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Best Record Cleaning Fluid

Greetings All,

I’ve spend the last few days searching and reading about record cleaning fluids for my cleaning machine (Okki Nikki).  Wow - there are a lot of options out there.  Many more than I originally thought.  Some real esoteric stuff that costs a pretty penny.  I’m currently going through my entire collection, cleaning it, listening to it and adding it to a Discogs DB.  Want to finally know how many I have and have a list of them.  But doing this has resulted in me going through cleaning fluid rather quickly.

So many options, so many perspectives on what are the best fluids.  What do you all say.  I understand that alcohol is a no-no for fluids, but I can’t find out if some of them include alcohol or not.  Currently using up the fluid that came with the machine, but no where can I read it if has bad ingredients.

The 2-stage or 3-stage cleaning systems are not going to happen.  I did get a bottle of Revolv that I was told was good, and use if for new high quality pressings (as opposed to those I bought in high school).

Anyway, would appreciate some perspectives on good quality record cleaning fluids that don’t bust the bank.  Thanks for keeping the sarcasm in check.

Happy Listening,

pgaulke60
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
Black records sound better and last longer because the carbon black makes the vinyl harder (less compressible) and supposedly there are trace amounts of lead in it that act as a lubricant making the vinyl more slippery. I could only find one post on this. There is a post on Vinyl Engine
that is a beautifully written sort of hoax where a guy named Vince comes up with a lot of old patents aimed at making vinyl records better by adding this that and the other. None of this was ever done on a commercial basis. The bit about heated PVC making HCL is the funniest part. My guess is that these myths about records were generated by people and companies that make record cleaning stuff as a reason to buy their stuff.
I also forget to mention that Tergitol which as voiceofvinyl related earlier is used by the Smithsonian to clean record has a hydroxyl group stuck to the end of it:))) That would make it.......an ALCOHOL. Noe I have to figure out a way to get clearthink to use brake cleaning fluid on his records:)
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
cleeds, by all means stick with your distilled water and ultrasound. But you'd better be careful because according to Mr Kirmuss if you use the wrong frequency you could damage your record!
Lets think about this for a second. A record will take several thousand pounds per square inch of stylus trying to dig into it at a rake angle of 20 degrees but it can't handle ultrasonic water bubbles? Boggles the mind doesn't it?
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
geoffkait, (with two fs), glad you joined in. Would that be Tightbond 1, 2 or 3? 
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Dunno. There’s probably discussion somewhere in cyberspace. 
cleeds
6,077 posts
 
mijostyn
... stick with your distilled water and ultrasound. But you'd better be careful because according to Mr Kirmuss if you use the wrong frequency you could damage your record!
My LPs have suffered no damage at all. I've actually tested the US cleaning method: I subjected two different LPs  to a 30-min cleaning cycle, which is much, much longer than I use in practice. I then compared recorded waveforms (one made before cleaning, the other after) and found no difference at all.
A record will take several thousand pounds per square inch of stylus trying to dig into it at a rake angle of 20 degrees but it can't handle ultrasonic water bubbles?
At 20 degrees, you're confusing "rake angle" (SRA) with VTA. VTA would commonly be around 20 degrees; SRA would be about 90 degrees.

This notion that a stylus exerts "several thousand pounds per square inch" has been often repeated, but I've never seen any math to support it. It would be tricky to calculate, because not all of the VTF is applied to the stylus tip - some of it is transferred from the sides of the stylus onto the groove wall.

Some others believe that there is extraordinary heat generated at the stylus tip. I've never seen any documentation to support that, either. Measurements I've made with an infrared thermometer don't support the claim.
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