Bottlehead Forum
Other Gear => Phono => Topic started by: denti alligator on December 10, 2011, 07:25:38 AM
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So I've got the Spin Clean and have been meaning to use it forever, but a) I want to do a bunch of records at once to maximize the solution and b) I don't know how best to dry them.
Yes, it comes with drying cloths, but these apparently don't completely dry the vinyl, which is supposed to air dry. One reviewer said up to 24 hours is ideal. My problem is that my house is full of dust and pet hair and leaving freshly cleaned vinyl out to dry is out of the question. Ideas?
I could use one room and clean it as best as possible first, but then where do I set the vinyl to dry?
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I use a cheapo dish drying rack from Target. It takes about 10-15 minutes for the records to dry to a point where a lint-free towel will mop up the remaining drops. A full rack holds about 25 records - as many as you'll want to clean in one batch. Be sure to use distilled water. Use a decent carbon brush before playing. Good to go.
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Good advice. Thanks.
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I have collected our old towels for years. I don't use them on my LPs, I use a VIP 16.5, but I use them on my cars. We buy 100% cotton towels so they are very absorbent. I could be using these to safely dry my LPs if I were using the spin clean.
Do you have some old cotton towels?
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Could dry them off the best that you can and then stick them in the dishwasher and close the door to keep pet and dust exposure to a minimum.
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I do the same as Paully and I have a 'fridge' magnet that I attach to the door handle so my room mate doesn't try to load the dishwasher.
To do the initial drying, I use one of the "green" t-paper that I pick up from Safeway. Maybe it's the way that it's reprocessed, but I'll be damned if I can even get a speck of lint off the stuff.
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I have a Nitty Gritty RCM which does a spiffy job drying.
BUT I pick up a pack of these microfiber cloths when I drop in at Harbor Freight
http://www.harborfreight.com/4-piece-microfiber-cleaning-cloths-68440.html
Look for sales when they go for about half price.
When I have a used LP that seems to need a real deep clean I use a pair Disc Doctor brushes, MoFi Super Deep, distilled water rinse and these cloths between steps. The color coding helps keep straight which cloths I used after the Super Deep and which after rinse.
They suck up water nicely and don't throw any lint I see. I rinse 'em in tap water and air dry after use.
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After making that last post, I started wondering about the pH levels of tp. I started searching around and couldn't help having a little chuckle over stuff like "TP World blog" etc.. I really wasn't finding what I was looking for anyway (which is "are high/low pH levels something that is avoided when manufacturing toilet paper?").
Then it came to me,.. Kimberly-Clarke!
I think there's someone on this very forum who could have access to the real poop regarding tp manufacture.
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I have never tried the spin-clean, but use a German made Hannl Limited vacuum cleaner (I live in Europe). I have a question: Isn't the whole point with the cleaners to suck up all the dust and dirt after the cleaning. Will the records be cleaned properly without the vacuum?
Roger
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Steve,
Guilty, I worked for Kimberly-Clark for 15 years. I only had a few jobs around paper machines, my main work was with Non-Woven Materials. That is Surgeons' Gowns and other disposable products like that.
But in 1990 I helped build and startup a pair of paper machines that made toilet paper and washroom hand towels. TP is not acidic; consider where it is used. It is close to neutral. TP and Kleenex (a K-C trademark) are quite different, not in Ph but in wet strength. TP has much lower wet strength than Kleenex. The problem will be how much pulp will come off when drying. Kleenex is better for drying and leaving less "lent." Neither are as good as vacuum drying or good cotton towel drying.
To Roger,
I think the spin clean is supposed to brush the LP and leave the dirt etc. in the fluid at the bottom. I use a 16.5.
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Isn't the whole point with the cleaners to suck up all the dust and dirt after the cleaning. Will the records be cleaned properly without the vacuum?
There seem to be competing theories of record cleaning.
The Disc Doctor site suggests that the brushes lift the contaminated fluid off the LP without the vacuum before drying (..but using a RCM is okay too).
http://www.discdoc.com/p14.html
The Gem Dandy by George Merrill is designed to blast the dirt off the grooves with water pressure.
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/gem/dandy.html
Spin Clean claims: "This special formula encapsulates the dirt that comes off the record and sinks it to the bottom of the washer basin so it is not re-deposited back on to your valuable records. Why is Spin-Clean Bright Yellow? We chose bright yellow for the color of the Spin-Clean so you can see the dirt collecting at the bottom of the unit." from http://www.spincleanrecordwasher.com/about.html
..and of course the now traditonal RCM units that vacuum the fluid off.
Damned if I know, but I like my bottom of the line Nitty Gritty. It got all the glop out of my LPs that was added there by DishWasher D3 and the mildew from damp Cecil Watts Parastats and "Humid Mops" of yore.
Disc Doctor brushes do seem to work magic on the truly filthy LPs that Nitty Gritty alone won't get. However, Nitty Gritty dries after final rinse 'round here no matter what.
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Kevin,
Please excuse me for throwing a monkey wrench into this. If the DD pads remove the dirt from an LP do you need to clean them between sides?
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I use a spin clean setup as well...
If you pull the record out of the solution, but leave enough between the pads so that it can drip dry for a minute or two, you can dry about 5X as many records before the drying cloth becomes saturated. I have found that using a metal coat hangar stuck partway into a dresser drawer makes a nice substitute for a drying rack. I usually wash one record, move it to the hangar, wash a second and let it drip dry in the spin clean. By the time I finish drying the record that is on the hangar, the one in the spin clean is ready to dry. I have not found a need for additional drying space.
This is a very slow process and I gaurantee you will only be able to clean about 30 before you get tired of doing it...
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Kevin,
Please excuse me for throwing a monkey wrench into this. If the DD pads remove the dirt from an LP do you need to clean them between sides?
Thowing wrenches is fun - good question.
According to the web site:
"Remove residual Cleaner from the brush by gently squeegeeing the upper pile of the pad with the handle of a cleaned nylon toothbrush or your index finger, cleaned & degreased with a little Cleaner."
AND...
"At the end of your cleaning session, rinse the brush pad 2-3 times with fresh distilled water. Saturate the pad with distilled water then remove a portion of the fluid with a gentle squeegee-like action using either a cleaner index finger or the cleaned handle of a nylon tooth brush. Repeat 2-3 times. Finally shake brush strongly 1 time to remove excess water then place brush with pad facing up & allow to air dry."
Pretty much what I do, seems to work. The LPs get a ride on the Nitty Gritty to end up.
I have never tried doing more then 4 to 8 LPs at a session. Might see some contaminated brush pad issues, assuming they happen, if I ran a dozen or more LPs at a rip,...maybe.
Oh, and I run stuff on the Nitty Gritty first, try a play and only if I think the LP sounds like a deeper clean might help then I set it aside for a Disc Doctor brush session. Once I have a few Discs in the "skunk" pile I do a session. So the Nitty Gritty has already eaten the grottiest particulates.
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On my VPI rcm I use a different suction tube for each step, I also use the Disc Doctor felt on the tubes(blue color). I have found it does a better job and lasts longer than the stock VPI felt. I use a squeeze bottle filled with reagent grade DI water to rinse the felt of each tube after suction. I know, anal as heck and time consuming but it yields extremely clean records.
Cheers,
Shawn
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The OP asks about drying but this has become a cleaning thread now. I posted in the other thread that I use a VIP 16.5 with Osage Audio's AIVS #15 and AIVS Ultrapure H2O rinse. My regimen takes 10 minutes for two sided LPs. It includes scrubbing with the cleaner and letting the cleaner work for 3 minutes per side while keeping it wet.
Like Shawn I use 2 pickup tubes, one blue one black, and two DD brushes (labeled). Somewhere I detailed the process including a new MOFI rice paper sleeve for all cleaned LPs and an outer poly sleeve for the album cover.
I cleaned some LPs for another Bottlehead who was wondering if his records could be cleaned. The answer was, yes, but it is expensive.
When Elusive Disk moved warehouses back in the mid 90s they had a sale on everything. I got the 16.5 for $300. You would be lucky to get it used today for that price. I buy a quart of the #15 and rinse for ~$80 every 18-24 months. It cleans better than any other cleaner I have used. I have used 4 other fluids.
Osage Audio (http://www.audiointelligent.com/products.htm)
Kevin, I clean my brushes and pick up tubes after every session in tap water, diluted Dawn with a final rinse with distilled water.
I could surely see using the DD brushes to clean and rinse with the NG as a vacuum and dry cycle. That is much cheaper than the VIP. Paully has a NG and really loves it. The TT on the VPI is only handy for spreading the fluid, but not for much else till you vacuum.
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You can buy them used in big bundles from diaper services for cheap. They are the old ones, clean of course! ;D
They work great and they have ZERO stray fibers like modern technoweenie cloth but CHEAP. Richard
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I have a VPI 16.5 that I call my vinyl shop vac. I have not tried to dry records this way, but I do hang my fly fishing apparel in the shower stall to dry. Your shower may be devoid of cat hair and dust for the time it takes the records to dry. Just a thought anyway.
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I use compressed air and a microfiber towel.
I damp them off with the microfiber then put them on my old player for a spin and blow them off with compressed air till dry. Dry off the platter, flip repeat.
And before anyone asks, I have an adapter for my scuba tanks. So no oil or industrial residue.