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Rushton's DIY approach to ultrasonic record cleaning published by Positive Feedback

Over the past several months I’ve invested a fair amount of time exploring ultrasonic cleaning because I’ve fallen way too far behind in my record cleaning. With over 6000 LPs, I needed a faster way to clean than my trusted multi-step manual wet/vac cleaning process. That manual process got the best results I’ve ever found, but I was not keeping up with my collection and it is just painful to me to play a record that I’ve not cleaned.

In exploring ultrasonic cleaning, my hope was to find that I could complete multiple LPs in a single US cleaning cycle and greatly speed up my rate of cleaning records. My goals were to FIRST do no harm and then SECOND see how close I could get to the results of my manual cleaning regimen.

My past experiences with ultrasonic cleaning demonstrations were completely underwhelming. What I heard did not approach the excellence I was achieving with my multi-step wet/vac cleaning regimen.

What I’ve learned, and now apply in my new ultrasonic cleaning regimen, are multiple elements to the cleaning process that must be used in combination to achieve the best possible results. And these results have far exceeded my expectations.

I’d thought of posting here on Audiogon the summary of what I’ve learned and am now applying as my new record cleaning regimen, but the inability to post images and to apply formatting here caused me to send my summary to David Robinson at Positive Feedback who has graciously published my comments as a guest essay. Please read that essay, and then come back here to Audiogon with comments and to share your experiences:

http://positive-feedback.com/audio-discourse/rushton-paul-diy-approach-ultrasonic-cleaning-lps/


I look forward to some further discussion and sharing of experiences.

.


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rushton's avatar
rushton OP
2,430 posts
 
tgb, thanks for the interesting contribution to this discussion! Clearly, we both share the belief that clean records really do sound better. I was listening this evening to some records I know well but have not had the time to clean. After cleaning, they sound SOOOO MUCH BETTER!

I’m very familiar with the Ultrasonic Records V-8. I’m just not convinced that eight records in that 10L tank is a good thing. But even halving the number of records still misses the key factor for even better results. Experimentation has completely convinced me of the need to use a detergent cleaning solution in the tank for best results. That then requires rinsing. And then vacuum drying further improves the results. So different strokes, and different outcomes. As you can imagine, I was seeking to get the best possible cleaning results, not just fast. Both were important to me.
whart's avatar
whart
1,930 posts
 
Isn't there a math formula for calculating bath size, number and frequency of US transducers and surface area to be "cleaned"? 
I agree that multiple methods seem to work synergistically.  And in exploring the industrial side of US cleaning (not vinyl) I've been told that the use of a surfactant/detergent hugely improves ultrasonic cleaning results. I'm pretty agnostic on the machines themselves- had the AD, have the KL and rely heavily on the Monks. The real bonus to Rush's approach is that you can, ideally get all three: good, cheap and fast. 
May your records always be clean (and unwarped)!

bill hart
czarivey
4,494 posts
 
I've built same at substantially lower cost.
Another commercial trick to that neither Isopropyl Alcohol $2 bottle nor photo-flo is good no more. In other words there are plenty of references to that overoverpriced talas site that sells all that kinda stuff for lots of $$$
rushton's avatar
rushton OP
2,430 posts
 
Whart: Isn't there a math formula for calculating bath size, number and frequency of US transducers and surface area to be "cleaned"?
Whart, somewhere in this diyAudio thread on ultrasonic cleaning is a reference to the formula for tank size and surface area to be cleaned. I know this has been discussed in the thread.
oilmanmojo
468 posts
 
The size of the tank and the number of records you clean will impact how much energy or "number" of transducers needed. I related in a couple of articles a quick test to see how particular bath or tank would perform concerning the creation of cavitation sites or bubbles (which actually promotes the cleaning). YOu can insert a thin piece of aluminum foil at various places to see how effective the energy is dispersed. with the thin aluminum foil you will see holes and dents appear where the cavitation starts and where it is the strongest.. In my DIY bath, i found three records were the best i could do without adversely impacting the cleaning. Getting very close to the wall, the "cavitation" was not as strong as say backing off by about 1 inch. I also had dead zones which were not as energy intense as other areas. Also, this test helps show the impact of water vs water+ alcohol. A little isopropyl makes a huge difference in how the system works
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