Walker Vortex Vacuum Wand for VPI

This sounds quite interesting, but I'd like to know how this differs from the original VPI hard wands made of teflon.

I read they switched to velvet because some people were scratching LPs.

So before I subjected my LP collection to a new device such as this, I'd really like to see some electron microscopy on a new LP, and after various numbers of cleaning cycles with the Vortex to determine if the landings or top edge of the groove walls were at all distorted.

I believe I have even occasionally seen tiny scratches in the run out groove areas with my Loricraft, so I think one can't be too gentle with our valuable and extensive collections.

With the proper research and documentation of results, I'd have no problem spending the $80 Walker is asking.

I agree with Emailists. The more I think about this the more I wonder about it's saftey. I definitely am not ruling it out but I need hear more success stories before I take the plunge. So far, I can't find this thing on Walker's own website. Has anyone else found information on it there?

My experience this morning has been dismal.

First of all, the slit in the Walker tube is thicker than my VPI tube. I was expecting the opposite (to increase suction).

I cannot get a record to vacuum dry. It still looks visibly wet and feels damp. I suspect some of that is because the felt on the VPI tube worked in tandem with suction to dry the LP.

I have spent an hour playing with height adjustments and while I've seen improvement, I don't feel it is right. I'm using a thin throw away record, but if the setup is this sensitive to height, using LPs of different thickness is going to be problematic.

Also, because of the rings, the tube makes more solid contact near the spindle than it does the edge.

At this point I'm at a loss of what to try next.

Update: I did notice that the slit in the tube wasn't oriented perfectly downwards so I adjusted it. Here's what I now experience:

I have the height so that I can see the record lift up slightly to meet the tube (which I assume is correct), but I get a screeching sound, sort of like a cross between a children's party horn and an elephant. It's quite, um, alarming, but the record does get vacuumed apart from the outer edge and close to the spindle which remains moistened.

Has anyone else experienced this sound? I'm afraid to try anything but a junk LP, but of course with junk LPs I can't tell if I'm adding snap, crackles and pops (no visible scarring).

Madfloyd, try moving the stop ring higher up on the tower to allow the tube to pull all the way down onto the record.
Another new user I've been emailing with was having a similar problem to your first post (not the screeching, which I don't have either) because he was trying to use the stop ring to limit the tower to what he believed was "just the right height." Once he gave up on that idea and moved the stop ring higher, he started getting the good results that I'm getting here. Good luck, keep experimenting. The results when you get it right are worth the effort.
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