Cleaning vinyl

[ste huxley]

So Grad no fairy liquid just mr sheen then?

that isopropanol thing...if it fully evaporates wouldn't it then leave the dirt behind?

i asked this ages ago and someone said mr sheen..there was bit of a debate about it..does it harm your records long term etc..but after trying everything else i gave it a try and it deffo gets a

spray the polish on, then play the record while it's wet, and be amazed at the amount of crud your needle pulls out (best not to use your best needles). i've done some and had to clean the needle about 5 times it gets that much gunk out.

that's the thing i didn't get with the other methods..unless you play the record to get the gunk out most dirt will stay behind once the liquids dried off..surely wetting and wiping it just moves the crap about..doesn't actually remove it..

give it a try.

 

[fred_funk]

So Grad no fairy liquid just mr sheen then?

I haven't tried the fairy liquid and mr sheen combination yet - just been using mr sheen so far. I will need to do the combo.

Am I the only one on here that thinks of a football chant every time I hear the words Mr Sheen? 'tis Scottish football related, so quite a few of you will not know it. Will explain if anybody gives a monkeys.

Anyway that nonsense asides, I reckon somebody should do a summary of this whole record cleaning business and make it a sticky as it is extremely useful - an addition to the DJ essential thread maybe?

 

[ste huxley]

Cheers Fred, it makes me chuckle all this, Mr sheen, fairy liquid, lol spray a bit of cif oxy gel on it then stick it in the dishwasher lolol

Im gonna try this Mr sheen out on the vinyl see what its sayin, maybe get some of that alcoproppo whatever its called as well next time I go in for my prescription int chemist

I haven't tried the fairy liquid and mr sheen combination yet - just been using mr sheen so far. I will need to do the combo.

Am I the only one on here that thinks of a football chant every time I hear the words Mr Sheen? 'tis Scottish football related, so quite a few of you will not know it. Will explain if anybody gives a monkeys.

Anyway that nonsense asides, I reckon somebody should do a summary of this whole record cleaning business and make it a sticky as it is extremely useful - an addition to the DJ essential thread maybe?

 

[Chumley]

you deffo need to play the record thru, else I can't see it working.

Sometimes helps to wind it backwards from finish to start a few times as well. Like someone said- best to use a cheapo needle.

 

[dannster]

Cheers Fred, it makes me chuckle all this, Mr sheen, fairy liquid, lol spray a bit of cif oxy gel on it then stick it in the dishwasher lolol

Im gonna try this Mr sheen out on the vinyl see what its sayin, maybe get some of that alcoproppo whatever its called as well next time I go in for my prescription int chemist

Ste don't get any o that Isotonic-alcopoppo-propaneoil-eye-droppo liquid in, we'll end up tanning the lot on one of our sunday sessions lol

 

[Jiglo]

Just ordered some Isopropynol from the chemist today. She asked me if it was the 70% stuff that I wanted, I didn't know so she made a phone call and asked for the right stuff for cleaning records. I think she said it's £5:85 for a half litre bottle.

Can anybody recommend a non HMV, cleaning cloth,.........I think the nearest HMV might be Manchester? :S

 

[grover]

Just ordered some Isopropynol from the chemist today. She asked me if it was the 70% stuff that I wanted, I didn't know so she made a phone call and asked for the right stuff for cleaning records. I think she said it's £5:85 for a half litre bottle.

Can anybody recommend a non HMV, cleaning cloth,.........I think the nearest HMV might be Manchester? :S

i use the wifes 100% pure soft cotton wool pads... for cleaning records that is :$ ...... better than wool balls(none of the fluff comes off them) available from the chemist too

 

[Judderz]

A lad I used to know used this on his vinyl, and it worked a treat for his stuff,,

Apparantly its quite toxic though and you should wear gloves. Not sure if this is true, he never used to bother

And Stumpy was his name

 

[cypherism]

UNfragranced baby wipes and a clean cloth

 

[dj kippax]

These are pretty good, i own one myself;-
Knosti_Disco_Antistat_Record_Cleaning_Machine_KNOSTI

They do leave a bit of gunk in the record grooves which causes it to be really crackly on the first play. After two or three plays though the record is completely clean and sounds beautiful.we

As for cleaning solutions the usual standard on the turntable enthusiasts forums is;-
20%-50% isopropanol (minimum 98% hi quality grade)
50% - 80% De-mineralised water (98% purity or higher)
A few drops of Kodak PhotoFlo (wetting agent, thins the water out so it can get deep into the groove).

I also add a drop of clear washing up detergent to my mix as i find it works well.

I used to use this homemade solution with the Knotsi and it works really well. Its a damn site cheaper than buying the replacement fluid which costs £30 a litre .

 

[dodgymix]

This crazy but works amazingly

PVA glue (that stuff you put on your hands at school and then took hours of delight pulling it all off:$ )

put a reasonably thick layer across the vinyl and wait till it dries before pulling it off.

yuo will absolutely amazed at the improved sound quality as it basically solidifies around all the dirt and then peals of like a skin

 

[siman91]

As for cleaning solutions the usual standard on the turntable enthusiasts forums is;-
20%-50% isopropanol (minimum 98% hi quality grade)
50% - 80% De-mineralised water (98% purity or higher)
A few drops of Kodak PhotoFlo (wetting agent, thins the water out so it can get deep into the groove).

This solution is great and I use it as a pre wash with my Loricraft. I would only suggest a 1:4 mix ie 20% ipa and 80 de-min water. The Photo flo is great stuff although expensive and other wetting agents do the same.

I then clean with L'Art Du Son and re-vac with my Loricraft.

Perfect results every time.

s

 

[EZEE]

This crazy but works amazingly

PVA glue (that stuff you put on your hands at school and then took hours of delight pulling it all off:$ )

put a reasonably thick layer across the vinyl and wait till it dries before pulling it off.

yuo will absolutely amazed at the improved sound quality as it basically solidifies around all the dirt and then peals of like a skin

right then ! heard good things about this method on a few forums so.....i've lashed one side of a monie love record in a dirty state thats got poor sound quality with neat pva will peel off after work today and report the results later

 

[djay]

Nice one eezee I was thinking of trying this myself after Reading about it a year or 2 back can't wait to hear how it goes.

 

[EZEE]

job done ! this works

I used Bond-It PVA and a 1/2" paint brush painted it onto the vinyl, i went a bit overboard with the pva because in some places the pva was still tacky. Took about 5 mins to peel off, the tacky pva i got off using the warm water and fairy method pva being water based this wasn't a problem.

visually - 100% improvement no dirt or marks on the record (looked brand new tbh)

sound quality - the record went from poor to excellent right the way across a the range, treble , mid and bass well chuffed !

tip - if your going to have go at this dont lash it on in spades like i did i think a light thin coat will be much better and a little easier to peel off. Next time i try this i'm going to give the kids pva glue a go i dont think its as concentrated as the building pva i used and therefore a lttle easir to peel off.

Overall result well pleased i will be doing this again

 

[djay]

Thnx for replying I thing I'll give it a go on some old tracks and try to get a macro shot of the grooves before and after.

 

[ilovepiano]

lol I'll give the glue a try on something old. I'm curious to see how well it works!

 

[Dj Si Cosis]

A great, and really useful thread

I dunno if Isopropynol is a brand name of if your all just spelling wrong, lol, but I've always known it as Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA), its the same stuff you get in those little bottles as tape head cleaner. You can get it from a chemist, but if you want to buy it without getting all of those funny looks, then you can buy it from here - Your Search Results | CPC , which is where I get it from. They will probably sell it at Maplins but I'll bet it costs an arm and a leg from there like everything else.

We use it at work for cleaning circuit boards to get rid of the flux after resoldering something, and also cleaning, well, anything.

It does evapourate quickly, so the idea is to put it on, give it a rub around and wipe it off before it evapourates. I had never thought of cleaning records with it, infact, I've never thought about cleaning my records :$ I'll try it on some old records and see how it goes, gotta try the PVA trick too, I used to love pulling that off my hands at school

 

[BlackburnRaver]

job done ! this works

I used Bond-It PVA and a 1/2" paint brush painted it onto the vinyl, i went a bit overboard with the pva because in some places the pva was still tacky. Took about 5 mins to peel off, the tacky pva i got off using the warm water and fairy method pva being water based this wasn't a problem.

visually - 100% improvement no dirt or marks on the record (looked brand new tbh)

sound quality - the record went from poor to excellent right the way across a the range, treble , mid and bass well chuffed !

tip - if your going to have go at this dont lash it on in spades like i did i think a light thin coat will be much better and a little easier to peel off. Next time i try this i'm going to give the kids pva glue a go i dont think its as concentrated as the building pva i used and therefore a lttle easir to peel off.

Overall result well pleased i will be doing this again

Nice one for the feedback EZEE, definately gunna try this, picked up an ex-collection a while ago with some top tunes but most of them are caked in shit and sound crap

 

[EZEE]

hmmm been thinking about this and this morning this came into my head

would....liquid latex....do the same job ?

is it compatible with vinyl ? will it damage the surface ? where do you get it from ?

the pva doesnt come off all in 1 peel, i'm pretty certain liquid latex would and do the same job as pva.

just a thought lol but i'll give this a go too all i need now is some latex