2. analog
  3. 190080-81864

ultrasound record cleaning machine damaged my records

I recently purchased an ultrasound record cleaning machine. For reasons which I hope you understand I won’t name brands, because I am not wanting to make bad publicity to anyone but to discuss the matter. 

Previously, I had anather ultrasound machine which broke. I cleaned more than a 1000 records with it, with no concerns at all. The machine broke and, due to its steep price, I decided to go for a less costly solution. 

With the new machine I cleaned 7 records. One of themLeonard Cohen’s “New Skin for the old ceremony”. When listening to “Chelsea Hote”, I remarked a distortion that wasn’t there before. IT was clear on the low notes, like the instrument being out of focus or vibrating. I had some old very worn records which had that problem due to bad stylus. At first I started to think that there was a problem with the stylus of my Lyra Atlas. So I went to another version of the same album I have at home, to check if there was a problem with the stylus. Clean passage. No problem at all. 

As on the previous cleaned record I noticed a similar problem, not so apparent, I decided to clean the second version of the LP on the new machine. Playing it i heard  the same distortion on the same music. Checking out all the 7 records I cleaned, I heard issues on all of them, some less apparent ( the mono ones) and some more appparent. 

I couldn’t believe it but the new machine was damaging my records. 

The combination of my atlas and my SME 312 arm gives some “needle talk” - music heard when with everything muted you put your hear next to the stylus on the record. Doing it, I heard the same rumble distortion that was being amplified by the system. 

 

I used distilled water (not a new one but one which was opened for the previous machine) but it was clear clean. I put the exact amount of surfactant liquid on the mixture of distilled water. I kept all the operating instruction rules. I don’t understand what is wrong, but the fact is this machines damages the grooves on the record. 

 

Does anyone had this problem before? Any help provided?

 

Note: I already contacted the dealer who sold it  and I am going to see him next week. It is a very good a solid dealer.  It I’d like to hear your opinion. 

 

Best regards,

128x128pfmaudio
inna
7,296 posts
 

No personal experience with it, but I read somewhere that you clean records using ultrasound only once, it can damage records.

Sorry about what happened, this is upsetting.

czarivey
5,946 posts
 

polishing???

I thought ultrasonic machines should be TOUCHLESS. 

bummer indeed. 

wrm57
1,040 posts
 

Sorry to hear this. FWIW, I’ve been using a Degritter for 18 months with no degradation to 100+ LPs I’ve cleaned, some several times because I sometimes leave them on the platter overnight.

pindac's avatar
pindac
2,864 posts
 

There are uses of a US Tank that can cause damage to materials.

In my early days if setting up a tank, I was advised to put Aluminium Foil in to it for a period of time and check to see when it perforates.

The idea being to substantially reduce cleaning time for the LP, to not expose the LP to a cleaning period that has caused the Perforation in the Aluminium.

Today there are much better guidance's available for the different Cavitation Dimension available to be produced from different Hz Ultrasounds.

The question is, How accurate is the guidance, especially considering Vinyl is being Cleaned and certain Vinyl Materials are valued albums, that can have multiple years usage.

Does a Unused Album or Brand New Album need the exact same US treatment, as an Album that might have had a 100+ replays? Maybe the 100+ Hours Album has a wear damage that is inaudible, but a US treatment can be a detriment to such a condition being present. This is all conjecture but has to be on the table for discussion, as their only seems to be one type of info out there, Tank Degas, Tank Temp, Rotation Speed and Clean Time. The guidance all seems to be generic for the differences in the Hz of a Tank and Cavitation Dimension. 

I eventually opted out, and use the Neil Antin Manual Cleaning Method, I now have specific instruction using a formula for a mixture that is extremely Vinyl Friendly.

Additionally I now have LP's that are Clean in a way not before experienced, that I refer to as Purified.

I have a 40 Year owned Album that was put through the Wringer of being Teen Owned and a Party Favourite.

The Album was in the end unusable and kept only for Sentiment, in use it was seemingly able to destroy a Styli.  After being impressed with the Manual Clean, I dedicated Six Minutes of my time to do a Manual Clean on the long time owned Album. With the result being I would take this Album anywhere and allow it to be used on any Value of a Cart', the end clean was way beyond all expectations. 

Even when US was still lingering as a tool to be used, I thought a US final rinse might benefit a manual clean process, but today that is certainly not thought to be necessary.

The Neil Antin produced process for cleaning as attached is worthwhile being familiarised with, especially the section on the Manual Cleaning Method.

 

PACVR-3rd-Edition

 

lewm
13,016 posts
 

Find out the power in Watts and the frequency of your RCM. Also disclose the length of time your LPs were exposed, how many LPs in the bath, spacing between them, etc. Then you might get some informed responses. 

 

More to discover