That looks a bit manky! I’ve only ever cleaned a few records at a time, either ones I’ve just bought or older ones just as I’ve been about to play them so I wonder what the waste water in mine would look like if I ever had a big cleaning session like you have.
I was surprised at the colour and how cloudy it was.
The design of the vc-e exhausts the danp air on the underside of the record. Biy daft. So you can feel the damp hot air coming out.
I have a share in a Keith Monks Prodigy, bought because my Audiodeske doesn’t clean 7 and 10 inch discs.
I have just cleaned 25 12 inch discs, the applicator bottle was filled to the shoulder and the collection jar was empty at the start.
This machine is supplied with a microfibre wand to spread the fluid and I estimate that at least half the fluid is absorbed into the wand.
The pickup nozzle tends to skate across the inner land so doesn’t pick up all the fluid there. In a room at about 22 degrees that fluid has evaporated by the time the whole side is vacuumed.
The picture shows the differences, where the rest goes, I’m not sure, there is no exhaust, nothing visible inside the box.
Many years ago I switched from a VPI to a Minos XT.
As can be seen in the video the container is quite small which also forces you to empty the container more often. To be on the safe side, you should have a look after you´ve cleaned 5 records.
I empty my Okki Nokki every so often, sometimes after ten albums, sometimes fewer. To do this I just unplug the mains plug, remove the drain plug and lift it over the sink. Usually there’s a little liquid and some dark sludge, which I assume is coagulated dust. If I were to rely on evaporation only, what would happen to this sludge? Surely it would just accumulate inside the machine until it reached some critical level and then…?
FWIW I have a an ultrasonic cleaner like this one.
So the tank is completely open and easy to see and do when it needs changing.
I love it because you can clean 6 records at once
I guess what is important with any of these machines is the dirt etc that they remove. And the only real way to see this is in the dirty tank. I was surprised how yellow and grotty my dirty tank was when emptied.
There was a link in this post, apparently eBay links are forbidden? Anyways, it’s basically a regular ultrasound cleaner like you would use for jewellery etc., with a contraption on top that has a motorized spindle for the records. A bit like the one that Kuzma sells, but less expensive and better designed by some guys in China. Easy to find.
I looked at that. Bit unclear how you stopped drips getting onto the label. And whether ultrasonics and a cloth give a better result than a vacuum
It comes with 7 plastic discs that are approx 1 cm thick and the same size as the label. These protect the label and keep the distance between the records. So you have the horizontal motorized spindle, and onto this you thread a disc, a record, a disc, a record, etc., and the last disc. Then you add a large screw nut to keep it all secured.
You lower the stack of records, vertically, into the cleaner’s tank, so that the liquid just does not touch the labels (which are covered by the discs). You turn on the spindle motor and it rotates the records, while the ultrasound cleaner does its thing for 15 minutes or so.
The records rotation speed is approx one revolution in 15 seconds. Together with the grooves holding back the liquid, there is not even enough time for the water to flow downward to reach the label during the upper part of the revolution, would not even be a problem without the discs. And even if the labels get a bit wet during handling (which is unlikely), it does not hurt the labels at all, I have found.
After cleaning, raise the lift again and let dry for a bit while rotating. There is also a drying rack if you want to clean larger batches.
I think the result is spectacular regarding cleaning and completely removing static charge. And handling is great, no fiddling with small tanks etc, if change is necessary I put it over a sink and open the valve at the bottom. And it’s 6 records, both sides, in one go
Edit: If you wear glasses or jewellery, you may want am ultrasound cleaner too, it’s great
A friend has an OkkiNokki and barely uses it due to all the little annoyances, being loud, slow, etc. I use mine all the time
I’ve got a small ultrasonic cleaner, and it’s great for jewelry. The project vacuum cleaners are good, but noisey. And if course they such up all the dirt and liquid. Zero static after using mine. I guess a combination of ultrasonic and vacuum would tuck both boxes.
I believe vacuum is overrated. In the best of cases it still has to suck the dirty liquid upward against gravity, and will never do this perfectly. In my device, as the records are vertical, the dirt does not sink back downward onto the record to begin with, and there is no reason for the dirt to reattach itself to a vertical record, plus of course there are the ultrasound waves going on all the time and a lot of water in the open tank (6 liters) that he dilutes it. Having owned two cats for 15 years, my vinyl was a mess, you took it out of the sleeve and cat wool attached itself statically out of thin air in seconds. All gone.
Yep, the project exhaust is crap. It simply blows saturated air on the underside of a record. Your mod is good. Project will point to the plastic disk they give you that noone fits. I’ll mod mine tomorrow. And look forward to damp air being blasted at me! But at least not in my vinyl.
Is that the new Project cleaner and does it really blow dirty air on to the underside of the record? That sounds a bit nuts especially when the VCS Mk II blows it out the side.
Simple mod… Used the clear bit on a toothbrush packet… And some duct tape. Works fine…
Yes, please, no links to items for sale, or commercial links in the Hifi Corner.
Got it, sorry
Yep, the smaller/ cheaper version exhausts this way. A bit daft. They provide a cleat 12 inch plastic shield to be fitted under the record. But, it makes the machine “bigger” to store. Hence, most do not fit it.
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