whats the best styus cleaner gel

Never heard of Magic Eraser, what the heck is it?

A member I bought a cartridge from threw in a ZeroDust he had lying around as an afterthought when I picked up the cart, so I didn't pay for mine. I'm glad I didn't. Oh, it works perfectly well for removing dust and grime from the stylus. But from what I can tell, the polymer 'gel' material itself is the same kind of stuff that 'plastic worm' fishing lures are made from, minus any additives like colors or stanky oils. You can buy that plastic for about $20/gallon in bulk from tackle suppliers, and a gallon will make several hundred plastic worms in molds you can pour yourself at home, using either a microwave or an inexpensive warming pot to heat the liquid plastic to about 350F degrees, at which point it turns from milky to crystal-clear and takes a permanent set when cooled. Commercially made plastic worms (with extra additives) sell for a few bucks per package at retail stores. ZeroDust sells the equivalent of one worm's worth of molded soft plastic as the stylus cleaner, packages it in a toylike hard plastic container with a little piece of foamboard as a substrate, and charges audiophiles, what, $80 a pop? Sheer genius.

Zaikesman, I think you can still get the Zerodust for 1/2 price from Mehran (the ZYX guy) at Sorasound. You can buy a lifetime supply (one package) of Magic Eraser at Home Depot for around five bucks (maybe less, I cant remember)

You're probably right about the low cost of the gel material, but the Zerodust is designed specifically for it's purpose, and is very convenient to use. Certainly worth 40 bucks.

Zaikes,
It's "Mr. Clean Magic Eraser". Most groceries have it. Sold in a small rectangular box. Looks basically like a sponge. Use the white part only! Cheers,
Spencer

Tending bar to help put myself through grad school I dreamed of the day I would be wealthy enough to market jars of pimento stuffed olives soaked in Boodles gin to the rich and famous.

'Teeni Tots - bet you can't drink just one.

Now, years later, I can only dream of marketing jars of foamed melamine cubes soaked in grain alcohol to wealthy boomer vinylphiles. StyloPhilo - now with Scrubbing Stubbles. Get in on the ground floor for distribution - meet your quota and earn points towards a Proscenium Gold in dashing uber-pink. Dirty needles - who needs 'em?

No one hit wonder, we'll follow that up with ITG (In-The-Groove), the ultimate marriage of nano-technology and bioscience, delivering tiny enzymatic engines that literally eat the dirt right out of the grooves then, like a truck load of guys tossing gravel on potholes, miniaturized self-burnishing Spackle-Bots back-fill nasty microscopic cracks with a proprietary polycarbon blend made under ISO2000 conditions from fine shelf-ripened VG quality shaded dog retreads. A light vacumning and you're done. Don't wait, Get In-The-Groove Today.

heh.

From publicly available BASF documentation:
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To understand the astonishing capabilities of the Magic Eraser, we have to take a closer look at the special properties of Basotect®. “On curing, melamine resin becomes almost as hard as glass”, explains Dr. Christof Möck, responsible at BASF for the global business management of this special foam. “The hardness of this material is one of the secrets of its cleaning talent: like extremely fine sandpaper, the foam eraser rubs the particles of dirt from the surface.” Basotect® still manages to remain soft and supple thanks to the fine structure of the foam created by foaming the resin. Unlike rigid polystyrene-based foams such as Styropor, open-cell foams have interconnected air chambers. In the case of Basotect®, only the cell strands formed when several cavities impinge on each other remain. What looks under the electron microscope like foam on bath water is actually a finely structured three-dimensional network consisting of extremely slender and therefore flexible plastic filaments. The large, almost freely accessible surface produced by this airy structure binds the abraded particles of dirt and contributes to the eraser's astounding grime-removing capabilities.

“Basotect® is used for soundproofing and insulating in music studios and cinemas but also in the construction and automotive industries. The foam has recently also been used in the manufacture of ultra flame retardant airplane seating because of its low weight”, reports the specialist Möck. The magical cleaning effect was only discovered through the persistence of developers aided by a little luck.
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Me? I found the Extreme Phono goop works fine, but can leave tiny gooplets of itself on the stylus. Magic Eraser takes too many dips to do the trick and only works part of the time. ZeroDust is not perfect, but its what I use, along with StyLast, after every side. Not for hollow cantilevered cartridges, StyLast claims its good for one side only and while I have no science on its efficacy, it has not had a problem in my system for over twenty years and my carts tend to last a long time.

Doug,your argument is so compelling,that it leaves no doubt in my mind as to the superiority of Magic Eraser.I've got to try it,and will tell my pals too!Thanks!