I made my box out of 15mm MDF. A no longer required cabinet from one of the kids bedrooms. I took me a lot longer to build than I thought it would.
I made a modification to the design. I only sealed the chamber containing the vacuum motor, the chamber containing the turntable motor isn’t sealed. This will make it easier to replace the turntable motor in the future, if required.
I’ve just realised this is contributing to the high noise level. Just sealed it up with tape, the sound level has come down to 95dbA from 110dbA at a distance of about 200mm.
I have the Auto Desk “Vinyl Cleaner Pro” model. I’ve probably cleaned 50 lp’s so far (given that I just ran through my initial pack of 50 Mofi inner sleeves), and it’s pretty amazing. It really quieted down a few noisy ones I was playing prior to owning it, and it leaves them all quite static-free. Even new pressings right out of the sleeve are improved.
It dries them pretty well too. I do sit them on a bamboo dish rack to air dry afterwards, but at most there might be a couple of drops of water on the rim.
It’s expensive but given how much we’ve taken to vinyl lately at least I can say we’re really happy with it.
Yes, I also read the letter on their website a few weeks ago; shame, though not surprising. The market for premium / expensive record cleaning machines is limited at best and Cavitation is still a relative new comer for record cleaning.
Guys, don’t be too hard on me but I am getting back into Vinyl after about 32 years off. To keep initial costs down I have ordered a Spin clean record washer just to get me going. How bad or good are they, am I wasting my money on one?
Though I have not used one, the Spin Clean is certainly a step up from manually washing records on a table with a brush and rinsing under gentle running water; which I did for a while.
The point, as you say, is to get going.
All the best.
I have seen the manufacturers’ video on you tube, and it looks very simple to use, compact and effective to boot.
It is expensive but given that I have close on two thousand records ( at a guess) including Elaine’s and those inherited from our parents it is worth buying a decent RCM, as there are very few (no?) bargains to be had when buying secondhand records any more, and the prices asked for new lps makes me wince.
Those using tonearms and bits of thread look far too much of a faff for me: I just know that in my hands the thread will break and I will lose my patience…
I have a VPI HW 17, has been very reliable and cleaned about 1200 records so far. Now that I have moved back to the UK I need to find a dealer for spares.
Yes, I find the Nessie very easy to use. Broadly after filling the tank with cleaner fluid you simply move the cleaning arm over the record and press the start button. After it has ‘washed’ the record it beeps and you move the vacum arm over the record to dry it. I particularly like that it is quiet enough that I can still listen to a record whilst I’m cleaning others. Infact I have got into a routine of playing the first record cleaned whilst cleaning others (although I’m not saying that it is whisper quiet but rather that its noise is not ‘all engulfing’). The only fiddly bit is draining off dirty liquid through a waste pipe into any suitable container. Ideally that should be a press button affair too rather than manually releasing a pipe clamp. In any case it has proved effective and robust for me (if not cheap - although I see it as a long term purchase). Possibly some of the new ‘sound based’ bath machines are even easier as they clean both sides of a record in one go.
It certainly isn’t cheap but given the eye-watering cost of new vinyl lp’s (and yes, at nearly 62 years of age I am aware that they are probably relatively cheaper than when I was buying them as a teenager blah blah blah), and that everywhere selling second hand records seems to be optimistic in their pricing, I am going to stay with what I have on vinyl and try to improve them, and mostly buy CDs via the resellers on the River for new music (or as my partner seems today “is that 50 years old”?)
My listening room is pretty compact so I think I will have to put any RCM in the garage where I keep all my vinyl anyway.
I did once have a RCM which was noisy until something went wrong with it so that it sounded like a circular saw cutting metal. After that it was pretty much a case of letting the stylus do the cleaning…
Had a VPI 16.5 for some years. The vacuum is loud and motor runs hot after cleaning a few LPs. Bought a Nessie when the 16.5 eventually failed. It is much quieter and as per Whsturm mentioned, one can listen to music while cleaning the LP. Very easy to use and vacuum motor is not hot. No problem cleaning 20 odd LPs in one go. One of my Best Buy.
The Degritter arrived on Friday, today I got around to trying it on a few records, it seems to do the job very well but I had a small hitch along the way. I have an old VPI cleaner too that came with a felt mat and I was using it to prewash some of the worst records so as not to contaminate water in the degritter too quickly. Unfortunately I managed to pick up one disk with the mat stuck to the back of it and started the cleaning cycle without noticing. I now have a nice clean mat on the VPI just drying off and I‘ve used 4l of my 5l reserve of RO water to clear the crap out of the degritter.
Restored a 2nd hand one last year ( a CR502 model) including a full deep clean, replaced belts and tubing, mat, and nozzles. Works well, and not as big as the MkII.
Looked at the suction machines, as well, and Loricraft’s version of the thread cleaning method.
The ultrasonic machines also seemed good, but expensive and not sure about reusing the fluid with different records, without filtration between washes (dirty bath water!)
You should see the colour of what comes into the suction waste jar after a few records. Plus I can use different fluids depending on the initial state of the vinyl.
I also know that what goes on, comes off and into the waste jar during the clean, and the only thing touching the record is a clean fresh piece of nylon thread.
Hello Simon i added a external 1 bar vacuum gauge to my KM machine, just like the limited ruby, so i can now monitor the vacuum pressure as the arm passes over the vinyl and intervene if needed. paul
Mine, the CR502 model, is a previous generation, being an attempt as a ‘consumer’ version, smaller than the MkII, with the supply & waste jars as plastic pots inside the back of the unit. Motor, pump, brush assembly all the same as the MKII, so those parts (or similar) are available. The arm is a little different, so I haven’t changed the tubing in that, just the nozzle which with a little plumber’s tape is a tight fit.
Have the latest ‘pyramid’ mat & a new brush block (bought 2nd hand from Canada!).
Curious folks, so what is the advantage of the Kieth Monks / Loricraft approach over the wash & vacuum method? Assuming it to be only limited contact point of only the thread in the groove?
How easy did you find it to dismantle the unit, replace the tubing and put it all back together again?
I have a Keith Monks Discovery machine that I left unused for too long with the result that the tubing is completely blocked and I get no suction whatsoever from the arm. I thought about dismantling it and replacing the tubing but in the end wrote it off as too much bother. I ended up buying a Project RCM to replace it, and that has turned out to produce very nearly as good results.
Still, the KM Discovery is stored in a cupboard, and it would be nice to get it going again if it’s relatively easy to dismantle and service. Don’t know about your device, but mine didn’t come with any instructions or diagrams that might help me out.
Yes, and the fact that the nylon thread, the only thing that actually touches the Record being cleaned, is spooled through from a bobbin, so is clean and fresh, so reducing the chance of contamination.
Yes, I also read the letter on their website a few weeks ago; shame, though not surprising. The market for premium / expensive record cleaning machines is limited at best and Cavitation is still a relative new comer for record cleaning.
