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

Rushton: great article. I posted on the site, but wanted to encourage all who have looked at DIY record cleaning to look at what you put together. I really liked the motor set up for the records to be turned in the bath. Your experience is very similar to mine on the key points of the process. Clean water, good Ultrasonic bath with enough energy to create the bubbles, right temperature (needs to be warm not boiling hot) and a slow turn in the bath were the key performance metrics for me. Also the point about needing a small amount of isopropyl alcohol was right on point. Big, big difference with versus without. However, too much can cause a lot of odor issues and could result in a fire as the isopropyl alcohol evaporates in the bath. Finally a good dispersant like tergitol (i use triton ) that doesn't produce too much foam. Nice article!

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

Astro58go--Thanks for feedback. having a large record collection that was fundamentally put together with yard sales, flea markets, etc, led me to finding ways to restore or clean records to get the most out of them at min cost. I guess a am a cheapie. However, i found that experimenting around with various ideas led me to some interesting discoveries and substantial cost savings. I was on the cusp of trying to build a Keith Monk type cleaner as its design is very good but the cost is just too much when i learned about the Ultrasonic bath idea. THere is a lot of data out there and hence i piddled around with a lot of ideas before coming up with my DIY design. Again, thanks for feedback

Whart--what i found was the intensity was not uniform. The ideal situation is equal intensity at every point. However, depending on the tank size, number of transducers, location of the transducers and the amount of surface area in the bath impacts the intensity pattern. the quickie test tells you two things, is the bath functioning, and are there dead spots in the bath. I initially tried 4 records and found i got poor results on three of the records but one of them was really clean. When i ran 1, 2 or 3 records, all were done well. i was curious of what was going on so i did some checking online and talked to a couple of guys on a DIYaudio site and found out about the test and checked it out. With 4 records, they just barely fit in the bath (about 3/8-1/2" off the side wall), where when i did three, or less, there was about 1 inch on each side. That was how i found i had a very low intensity close the the wall on my bath. There are some guys actually designing their on transducer layout on some of their DIY ultrasonic baths. 
 

Whart

I am using an old Branson unit. I will look at the unit id card to get the specific model number when i get back home. I was able to get this one pretty cheap and it was the dimensions i was looking for. As far as an instrument that could measure intensity, I am not aware but likely there is one. Finally, there are several threads on the Ultrasonic cleaners on DIYaudio but here is one that i used extensively when i developed my DIY version. Several years worth of knowledge and efforts in this thread. 

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/analogue-source/218276-my-version-ultrasonic-record-cleaner.html

Astro58go-- What affects deep cleaning more? this is a very interesting and tough question to answer. As with most complicated questions, it depends. I don't mean to be feaseasus, but it depends on the nature of the issue you are deep cleaning for. If it is an issue with just finger prints(ie oil from a person), which are typically tough to remove, i find that the detergent/surfactant added with a little heat is the key. if it is a dirt or grit deep in the groove, the concentrated bubble just excels in rooting this out. I have used so many versions from the original discwasher system (my first record purchase, i also brought a discwasher back in early 70's) to the Ultrasonic process followed by the rinse/vacuum. Each approach whether using a brush with vigorous scrubbing or implementing a steaming regiment as part of the scrubbing was based on trying to solve a particular problem. I remember two old records from my fathers collection. the first was an old Chet Atkins record and the second was a Bobby Darin album. The Chet Atkins was one of my fathers favorite and he played it so many times. Long story short, both records did not have a sleeve and due to many years of bad habits led to these being pretty hard to listen two. As i would learn or try a new way of doing something, i would try to clean both of these to see if the sound improved. I could look under a scope and tell there was crap in the grooves, but i couldnt get it all out. As i did the steaming and scrubbing, the record got much clearer sound. That is when i really understood the importance of a little heat. However the ultrasonic cleaner with a little heat actually made the Bobby Darin album a lot better. Both still had a lot of surface noise but they were now listenable. Sorry for such a long answer to one of your questions.

astro--not the first time i have tickled with my slaughter of the english language!

Terry, great thoughts, especially the relationship between spacing and wavelength. My approach was a little more experimental as i tested several parameters including spacing, temperature, etc but come up with similar experience. ALso agree on the importance of clean water. I live now in indiana where the water hardness is horrible. Even with the softener system there still is a ton of solids (ie, sodium instead of Calcium). Water quality will make a big difference on the rinse