My DIY record cleaner.

Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.
You have handled the mechanicals in an elegant manner, even the wood grains match! I think I recognize the Noguci (sp?) lamp, a great shadowless source.

The real upside to your set up is that it is attractive, therefore out and always available to use while the VPI et al were excuse the expression "butt ugly" and had to be hidden from view...explaining vinyl is hard enough! The price and the satisfaction of doing a project like this is inspiring.

My one little quibble is in your choice of brushes. The one that comes with the VPI is truly sensational, short bristled, micro fine so as to be able to get right down into the bottom of the groove and scrub the groove walls as the disk makes a few turns with quite a lot of fluid on the surface. Now I didn't see it at the link that has the vacumn tube but if it is available I think you'd find it a plus. The VPI also uses a screw down clamp with a porous sponge mat on the platter.

My question is what are you using for your cleaning solution. The VPI is a good but expensive product. Have you concocted a "home brew"? It would be a great next step for this project.

I am supposed to be borrowing back the VPI I sold to a friend several years ago though in truth says he it may be gone, along with a gallon of the fluid so I may just be going to Target or IKEA (maybe they still have that lamp) and all the other sites and sending you pics!

Thanks again, hope the other fella' did well too!
 
This is really thought provoking. I couldn't live without a dish washer in my kitchen, it's not that I'm lazy, simply put it does a better job with much hotter water and much more caustic soap than my hands can take. Loaded properly used well it frees me up for other things. Conversely I know from my experience with the VPI Machine how much life can be brought forth from some seemingly dead clunkers while the already good become better.

The problem with both machines is where to put them in. I will move heaven and earth to accommodate my DW and now that vinyl has had a second coming (!!) for me I think it appropriate I become a proponent of "vinyl baptism" as a regular ritual. Perhaps by doing that ritual in public as a convenient adjunct to listening might encourage others to do the same and debunk some of the craziness in addition to cleaning up the sound.

A clean groove is a happy groove!:smash:
 
Additional info...

I highly recommend visiting the Elusive Disc for any of you with either deep or shallow pockets as they have something there for everyone, and by all means ask for their catalogue. These folks don't waste their money on slick magazine stock and Madison Avenue layouts just simple pictures and good descriptive verbage and specs from people who have actually used the stuff.

Anywho I digress. I am writing mainly of the brush I challenged mattjk on earlier in this thread. Attached you'll find two pics, they are brushes for the VPI cleaners. The one with the black handle is $29.00, the one with out handle is $9.00. Is there a differance? You tell me. They are from two differant model machines but they clean the same size record..Hmmm.

I am borrowing back my old VPI from my friend. I bought it in 1986 for about $300.00, that same machine now costs around $600.00 and from the looks of things it is mid level cost wise.

Mattjk I think you have a winner for the science fair project of the year, and if you don't win I'd demand a recount in Ohio!

Hope this thread hasn't simply died is any one out there, or are you all just busy building your own cleaners... yes there are those pesky things called work and family...What a great Chrismas present a record vac would make for your wife/significant other!

Hope you all have a happy holiday!
 

Attachments

  • picture_8.jpg
    picture_8.jpg
    3.1 KB · Views: 3,471
Cleaning vs. Dry Cleaning

Mike the short answer to the difference between the 16 & the 16.5 is justifying the jump in cost from $300 to $600.
In both you judiciously flood the groove section of the record while it is clamped to the rotating turntable. Then with an even preassure apply the brush and allowit to contact the grooves for several revs. Rotate the vacumn tube over the record surface turn it on and voila! Dry cleaning!
Check back through the threads on this for the fluid the brush and the vacumn part.
Hope this answered your question.
 
This is a fantastic design.

I recently started playing vinyl again but have been constantly plagued with the inability to get the grooves dust free.

Thanks for posting this. I already own most of the equipment necessary. I am going to begin this project very soon.

Thanks,
Bonz

p.s. I agree with the previous post. Mount that turntable on solid rock if possible. It's hard to believe how much even the slightest vibrations affect playback.
 
Record cleaner clone

Hi All,

I was so inspired by the posts in this thread that decided to go ahead and make a record cleaner.
Mat did a great job and I would like to thank him for his ideas. I basically repeated his design with couple changes.
I've got Pioneer DD turntable form ebay for $15 and I used a wooden box from my old power amp. The white tube you see on the bottom is a Bath tube 1.5" knee pipe from Home Depot. Fits VPI socket perfectly :)

Thanks Mat and the rest for inspiration.

Regards, Irakli
 

Attachments

  • recordcleaner11.jpg
    recordcleaner11.jpg
    39.9 KB · Views: 2,343
Administrator
Joined 2004
Paid Member
Started playing vinyl again with the completion of my latest phono stage design and some needed updates to the old Thorens TD-125.

This is a very inspiring thread, I've always wanted a record cleaner and I have all the tools to build one, but it never occured to me... until now!

I'm going to go the VPI upgrade kit route with some as yet to be determined cheap DD TT. I'll modify it to run at 16rpm or less. The kit is $69 and seems worthwhile.
 
Finished my machine.

I've always been outraged at the prices of RCMs on the open market. These are not complex machines nor are they precision instruments.

So when I stumbled across this discussion thread, it aroused my curiosity.

Since then, I scoured the web for other designs but kept coming back to this one. Its simple, effective, and inexpensive.

So I finally built it in a single afternoon. Total cost including the VPI arm was $80. I required approximately three hours to build from scratch. I used a platter bearing and spindle from an NAD 5125 and just turn the platter by hand.

DSCF0965.jpg


Thanks to everyone for all of the useful information.
 
Administrator
Joined 2004
Paid Member
Just scored a donor turntable, an old Pioneer PL-512XD a friend found at a local dump.. Not a DD so I'll probably be going the hand powered route at least initially.

Now to order the VPI rcm upgrade kit.

And find a teeny vacuum cleaner to modify..

I'll post again once I start to get the bits and pieces looking something like an rcm.. :D
 
Administrator
Joined 2004
Paid Member
What are you using to catch the used washer fluid? I can't imagine that spewing liquid and vapor through the pump is good for it, and the solution might not be that good for me.. ;)

Real VPI machines used to have a jar to catch the liquid, and it would gradually fill up.

I'd use a small wet/dry shop vac or a trap (something from Fisher Scientific) with an air pump.

An air pump like this with a jar trap might be good..

http://www.amazon.com/Intex-110-120...99-6928804?ie=UTF8&m=A14X2WOLPJFQSS&s=generic

I'd expect any of these options to be noisy.. VPI machines are horrendously noisy - at least the 16 and 17 series stuff I've been exposed to.
 
Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.