New Hobby Ultrasonic Record Cleaning

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. 

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.

@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.

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.

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.