Best Record Cleaning Process on a Loricraft

Sunnyboy,
Sounds like you have a good routine with excellent results. Congratulations. May I suggest you now follow up giving your newly cleaned LP a demag before you insert it in a new sleeve? I do it with a bulk tape eraser for about a minute and notice a good improvement, mainly in a slightly lower noise floor and thus increased detail and dynamics.

Regarding the cleaning, I have been buying a bunch of used records lately and am experimenting with not wiping off the dust with my Hunt brush to avoid grinding the dust in the groove before I apply the enzyme soak. I think that the dust will float in the fluid and be vacuumed up by the Loricraft anyway without the risk of scratching the grooves.

I also notice that if I leave the vacuum on between applications of fluids, the tube is less likely to get clogged. Also, it seems that the tiny vibrations of the motor agitate the fluid in the grooves, so I don't have to agitate it as much with the brush. This may be gentler on the vinyl.

What have others tried?

Peterayer
Thanks, would like to follow up on the demag suggestion. Any particular product that you have been impressed with? Did read about a Furutech demag gizmo in ST a while back and if I recall that was a couple of grand. Would prefer a cheaper route.
Apologies for hijacking this thread.
Cheers

Yes Sunnyboy,
The demagnetizer I use is a Geneva Audio/Video Tape Eraser model #PF-215. I bought it originally to demag my CDs in about 1994 and to erase VHS tapes. It cost about $60 back then, though I don't know if it is still available. The Furutech is great and convenient, but very expensive.

It is part of my record cleaning procedure which starts with the Loricraft and ends with new sleeves, so you have not hijacked the thread in too major a way, I hope.

I own a Loricraft PRC-4 Record Cleaner and it is a GREAT unit but the process is very slow and manual to clean each LP. I have experimented with the following solutions:

L`Art du Son mixed with distilled water as prescribed in the provided instructions. I then apply the solution to the LP and then work it into the grooves using the brush provided with the Loricraft. I run the Loricraft in the clockwise mode for about 2 minutes working the solution into the grooves. I then do run the Loricraft in the anti clockwise mode again for 2 minutes again working the fluid into the grooves.

I allow the LP then to sit for another few minutes and then I run the Loricraft in the clockwise mode with the vacuum turned on and the pickup arm located at the inside of the LP. Once the arm has moved slowly from the inside to the outside of the LP vacuuming up the liquid and hopefully the gunk from the grooves, I run the Loricraft in the anti clockwise mode and again position the arm to the inside of the LP and let it repeat the process.

I then carry out the above steps for the other side of the LP.

When I play the LP after cleaning I have found that there is still some noise and pops so I then tried another step in the cleaning process where after I have finished with the above cleaning, I would apply a mix of 50% distilled water and 50% Isopropyl and then use The Disc Doctor Cleaning Brush (felt) to work the solution into the grooves though for not as long as above. Again I run the Loricraft both in the clockwise and anti clockwise mode. I then again start the vacuum and place the Loricraft arm at the inside of the LP and let it vacuum out the solution.

When I then played the LP I found that it was a lot quieter with less pops than just using the L`Art du Son but it increases the cleaning time and with over 800+ LPs to clean I was not looking forward to the cleaning. So I decided to try some other solutions.

Distilled water, white vinegar and rinse aid. I repeated the same cleaning process as for the L`Art du Son but again found the LP to be still a bit noisy with pops. So again tried the distilled water and Isopropyl and found it to be quieter, less pops but again the time required to clean the 800+ LPs was daunting.

Distilled water 50%, Isopropyl 50% with a capful of rinse aid. Again I repeated the same process as with the L`Art du Son but this time I did not allow the LP to sit since the solution evaporates quite quickly.

I then played the LP and found that it was very quite and with minimal pops. I have now cleaned another 20 or so LPs using this last process and I am quite happy with the results and since the amount of time required to clean each LP has significantly reduced, I am not so daunted now in going ahead and slowly cleaning the 800+ LPs.

Have FUN!

Michael Pozar

PS: New inexpensive RCM from New Zealand:

http://kiwircm.co.nz/

Sunnyboy, glad you're enjoying ever-improving results. We also demag our LP's, with audible improvements as Peter described. We use an industrial tools demagnitizer. These are available from industrial supply houses for < $100.