Another advantage of 60 kHz or 80khz machines is the lack of aggravating noise. Noise complaints about the cheap 40 kHz machines assembled in Asia are pretty common.
B B
Yes I've seen a 40khz one on eBay for £123. The price differential to import a 60khz from the USA would be significant. I doubt it would represent good VFM in comparison.
I've actually come to really like the security of the 75lb magnet. I have a 26 lb pull magnet that simpy isn't enough. Depends a little bit on the complete load you're mounting on the spindle (i.e your spacers' weight included). For me 60 lb would be optimal, 50-75lb is a great range, and below 40lb would be dicey.
You can obviously get by with less pull strength if the far end of your spindle is being supported in some way.
Cheers
B B
P.S. There is some inconsistency in the ways different magnet sellers measure the pull force, so don't blindly believe any or all figures. Experimentation with different magnets may be necessary to zero in on what works for you.
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KHM,
the surface tension of water, which I assume is the primary liquid in your bath, is reduced by heat and by isopropyl, which leaves no residue. In my experience that is enough to get excellent cleaning results, so adding another surfactant is not strictly necessary.
If you are adding a surfactant, a little goes a very long way in this application -- no more than a couple of drops is necessary or helpful in my opinion. Rinsing can't hurt, but may not be necessary. If you use 2 drops of surfactant for example, that's only about 20 ppm in a 6 liter bath. PhotoFlo is ⅔ water itself, so if you're using that as a surfactant, it's only about 7 ppm of surfactant! It's not anything to fret or obsess over.
Regarding your second question, I'm sure you'll get many opinions. Mine is that it is not advisable to clean ultrasonically before every play. One URC cycle will last a very long time if you take reasonable care of your LPs, and use a good, vinyl-safe, dust collecting brush before each play.
Cheers,
B B
I was cleaning out my little science lab/construction area and I stumbled across some aluminum tubing that might make things easier for those searching for a 9/32" spindle and a way to couple that with a commonly found coupler. K&S engineering has 9/32" aluminum tubing with a wall thickness of 0.014". That slides smoothly over their 1/4" x 0.035" aluminum tubing. A wrap of scotch tape of even the sticker that is on it with the part numbers makes for an interference fit you could adjust to your liking. That would allow the easily sourced 1/8" to 1/4" coupler to be used if one wanted to use the synchronous motor bbx recommends or a 1/4" to 1/4" if one sources a different motor. Having the two tubes slide over each other this way increases the rigidity of the spindle greatly while allowing one to use easily worked with aluminum. The part #s are #1114 for the 9/32" x 0.014 and # 9311 for the 1/4" x 0.035. Any decent hardware store has this stuff as well as found online at McMaster-Carr.
McMaster-Carr
Look for the telescoping aluminum tubing.
McMaster-Carr
Look for the telescoping aluminum tubing.
Hey guys! I'm getting close to taking my US cleaner for it's maiden voyage (on a few records with minimal value, of course). What is the max/ideal water temperature? I ran the heater on my Sonix ST136 (with water pump running) for about 45 mins and measured the water temp at 117 degrees F which felt pretty hot on my hand.
Great! Thanks.. I'll shoot for 100 F as i'd rather not risk any sort of warping!
I work my bath at between 115 and 120°F, measured high at the hottest point, just under the surface of the liquid. My Sonix stabilizes at 120 if the liquid level is at or above the shoulder of the tank. I've had exactly 0 problems at this temperature, cleaning LPs from all eras, thin, thick, etc. Certainly no harm being more conservative, but you can certainly go higher than 100° F, which is essentially just body temp!
Cheers,
B B
I've been working on getting my US cleaner up and running for a little while. Until today I had been using it in manual mode (i.e. turning the record by hand every half a minute or so). It was effective, but I had to be stood by the US bath constantly which was time consuming and a little teeth grating.
Any way I scavenged some parts from an old laser printer they were throwing out at work. I got a stepper motor, a 6mm steel spindle and a few cogs. I had to buy a stepper motor driver to get the motor to turn (super cheap, just a couple of quid from eBay and it even has a remote control). The advantage of the stepper motor over normal AC or DC motors is that it is possible to run it very slowly and retain good torque.
It is still in prototype. I just knocked the case together from some old 18mm MDF I had lying round.
Any way I scavenged some parts from an old laser printer they were throwing out at work. I got a stepper motor, a 6mm steel spindle and a few cogs. I had to buy a stepper motor driver to get the motor to turn (super cheap, just a couple of quid from eBay and it even has a remote control). The advantage of the stepper motor over normal AC or DC motors is that it is possible to run it very slowly and retain good torque.
It is still in prototype. I just knocked the case together from some old 18mm MDF I had lying round.
I took my US record cleaner for it's first spin (no pun intended) today and the result were really good..
However, I think i'm have a problem with my Little Giant 1-AA-OM water pump. It worked fine for about 20 mins and then the fan slowed down A LOT and the water was just dribbling out of the filter. Any ideas? My gut is telling me the pump is defective..
However, I think i'm have a problem with my Little Giant 1-AA-OM water pump. It worked fine for about 20 mins and then the fan slowed down A LOT and the water was just dribbling out of the filter. Any ideas? My gut is telling me the pump is defective..
Pump Duty Cycle
These pumps aren't meant to be run constantly. You only need to run the pump for about 3 minutes to filter the cleaning fluid. Then turn it off and complete another cleaning cycle before you filter again for about 3 minutes.
Also, make sure your tank outlet is not plugged up and that plenty of fluid is getting to the pump intake.
Cheers,
B B
These pumps aren't meant to be run constantly. You only need to run the pump for about 3 minutes to filter the cleaning fluid. Then turn it off and complete another cleaning cycle before you filter again for about 3 minutes.
Also, make sure your tank outlet is not plugged up and that plenty of fluid is getting to the pump intake.
Cheers,
B B