Deep Cleaning Records With Steam?

Madfloyd wow whats up with your VPI rig? And you warped a lp also sounds like a Monday instead of Friday. Are you sure that it was not warped to begin with? Thats the first time i have heard of something bad like this happening using steam. I hope you started with some of your worst lps. Did all three warp? Maybe Crem will chime in with some insight.

Stltrains: Personally I have never damaged a lp , no warping , no problems. I suspect that the LPs were already damaged. The Perfection is actually a "cool" steamer , not hot enought to cause warping. Other steamers can really leave a painful red burn mark on the skin but not the Perfection.

Crem i totally agree with you on Perfection a good choice for our application. I also use it to steam all of my brushes and other items. I've had my fingers close to steam holding the brushes. They were not in the direct path of the steam but close, never a problem with heat or burns. I feel that using Perfection is like having a ace in the hole as you mentioned.
I'm hoping Madfloyd gets his table and steaming method figured out.
No problems here using steam just quite and super sounding lps. Going to drop the needle on a few now. Have a good one.

I guess I am on board with this method as well. I picked up a Perfection Steamer from Walgreen's and tried it out. I used to have an ultrasonic until it broke and thought that was fantastic.
I just apply the solvent with a spritzer, wipe it through the grooves with a guaze, and blast it off with the steamer using the conical point, avoiding the label, rinse and dry. The steam cools down pretty fast and doesn't seem to harm the record at all, I even stabilize it with my hand and there is no significant problem with heat to my hand. I have washed several record this way and it seems to be a great method, even with records I previously washed with the ultrasonic, the steam seems to clean better.
I guess this would qualify as using the steam as part of the "rinse" cycle.

Follow-up: I have the parts but no time yet to construct a "Gem-type" record cleaner. FYI, Michael Fremer did a review of a Merrill Gem (Stereophile 9/08) :) Fremer mentioned his GEM leaked water onto the record lables . I have an idea on how to resolve that problem.

This fall I plan to open a new thread on the results of specialized bacteria products I will be use to scour LP groves (hopefully) to a pristine condition. Its going to be a "Shoot-Out" of two bacteria products I selected that just might be the ultimate accessory for the fantic that demands perfection from LPs. I have posted before on bacteria . This time I will have a couple products on hand to compaire as a complement to Steam Cleaning.

One last mention, Mikey F. said he is to review a computer program to assist in turntable set-up, let's hope so for all of us.