Can I clean my records manually?

Pawlowski6132, for 20 years I used a home-brew formula (that I'll detail below), but I've found that both the Disc Doctor Miracle Record Cleaner and Paul Fumpkin's Audio Intelligent are vastly superior cleaning fluids that are well worth their cost for the results I'm now getting. Both can easily be used manually using the Disc Doctor brushes, some clean cotton terry cloths and a dish drain. Follow Disc Doctor's cleaning directions for both. You can get a mini-pack sample of Audio Intelligent fluid to try for just $8.

The home-brew forumula I've used in the past is one of the many similar formulas that have appeared in Absolute Sound and in the online forums:

80% Distilled water
20% Isopropyl alchohol (92% pure or better with no additives)
A few drops of Kodak Photoflo as a wetting agent

Followed by a rinse with pure distilled water. The more pure your rinse water, the better (e.g., a distilled water that is also micron filtered and, if possible, deionized; or lab grade distilled water). The Photoflo can leave a residue, thus the rinse step.

I'll reiterate, though: the Disc Doctor or Audio Intelligent fluids will make your LPs even cleaner for even better sound. I'll never go back to the home brew not that I've experienced these results.
.

yes you can, i use disc doctor fluid and brushes, with my old tt platter on a lazy susan, with all cotton cloths for wiping the excess and then a small shop vac with a cotton cloth over the four inch attachment, works like a charm,

Of course you can clean records manually, but not well.

There are many posts both on cleaning fluids and on various record cleaning machines.

On suggestion from here on Agon, I got a KAB-EV1 as a stop-gap before getting a VPI 16.5. The KAB-EV1 worked well ($160), basically a manual RCM that you hook to your own vacum.

I think my manual method is better than an RCM. Wiothout going into infinite detail, I use a cake decorating spinner. Cast iron base with metal platter. I use a vacuum with a cutout 'crevice tool'. With the record wet after a washing I run it very slowly while pressing down with the crevice tool and I can feel the pressure of the vaccum pulling onto the vinyl.

I can't beleive that a RCM can get as close to the record as I can. And it costs very little, the DIY approach. but it is a drudge. But it is worth it.

Three passes withthe vacuum at slow RPMs get the record so clean that the only nastiness I am hearing is physical damage, if there is any.