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A Worthwhile Untrasonic Cleaner

I just purchased these two items from Amazon (PRIME)...

An Album Rotation device - holds 5 albums...
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07PNCVMZ3/ref=pe_3034960_236394800_TE_dp_1

An Utransonic Cleaning Tub
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07HNQ26WT/ref=pe_3034960_236394800_TE_dp_f1

The rotation device is extremely well built and fits the tub perfectly. The tub also looks well made, but is a bit noisy, but that is normal from what I have read..

I have just finished cleaning some 30+ albums and found the complete unit is extremely good at getting rid of those crackles and pops - even finger prints and other grunge - with minimal effort

The tub defaults to a wash time of 5 minute (I used 10 minutes) and I reduced default temperature to 20 Celsius, but the ultrasonic process warms the water up, so by the time I had finished some 35+ albums it was 30 Celsius.

Even had a friend come over with 3 of his dirtiest albums - grunge + finger prints - just plain grubby. Ten minutes of cleaning and voila - shiney like new (apart from the scratches) playing the album was almost noise free - probably needed a second wash.

So the total cost for both units was around $450 from Amazon.ca ($370 from Amazon.com)) for the two pieces - which from what I have been seeing is perhaps the lowest price for an Ultrasonic cleaner out there.

Eager to try the unit that arrived yesterday, I only used distilled water - without any additive

What additive does the absolute best job ?
What difference does it make?
Or should I just stick with distilled water?

Thanks for any feedback.

One of the best analogue related value for money products I have ever purchased

At this rate I’ll clean my entire vinyl library pretty quickly AND do some of the wife’s jewellery :-)

If you are looking for something that actually cleans you vinyl well - consider these products.

Regards - Steve



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williewonka
williewonka OP
3,075 posts
 
WRT cleaning Time - with this combo I have only used 10 minutes, but time is something I plan on experimenting with - also I plan to experiment with % of Alchohol as an additive

For the most part just plain distilled water removed greasy fingermarks and the larger pops & cracks after 10 minutes one album required a "second dunk", but it did not improve too much so I stopped there

My stylus is an Optimized Contour Contact Line - which really gets way down into the groove, so on some albums there is some very minor noise. My guess is - using a different stylus profile will change the effectiveness of the unit. 

But for the most part 10 minutes does a pretty good job

I'll post further results here as I try alternate approaches.

Cheers
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,468 posts
 
Cost for increased performance and operating it is too high for me.
benjie
329 posts
 
Sorry to say but plain distilled water does not do anything. It will not clean your records, it doesn't matter how many cycles you do. It won't remove grease or fingerprints. You need to use 1 1/2 ounces of isopropyl alcohol (70%) per tank and a surfactant to properly clean records when using an ultrasonic machine.

As for the  WEWU rotisserie. The records are too close together. The cavitation wave will not be able to move all the way up the record. You should have at least 1 inch between the records, 1 1/2 inches would be ideal. I would recommend just cleaning 2 or 3 records at a time with that system.

This is the surfactant that I use. You only need 1 ounce per tank. This is a case where more in NOT better.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SGY8LRC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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cleeds
5,954 posts
 
benjie
... plain distilled water does not do anything. It will not clean your records ... It won’t remove grease or fingerprints. You need to use 1 1/2 ounces of isopropyl alcohol (70%) per tank and a surfactant to properly clean records when using an ultrasonic machine.
That’s certainly not universally true, even though it may be true with the machine you are using. The Klaudio US machine uses nothing but distilled water and is very effective with grease and fingerprints. That’s all part of its charm: Ease of use. Essentially one button operation.
noromance's avatar
noromance
9,791 posts
 
Look into inserting a filter to keep the solution clean.
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