Best cleaning fluid procedures with VPI HW16.5??

steveaudio: i've owned a vpi hw 16.5. for the past 10 years, or so, i've used an hw 17f for record cleaning. for a long while, i used touromat (not sure it's available any longer). my cleaning fluid of choice now is made by record research lab. you can read about it at:

http://www.musicalsurroundings.com/rrl.html

happy cleanin' and listening, kelly

Well, if you think Fremer's extreme...Yes, I would recommend using the Orbitrac before the 16.5. The theory is the felt strips on the 16.5 get dirty if you don't and then dirty up the rest of the records, which made sense to me, as did trying to preserve my Grado cartridge for as long as possible. Hence, I use the Discwasher first, then clean with Torumat, applied with new baby spit cloths(cotton, and cut into squares). No spare turntable, so I use the Orbitrac rubber mats and apply manually. Then rinse with triple distilled water. Dry with another piece of cotton if needed. Apply Disc Doctor fluid same way and dry with Orbitrac. Then on the 16.5 with VPI cleaning fluid. Gruv-n-Glide follows. I buy most all my records used from the used record stores locally. New ones get a Disc Doctor- Orbitrac- 16.5 with VPI cleaning. I get a good quiet background and good sounds. I admit to wondering if I could get the same results with less effort, and to having a backlog of stuff to clean, but I'm happy with the results and now that I've confessed my obsessive ways, I even think I feel better.

I have used the 16.5 for about 8 months and have used various techniques. But, this one seems best for really dirty records:
1- Take 'em to the sink and wash with warm water and any dishwashing detergent on a clean sponge to remove finger oils, dust and in-groove dirt. Rinse and wipe with diaper or cheese cloth. Use care not to get water on the labels.
2- Spray with Record Research Deep Cleaner and run the Orbitrac.
3- Spray again Record Research record cleaner and run the 16.5.
I have bought garage sale and Ebay records. Some of these (particularly the Ebay's) were totally unplayable until I started using this method.
I spray the fluids because it uses less fluid and spreads better.

I do a 2-step cleaning process. First, a wash with a solution of 90% distilled water and 10% isopropyl alcohol (the 90% pure alcohol, not the 60% stuff) mixed in an 8 oz squeeze bottle along with two small drops of shampoo (DO NOT use the kind with conditioner!) Use a liberal amount of this cleaning solution (it's cheap!) in conjunction with the 16.5 along with the brush, then complete the first step by vacuuming dry. The second step is basically the same, except to use about 10 to 12 drops of the Record Research product that Kelly mentioned.

If the record is really grungy, repeat the first step a couple of times and/or use the Record Research Deep Cleaner per their directions before the second step.

Seems like we all do at least two steps and probably get similar results. Try a few of the ideas and see what works best for you.

Jim