). I put together the majority of the pieces I used from junk I’ve held onto over the years. The one exception was a JVC table I bought off of CL to get the platter and dust cover.

This has been a couple of months in development, but it is finally done, and seems to be working very well. Since I don’t have any experience with the commercial RCMs I don’t know if what I put together meets, misses, or exceeds what they bring to the party. I know that I’m extremely impressed with the job it’s doing and will be cleaning and re-sleeving a large portion of my collection.

I’ve been doing the initial wash in the sink with only dish soap and tap water. I then dry it with a micro fiber cloth and move it to the RCM. There I use a mix of distilled water, with vinegar and isopropyl alcohol. A final rise with straight distilled water finishes the job. I have three Parostatik Disc Preeners dedicated to each job.

Here are some build pictures from the final assembly.































All I can say to any of you doubters out there, is that this level of record cleaning can make well cared for 30 year old albums sound nearly new. Put an RCM on your short list of must-have items…

Very nice, I have also made my own and they are great and convenient.

Outstanding job!!

Very Impressive!!

Very nice looking. Does the vac suck the water directly into the motor? I think I missed that part. John

That is one kick-ass looking DIY effort. Excellent job.

Really nice job , a thing of beauty , my shop vac in a cardboard box is not nearly as nice

cool idea to use the drive from a ceiling fan with a high torque motor it must have some grunt!!!

I think you are going to want to rethink pulling straight into the vac. The dirt devil is not a wet/dry shop vac!

What you want is the tube from the record sucking piece to run into a canister (sealed jar, bucket, whatever) which catches the water. Then another tube from the canister into the dirt devil vacuum.

See picture at this location explaining the canister.
http://www.soundfountain.com/amb/cleaningmachine.gif
or
http://www.soundfountain.com/amb/keithmonkspriniple3b.gif
"I" is the canister. "M" is the vacuum.

Very nice engineering. Looks like it works really well. Nice Job!

wow ! pretty amazing !! great job .

Plenty of thought and sleepless hours have benn put in that beauty.

Congratulations, man. Seriously:yes:

Very clever use of the drill speed and fan bearing! Cosmeticaly it's beautiful. You are very tallented:thmbsp:

I agree you may have to look at the design of the vacume. I know many motors have well insulated coils but they won't last long when directly exposed to moisture and dirt from LPs.

Congratulations on a beautiful piece!!

Bluespower said:

Two of the biggest things you guys have introduced me to in the last six months are the fine line stylus and cleaning LPs. I was extremely impressed with the improvements I heard with just hand washing but the endless accolades some of you have heaped on record cleaning machines inspired me to build my own (not to mention that I’m on thin ice right now if I bring any more gear into the house).

After researching what other DIYers have done, I borrowed an idea from here and there and set out to see what I could scrounge up from all of my treasures (I am a pack rat). I put together the majority of the pieces I used from junk I’ve held onto over the years. The one exception was a JVC table I bought off of CL to get the platter and dust cover.

This has been a couple of months in development, but it is finally done, and seems to be working very well. Since I don’t have any experience with the commercial RCMs I don’t know if what I put together meets, misses, or exceeds what they bring to the party. I know that I’m extremely impressed with the job it’s doing and will be cleaning and re-sleeving a large portion of my collection.

I’ve been doing the initial wash in the sink with only dish soap and tap water. I then dry it with a micro fiber cloth and move it to the RCM. There I use a mix of distilled water, with vinegar and isopropyl alcohol. A final rise with straight distilled water finishes the job. I have three Parostatik Disc Preeners dedicated to each job.

Here are some build pictures from the final assembly.

All I can say to any of you doubters out there, is that this level of record cleaning can make well cared for 30 year old albums sound nearly new. Put an RCM on your short list of must-have items…

Click to expand...

OMG that is amazing. One Question
Wanna build one for me like that?

Excellent craftsmanship!

thats sickness, I love it, great job

Thank you all for the kind words. I did this primarily to prove to myself that wet-vac cleaning was a substantial improvement over what I've been doing up to this point. Now that I'm a believer, I'd have no problem buying a commercial cleaning machine. I may even spring for some of the commercial cleaning solutions to see how they compare to my home brew.

We'll see how the machine performs/holds-up over the next few months. It is certainly not how I would have designed it if I hadn't just wanted to prove the technology. If a Mark_II version gets built, it will incorporate a gear motor and a better vac/water collection system.

Enjoy your holiday!

Bluespower said:

Thank you all for the kind words. I did this primarily to prove to myself that wet-vac cleaning was a substantial improvement over what I've been doing up to this point. Now that I'm a believer, I'd have no problem buying a commercial cleaning machine. I may even spring for some of the commercial cleaning solutions to see how they compare to my home brew.

Enjoy your holiday!

Click to expand...

Good luck on solutions. I, frankly, haven't seen much difference between them. I think there is more to the technique, application, and the brushes than the fluids. I've found spreading, scrubbing, and then letting soak for 2-3 mins, then vacuum, then a rinse works very well. I've tried vpi, phoenix, mofi, and Disc doctor fluids. They all work the same for me. Phoenix spreads the best. I just use mofi and phoenix now. Phoenix is cheap too.

For brushes, the vpi for spreading, mofi or disc doctor for scrubbing. And the mofi pads are pretty cheap to replace too.

Anyway, there are 1000's of threads on this topic!

spyderx said:

I've found spreading, scrubbing, and then letting soak for 2-3 mins, then vacuum, then a rinse works very well.

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What do you use for a rinse, water or cleaning solution? Bob

Distilled water for the rinse.