New Hobby Ultrasonic Record Cleaning

I actually do a double distilled rinse and vacuum dry as a "just in case"  Only takes a minute.

"5-chloro-2-methyl-4-isothiazoline-3-one and 2-methyl-2H-isothiazol-3-one"

The above is just an anti-microbial agent added for shelf-life.  This free book - Precision Aqueous Cleaning of Vinyl Records-3rd Edition - The Vinyl Press goes into detail on ILFORD ILFOTOL - just search ILFOTOL.  Depending on what version you have, it's a simple diluted nonionic surfactant (with anti-microbial for shelf-life) of about 95% or 97.5% water.   Given that it is mostly water, there are more concentrated nonionic surfactants such as Tergitol 15-S-9 Tergitol 15-S-3 and 15-S-9 Surfactant | TALAS (talasonline.com) that are much cheaper of a known concentration that will perform equal if not better (book addresses).

Should it be rinsed - that all depends on what concentration you use.  If the in-use nonionic surfactant concentration is >0.005% you may need to rinse depending on how sensitive your hearing and how resolving your system.  At >0.01%, you should rinse to avoid audible impact (tends to dampen/smear the high frequencies) and junk on your stylus.  

According to data sheet available on the internet, Ilfotol contains "5-chloro-2-methyl-4-isothiazoline-3-one and 2-methyl-2H-isothiazol-3-one". So this is different from the nonionic detergents like Triton X100 or the Tergitols that have been discussed.  I don't know whether one needs a NID with US cleaning, but assuming it helps, perhaps some chemist among us can enlighten you.  I use a conventional RCM and have been using Triton X100.  I found that after vacuum drying of the wash solution off the surface of the LP, an additional rinse with pure distilled water followed by a second vacuum drying cycle is beneficial to sonics.  This suggests that Triton X100, at least, does leave a residue that is best eliminated.

Very little discussion about Ilford Ilfotol as a surfactant, yet it's what many ultrasonic folks use. Does it also require a final rinse after cleaning, or is a record good to go once it's cleaned and dried?

Just found this Forum and signed up.

I know this topic is old, but after using the Vinyl Vac for 4 years thought I wanted to "upgrade" my record cleaning. The vinyl vac did work good for what it is. But wanted better.  Ordered a Vevor 6L digital, a Wewu spinner and a Voltage regulator to slow the spinning down. Should be here in a few days. Distilled water, Ilford Ilfotol, 99.99% Iso will be my solution then a Distilled rinse and vac dry with the vinyl vac.

Bought a no name Chinese unit without usable documentation. After watching some YouTube video it seems to do a great job!

I spent in the U.K. £140 - just Google Vevor. 

@drbond ditch the mat completely 

I just used my ultrasonic record cleaner today for the first time, and I will have to agree that the results are amazing: extreme clarity, transparency, lack of pops and crackles.

I just used distilled water at room temperature, and didn’t even try to turn on the warmer.

One thing that I did notice is that when I turned the LP over, after one side sat on the felt, that there was an occasional pop, which makes me think that I need to upgrade to a nice turntable mat. Any recommendations on purchasing a high-grade turntable mat that won’t get lint/felt on the LP (for a Rega P8 with a glass platter)?

Thanks.

I am using the same tank, but with a Vinyl Spinner attachment for rotation.  I use "Ruston's" formula, which is a combo of tergiclean hepastat IS alchohol and distilled water.

I use a spin clean as a pre cleaning step to remove loose surface debris, then into the US tank for 15min at .33 rpm...or 5 revolutions.  Then rinse in distilled water, and nitty gritty vac dry.

My results are OUTSTANDING.  I now have numerous 55-65yr old LPs that have a noise floor lower than that of my system.  I hear better transient response, and staggeringly improved resolution of small scale details- air space around musicians etc.

I highly recommend US cleaning to any serious record collector.

After several months, I finally unpacked my ultrasonic cleaner. In addition to not having any instructions for the attachment there appears to be parts that are different or missing. Can some of you guys with this machine offer some advice on assembly or what is missing? Thanks.
https://ibb.co/W39RddL

https://ibb.co/TrjGnqR

I did @slaw. His TINDIE.com webstore, too. No response from either.

@bdp24,

You should email Louis directly to find out if he'll be making any more of the Vibrato machines. My last conversation with him....he wasn't sure.

I totally love my DeGritter - I've cleaned hundreds of albums and it works perfectly!! 

The Vinyl Stack ULTRA Sonic Spin Kit (it's full name) has arrived. All the parts are very well made, a high quality product. And the 6L/50kHz Vevor tank is on it's way. That'll have to do until the Vibrato 135kHz tank is again available. 

Now I gotta read through all the blogs on ultrasonic cleaning, and choose my chemicals. I already know I'm going with Tergitol 15-S-9 as my surfactant, and perhaps Alconox as my cleaner.

Thanks @sryeager. I guess I’ll get a cheap tank to use until the Vibrato is back in production. Vevor makes a 6L that runs at 50kHz, priced at only $118 including shipping.

Since I don’t care about the drying function built into the Degritter (I would rather suck the water off with my VPI or Nitty Gritty than blow warm air on my LP’s), and water filtering systems being pretty simple to add on, and like being able to clean three records at a time instead of only one, I think I actually prefer this combo (Vinyl Stack + Vibrato) to the Degritter. The Degritter sure looks cute, though. ;-)

It took the Vinyl Stack company closing down to finally get me moving on an ultrasonic cleaner, but better late than never. I really like my HW-17F, but there's no denying the benefits of ultrasonic.

In my experience, the Vibrato 135khz is certainly worth a reasonable wait.  I do 4 records at a time.  I think Cleanervinyl had a higher frequency US tank, but it was more expensive, and as I recall, I didn’t know who made it.  I had a quality issue with a cheap 40khz tank.  The Vibrato has been stellar.

Well fellas, I have some good news, and I have some bad news.

Last night I emailed the Vinyl Stack people, asking if the out-of-stock single-disc hand-held model would again be available at some point in the future. I figured it would be cool to have one for pre-rinsing newly-acquired old LP’s before putting them in or on the "good" cleaner.

This morning I received a reply from their production manager Erin, informing me that the company was closing shop, and that they were selling what they had left in stock, which included one and only one of the 3-disc "Sonic Spin Cleaner" (the official name of what I thought was named the Vinyl Stack).

I immediately went to their website and bought that last one (the website page showing the SSC now indicates it is out-of-stock). That’s the good news. The bad news is that anyone who had been thinking of getting one is out of luck. Better you than me ;-) .

Now I gotta get a tank. Recommendations, anyone? I put my name on the waiting list for the 132kHz model shown on the Vibrato website, but who knows when that will again be available? The Vibrato designer/builder states that he hasn’t been able to get any of the ultrasonic elements from China for quite some time. Damned pandemic ;-) .

Fwiw, I went with the solution described in the first paragraph two posts above on bdp24’s reply. The VinylStack spinner is great, IMO. Have had good results. Tiny complaint, after about 3 hours of cleaning my US (6L size) heats up to 40C even with the heat off. Easy to rationalize that one deserves some quiet listening time after three hours of cleaning, however. 

I use the basic Cleanervinyl rotisserie and two tanks.  One is a cheapo 40hz (kHz?) and a Vibratto 135hz that sweeps.  I first do the disc doctor fluid with the brushes, and without letting it dry on the records or rinsing, spin them in the 40 tank.  Then into the 135 to also rinse.  I have a filter running in the second tank, and replace the distilled water in that one fairly frequently.  Then air/fan dry, still on the rotisserie.  Unless the records are damaged or scratched to begin with, they are silent on a MoFi Studiodeck with a Soundsmith cartridge.

Good point @totem395. Let me point out that a Vevor brand 40kHz tank can now be had for just under a hundred bucks. That, combined with the VinylStack LP spinner (recommended by @slaw, who is, as always, right on the mark ;-), is only about $170 more than the budget all-in-one cleaners discussed in this thread.

If and when the 132kHz tank offered by Vibrato (designed and built expressly for LP's) again becomes available, one of those may be substituted for a 40kHz tank if one so chooses. The combined price of that pairing is just under a grand. If one feels no need for LP drying and water filtering, that pairing appears to provide LP cleaning as good as any machine available at any price.

@bdp24

A fully loaded model (with drying fan and water filtration system) is under a grand

Taking a quick look at the Cleaner Vinyl site it appears the under a grand price does not include the US tank, but is the full monty ancillaries.

Have ya'll heard about the HumminGuru ultrasonic?  Looks to be a simplified, budget version of the Degritter, supposedly available later in the year for around $400.

Has anyone else received the Vevor machine Walmart is selling? Mine arrived a few days ago, and the upright carriage with the slot for lowering and raising the motor with attached LP’s is completely different from that pictured in the Amazon and Walmart listings (though each retailers machine goes by a different name, they are identical).

The upright I received is actually much nicer that the one pictured, being a much more elegant single slab of aluminum. But instead of having a threaded knob on either side of the motor, mine has single one in the rear. Not a problem.

What IS a problem is the spindle onto which LP’s are placed. The end of that spindle is far too short, it’s threaded end extending only slightly past the middle of the 6L tank. If you clean only a single LP, fine: the LP---using all the provided plastic spacers (see below)---can be in the middle of the width of the tank. But if you clean more than one at a time, all the LP’s will be squeezed into one half of the tanks width. Duh!

9 plastic spacers are provided, but are far too thin: there should be more than the spacers 1/4" thickness between any two LP’s. Sure, you can glue three or four of them together, and clean just two or three LP’s. But still, the one furthest out on the spindle will be in the middle of the tank, the other two between it and the edge. That is unacceptable.

Back to Walmart it goes. You get what you pay for. I’ve been looking at the Cleaner Vinyl line of US machines: they have expanded their product line since I last looked, including a 132kHz tank. A fully loaded model (with drying fan and water filtration system) is under a grand. I haven’t seen a single used Degritter come up for sale, and don’t expect to.

The price of the Happybuy has crept up to $248.99 on Amazon. The identical Vevor is available from Walmart for $199.99, with free shipping and no sales tax.

@bianchi27

If the cleaner is dissolved/soluble in the water, sediment filters >0.1 micron will not remove the cleaner. However, for cleaners such as Tergikleen that are a combinations of a soluble chemical Tergitol 15-S-9 and insoluble Tergitol 15-S-3, the insoluble chemical which exists as an emulsion may be filtered-out depending on how fine is the filter. L’Art Du Son also contains an insoluble chemical that may be filtered out. Alcohol, Triton X100, Tergitol 15-S-9, & ILFORD ILFOTO are all soluble and will pass through sediment filters. However, activated charcoal filters can partially remove some soluble chemicals.  Many people use pumps/sediment filters to extend US bath life.

i have a question i need answered. if you clean your records with US and also use a cleaning agent along with distilled water and run it through a filtering system wouldn't the cleaning agent be taken out through the filtering process as well as the dirt particles from the records that were dislodged.

I’m late to the party but wanted to tell you all what I’m doing. I got the Amazon US unit and a motorized LP holder that allows 6 to be done at a time. I use 10 drops of Ilfotol to the 6 liters of RODI water. I typically run it 10 minutes at 30c and follow up with a few spins in the spin clean with just RODI water, and air dry. They then go into new MOFI sleeves as I work my way through my collection. I’m lucky that I already own a 5 stage RODI filter which produces laboratory grade water so I have an endless supply.  This is good because my cleaner does not employ a filter. I have another hobby, keeping reef aquariums. This made the RODI filter a necessity because anything over .5ppm TDS is unacceptable to put in my tanks. The filters run about $200 and require about $100 a year in membranes and resins but the plus side is you can take water from the RO side and drink it before it goes through the de-ionizer. Deionized water will dehydrate you because it is void of minerals and will strip your body of them on its way through. It makes the absolute best tasting and healthiest water you can get.  Something to ponder if you’ve got a cpl hundred bucks and would like an endless supply of both RO, and RODI water. 

Just a heads-up, the unit at the Walmart link two posts above is currently back in stock. I figure it would be, since I just purchased something similar at a higher price a few days ago. 🙄

Same thing I got off ebay a few weeks ago for $205. Walmart will sell a lot of these. 

https://www.walmart.com/ip/VEVOR-6L-Ultrasonic-Cleaner-Stainless-Steel-Vinyl-Cleaner-7-12-inch-Recor...
$199.99

Your posts on ultrasonic cleaners, it sounds like just what I need. I inherited vinyl records from the 50's thru 70's and would like to clean them. How do Walker products compare and would it be possible to use an enzyme cleaner in an ultrasonic bath?

ferrari275

Been enjoying a Klaudio KD CLN LP200 ultrasonic cleaner for a few years and really cannot image going back to a conventional cleaner ...

Same here! Its one-button operation is so easy to use and the unit is very effective.

Been enjoying a Klaudio KD CLN LP200 ultrasonic cleaner for a few years and really cannot image going back to a conventional cleaner like my old Keith Monk record cleaning machine. 

Today, the fact that we have so many more options by way of ultrasonic LP cleaning devices is really great. 

Totally agree. I've been using a Degritter for 6 months and it's some of the best money I've spent. And now I've been applying a simple fluid directly to the record and have been getting even better results, which I didn't think possible.

Been enjoying a Klaudio KD CLN LP200 ultrasonic cleaner for a few years and really cannot image going back to a conventional cleaner like my old Keith Monk record cleaning machine.

Today, the fact that we have so many more options by way of ultrasonic LP cleaning devices is really great.

I have received mine and no missing parts. I had to figure out how to put it together since the manual is sparse. It also came bundled with a good plastic records holder for drying purposes. I’m not going to clean jewelry in it so the basket is non-functional item for me.

Skypunk, that's generous of you and I'll take you up on that your kind offer. I'll figure out how to send you a PM (private message) through this site and we can figure out how you'd like the $25.00 sent. Thanks again. The seller had contacted me a third time today and offered no help finding that basket again.

Mike

Lol so what did you buy this for?? Cleaning records right. Take the $50.00 and run. I will sell you my basket for $25.00 shipped. You come out ahead. 

Unfortunately, here’s a buyers beware on the Happybuy Ultrasonic Cleaner, There were a number of complaints on Amazon about missing parts and the difficulty of obtaining any of those parts from the seller. In my case the basket that goes with the cleaner was missing. I think the unit can still be used solely for cleaning records, but not anything else without the basket, per the instructions.

The seller has offered monetary compensation for the basket (first $25, now $50), but who knows where you could find a replacement basket that would fit. I’m going through Amazon and I’ll report back if this gets resolved, and they come up with the part from the manufacturer as suggested. I don’t know what parts other customers may not have received with their Happybuys that possibly might be needed for record cleaning.

This is the first chance I’ve taken on a Chinese product in a long time so live and learn. Sorry it took so long to report this, but I've had to replace both my email service and computer this past week or so. 

Mike

Try this instead of the link I provided previously:  https://www.amazon.com/Happybuy-Ultrasonic-Cleaner-Stainless-Cleaning/dp/B07L3G9TBS/ref=pd_ybh_a_1?_...

As of this post there are more units in stock.  Predictably the price has increased.  I think it's still a good value.

http://https//www.amazon.com/Happybuy-Ultrasonic-Cleaner-Stainless-Cleaning/dp/B07L3G9TBS/ref=pd_ybh_a_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=87ZDCPBZGA3F5M5NA0KW

Got mine the same day I packed my system for an upcoming move. I'll report back in a few weeks.

I always marvelled at how quiet vinyl was at shows. Now it's here. Thanks to you I got one.
Dunno about the price going up they used to be $300. A few drops of Tergotol NP-9 in distilled water works miracles. I can do 9 at once set it for 9 minutes and put the finished on the rack by a small fan. Equates to less than 2 minutes per disc.
Anybody want a Nitty Gritty?

Thanks Antinn.  I appreciate the information.
@rajivhifi - Agreed about the shipping cost but given how little you have to use it should last a long time.

Thanks for explaining @antinn . I think I'll just go with Tergitol if its better in the long run. 

@garyalex,

10 drops = about 0.5 mL; 1-gal =  3785 mL, so 0.5/3785 = 0.0132%.  I wrote the following as the 1st post of this 2nd page of this thread -  "Tergitol 15-S-9 is a preferred non-ionic surfactant for record ultrasonic machines because you only need about a 0.01 to 0.025% solution for both superior wetting and some detergency and it has a high cloud point. This low concentration equal to 100 to 250 ppm allows you to forgo the rinse step."

So, your 10 drops/gal is in the zone. 

@rajivhifi,

In the same post I referenced above, I also said:  "Triton X100 is a 50-yr design, and is not as efficient - it requires ~4 times to do the same, and because of the high concentration you really need to rinse otherwise you will leave surfactant behind."  Triton X100 you can buy Amazon.  Depending on your system (how resolving is it) and your own hearing (how acute/sensitive) you may not hear the effect of the residue which tends to effect the higher frequencies >5000 Hz.

@larryincmhGlad it worked out for.

I love passing on what I think is a great find/deal.

So based on the OP and others I purchased one of these Happybuy machines. Mine came about three days after the order via Amazon. I got it out of the box today and with a slight bit of trial and error since the directions are a little sparse I got it all together. Not being a chemist and being impatient with all the various DIY formulas that are out there I just bought some Degritter record cleaning fluid (made specifically for an ultrasonic cleaner) from Music Direct. I figured out you use about 5ml of the fluid concentrate per gallon of distilled water. I ran a half a dozen LPs through the cycle (5 minutes) and wiped them with a microfiber cloth that I had also purchased from Amazon.  My initial test was with the water in about 25°C. I do plan to run subsequent tests with a little more heat but I was anxious to give the machine a try and so did not give long enough to warm up the water.
Once they were nice and dry I gave them a play and they were considerably quieter than they had been before. I purposefully used some LPs I had bought at a garage sale in the fall and had never played or cleaned. I did a before and after on each of them and it was very very noticeable.
The machine is easy to use and I have gotten good results in my modest test so far. Now, could I have gotten just as good of results with a good scrub at the sink or using my Discwasher system more heavily? Unknown at this time. I certainly don’t feel like this was money wasted, especially considering the namebrand alternatives run 10 times this cost or more.

Wow, they charge as much for shipping as the product! Any other alternatives to this product to be used with the US cleaner? 

I'm using 10 drops of Tergitol 15-S-9 per gallon of distilled water.  But I'm new to ultrasonic record cleaning so that might be the wrong amount.

Bought one yesterday and see its out of stock today. 

BTW I see suggestions to use the Tergitol surfactant 15-S-9 along with it for cleaning. How much would you add per gallon of distilled water/use?