[TheChairGuy]

Wayner...having lived in only relatively soft water areas my whole life...NY/Long Island, Washington DC, San Francisco area...I didn't even know a water softener system (let alone, state of the art) existed.  If so, you're doing as well or better than a water purifier (PUR, Brita, whatever can do) with your tap water.

Anyhow, if your eliminating all that hard stuff in your tap water....distilled water will barely be better for your vinyl, likely.  I'm no fan of overpriced and barely-there tweeks or cleaning solutions either...seems your method is none-too-bad, tho 

1600 albums still sounding good afterwards seems good enough proving for me and you both.

Ciao,

John / TheChair-lessGuy 

[royphil345]

Vinyl is pretty tough... Windex is ammonia based rather than alcohol based though. Not commonly used for record cleaning... I don't know...

I'm sure it leaves some residue and there's no way the paper towels are making it into the grooves to remove anything. Stuff could dry "clumpier" than it was before the cleaning causing more surface noise.

I would probably just not worry about it and clean anything I bought from him myself before playing. I'd definitely suggest he keep his method to himself from now on. I know many people who I'm sure wouldn't buy from him after knowing that.

Even better... Tell him you can glue thick velvet around the edges of just about any old vacuum cleaner attachment, stick it on a shop vac, get a home-grown record cleaner recipe off the net, and go to town on an old turntable. Brushing the grooves with a nylon wet-cleaning brush (or soft nylon paint brush) while they're wet before vacuuming would be a plus. Maybe put something together for him... Wouldn't cost much. Show it to him and offer to trade him for some vinyl. I bet he'd appreciate it and you'd get good deals in the store for life. Well, he's old... LOL

Another option would be just to tell everyone you can to go in the store and call him "Dex" (short for Windex)... beat him up on his prices or not buy anything... "Hey Dex!!!... How much for this one..." "C'mon Dex... I'll give you 3 bucks..."

[Scott F.]

Guys,

You don't have to go to the expense of water softeners, purifiers, filters and all that stuff. Just go to your local Walgreens and you can pick up a gallon of purified water for under $3 bucks. It has been filtered and run through an RO (reverse osmosis) machine. That or if you have a kid in college (or know one), you can have them run to the chemistry department and have them fill you a gallon jug for free.

Just my $.02 

[royphil345]

Three bucks for a gallon of water???... What's it made out of??? That's fancy drinking water...

You can get a gallon of distilled water that's purified by distillation for less than a buck. Not great for drinking because all the trace elements are completely lost, but that's what you want for cleaning records with.

[Airborn]

After more searching, it appears this shop using the Windex has the best selection in my town and it hasn't appeared to cause damage to the used records I purchased there.  So I decided to keep buying vinyl there, but clean each purchase thoroughly at home.

I bought the Spin Clean Record Washing System, which is essentially a wet cleaning system that holds the LP upright between 2 velvet brushes in a trough of distilled water and record cleaning solution.  You manually rotate the LP through the distilled water and cleaning solution and across the brushes, which removes a large amount of residue from each LP.  I then hand dry with the lint free cloths supplied with the kit.  This method has worked well so far--most records seem very clean with almost no pops or surface noise.  I am also using the Discwasher SC-2 stylus cleaner and brush and a carbon fibre record brush before each play.  I am satisfied the LPs are as clean as I can get them without a major investment and they don't seem any the worse for the Windex. 

Royphil345, I did comment to the owner about his cleaning methods, but he seemed less than interested in any of the alternatives I mentioned.  In fact, he seemed annoyed I brought it up and now I kinda regret using his business' name in this post.  BTW, I get my distilled water for $ .64 a gallon at Wal Mart....

[royphil345]

Don't sweat it...

"Dex" doesn't seem to think it's a problem... He didn't swear you to secrecy?...

It's your duty to share what you know about all things vinyl here.   Doubt if your post will kill his business... Being unknowledgable, unprofessional or uncompetitive when starting your own business is an almost comical mistake though. You need to meet the standards set by businesses already established and preferably try offer customers something better. It probably will effect his business over time and it sure won't be your fault.

Your cleaning method sounds great. I may invest in one of those jobs... I've been doing sort of a manual thing with a brush, spray bottles and cloth when I feel it's necessary. Gets the labels pretty wet sometimes. I'm too scared to do it as often as I probably should.

Yeah... the 69 cent water. Now you're talking!!!... LOL

[Airborn]

Your cleaning method sounds great. I may invest in one of those jobs... I've been doing sort of a manual thing with a brush, spray bottles and cloth when I feel it's necessary. Gets the labels pretty wet sometimes. I'm too scared to do it as often as I probably should.

If your interested in the Spin Clean system, check out Garage-a-Records at the following link:
http://www.garage-a-records.com/index.php
I definitely recommend the $90 bundle, which includes 16 oz. of record cleaning solution, the discwasher SC-2 stylus cleaner kit and washable lint free drying cloths.  The good thing about the Spin Clean is that the labels never get wet because the trough is just the right depth to avoid immersing the labels.  Works on 33, 45 and 78 sizes as well.  Its working great for me so far.

[Paganini]

An Ultrasonic Cleaner is absolutely the best way to get the dirt out of the grooves. I've been using a Branson Ultrasonic Cleaner for a long time. Absolutely excellent. The model I'm using is a number too small. Model B300 will be perfect


More about ultrasonic cleaning:
http://www.bransoncleaning.com/whitepapers.asp

[Scott F.]

Now thats an interesting idea....ultrasonic. I just checked eBay and cleaners with large baths can be had for around $200. Still not sure about Windex but I really like the idea of ultrasonic.

Curious, how long do you clean each section of the record?

[Paganini]

Since my cleaner is not large enough, I have to rotate the record to clean one sector a time. Guess it takes about 15 minutes to complete. Planning to build a fixture which can hold 7-10 records to get it more efficient. First I need a larger cleaner. This really works
No physical or mechanical contact with the grooves except for the cleaning solution which is mixed alcohol and water 1:7.
Read the Branson papers to find out how it works

[TheChairGuy]

Yeah, someone log ago convinced me of the merits of ultrasonic cleaning.....and had given me the ultrasonic model/brand to use for records, too (one that fits at least 50% of the album at a time).

If I can track down that info somewhere still in my computer, I'll let ya'll know it.

I just thought it was a bit messier than vacuum cleaning....and I'm so pleased with results on the vacuum, that I never pursued it 

[Wayner]

Pardon me, but we use to use ultrasonic cleaners to clean our drafting pens (metal and plastic). If you left them in too long, you had nothing left in the tank or odd left-over parts. I centainly think there is a danger here, especially if left in too long.

Maybe 15 minuets is ok. but I wonder about long term, repeated cleaning (wearing down the grooves) making the recording dull and lifeless.

Just a concern here.   

W

[Paganini]

I don't think you can damage vinyl in this process. When I said 15 minutes I referred to the way I do it. With a large enough cleaner you may half this time.
O yes! Damage may occur. Once I cleaned an electronic board which was extremely dirty. After ultrasonic vibration at about 40kHz all transistors were defective. The transistors were mostly antique germanium type. Modern electronics would have survived
My cleaner is often used by friends for cleaning everything from clockworks to carburettors.