Ultrasonic record cleaners

Hi, Terry. Thanks for the kind words, Neil really deserves the credit for his experience and effort. @antinn 

great to see you here too! 

I have a Kirmus ultrasonic, and it's changed records I've gotten from various sources, from unplayable to sounding as if I just opened it brand new. But, and this could be a deal braker, it does take about 8 mis per record to get those results. I do not buy into the Kirmus "official" way to clean but a more modified way that sounds just as good.

Bill @whart  and Terry @terry9 thank you for the compliments.  I would like to add a few items for those reading:

1.  What @terry9 says about the equipment power rating can be very true.  The German made Elmasonic UT machines are quite powerful, and this is easily noted by how quickly the bath fluid heats up.  Essentially, the ultrasonic power (watts) is converted to heat, and the fluid heats-up.  The inexpensive UT machines at 6L are generally rated at 160-180W (three 60W transducers), but there are a number of details such as how the transducers are attached to the tank and the tank wall thickness that will affect how much power actually gets into the tank.

2.  All of the spinners provided with the inexpensive units spin way too fast; and lower kHz units (<80kHz) are very sensitive to flow in the tank.  If the flow rate in the tank >50% volume/min, the cavitation intensity decreases very quickly.  The book PACVR 3rd Ed Precision Aqueous Cleaning of Vinyl Records-3rd Edition - The Vinyl Press Section XIV.5 has an equation that you can use calculate the number of records and speed (rpm).  The spinners are all VDC and by varying the VDC you can slow the motor down and Amazon has various cheap variable VDC power supplies you can buy and the book XIV.5.5 has a link.

3.  Bottom firing transducers can benefit record cleaning.  Without going into detail (see the book XIV.1.7), standing waves develop in the tank and these standing waves create layers of high/low cavitation energy.  Industry tries to minimize these with sweep frequencies because parts are generally static in the tank.  But the record(s) is rotating and standing waves may be beneficial since the record is exposed to a scrubbing type action as the record alternately moves from areas of lower cavitation intensity to areas of higher cavitation intensity.

4.  When cleaning more than one record at a time, it is good practice to space the records no closer than the tank wavelength which for a 40kHz is about 1" (see the book IXV.3.7 for further details if interested).  

5.  Fresh fluid or fluid that has sat for about 12-24 hrs needs to be degassed to remove dissolved gases.  Failure to do so will pretty much make the first few records cleaned not actually exposed to much if any cavitation.  If you see bubbles, that is not evidence of cavitation.  Cavitation produces no bubbles; and time to degas is proportional to the kHz (and volume).  Lower kHz requires more time (~15-min) while a 80-120Khz can degas in ~5min.  For UT units that have no degas function, just operate the tank.  The book XIV.2.1 goes into further detail.

Overall, UT is great cleaning process, but there are many details necessary to get the best results.  The book Chapter XIV goes into other details, but the above are the ones that many people miss on the performance side.  Otherwise, depending on the cleaning agent (generally a simple nonionic surfactant) you can go for a no-rinse just wetting concentration or a concentration with detergency that should be rinsed and the book XIV.10 has some suggestions.  And, unless you have a large source of DIW (and its relatively easy & not too expensive to make your own - see VII.4) bath management is something you need to consider if you want to get the best possible results and book Chapter XIV has lots of info, as well as a tutorial on how to setup a DIY filtration system with three different price options (with parts list) at the end.

Good luck, but "The devil is in the details".  

Neil

@livin_262002 I have the Kirmuss as well and I'm wondering if you could share with me your recipe for your cleaning solution using Triton X-100 and 91% Iso.

I just bought a LP length ultrasonic cleaner and bought a rotator assembly which fits on the side and suspends the LP above the label. It works great. I use a little dawn dish soap and 'photoflo" surface tension reducer so that the water flows off with no waterspots.  Works really well. I cleaned about 250 LPs in a weekend, two at a time.  About 25 minutes rotating in 90F solution.  Really reduced surface noise. Total cost for the rig, about 450.