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Magic Eraser used for vinyl cleaning?

I bought just recently some LPS from thrifts and the Salvation army. Two that i have numerous copies clap hands here comes Charlie and Mercury living presence {stereo} Ballet for band were just trash items. I payed a buck each but still wishing they were next to mint would have been nice. I have been using the magic eraser for some time and love what it does for cartridge cleaning removing allot of micro grime. I was curious just tonight with using the eraser on vinyl.Using by placing enough firm pressure while the lp was revolving around while placing the eraser and running it around two rotations until complete.Then wiping off any left over grime and dust with a scotch bright performance cloth. listening before and after I must say the eraser has made a very huge difference with sound retrieval. Now thinking, that most lps would do very well with this type of treatment. I do not have a wet clean machine because of space constrictions.So this treatment while not as good as wet,does do a very good job and should be tried even if you wet threat. I hope many will try and please let us know what you think.
schipo
sunnyboy1956's avatar
sunnyboy1956
424 posts
 
IIRC the ME is used to clean the stylus and not the vinyl. YMMV
Cheers
dougdeacon
3,338 posts
 
Agree with Sunnyboy1956.

I'm the original author of the Magic Eraser as stylus cleaner concept. Using ME to clean vinyl is NOT recommended.

The primary reason is not the residue (which exists but could be removed). The primary reason is that melamine fiber is harder than vinyl and, as implemented in the ME, highly abrasive. Rubbing vinyl with an ME will scratch the vinyl.

This is easily demonstrated. Take any old LP that you don't care much about and rub the shiny, dead wax area with a piece of ME. If you use any force at all (i.e., enough to clean something), the damage will be clearly visible.

For clarity, the ME works by abrasion, not by leaving residue. That's just a by product. A material that was equally abrasive but left no residue would clean equally well.
czarivey
5,780 posts
 
vinyls that are not very valuable and generic I usually enclose between two PVC 'pancakes' with adhesively attached rear-main seal for Chevy 350 block to protect labels and place them onto dishwasher with no chemicals and with cold water only no heat and rinse only(which takes about 10...15min).
dougdeacon
3,338 posts
 
Then tumble dry? ;-)
czarivey
5,780 posts
 
Sort-of, Doug, but use DeWalt heat gun instead :-)

ME in certain cases with unremovable grease in small spots is OK as well, but certainly not throughout the whole surface.

I often get frustrated over vising a near-mint vinyl that skips somwhere I can't see to ID that small microscopic piece of dirt stuck, but when I spot, I use stylus cleaning brush to rinse it off.
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