After I found back to the sound of good old vinyl I had the problem every record aficionado has. How to clean the records properly!?There are many ways around in the Internet. Cheaper ways like the Knosti or the Discofilm but also more expensive to unbelievable expensive ways like the formidable and excellent Double MatrixDouble Matrix from the german company ClearAudio, which also makes very nice turntables. Or the Cleaning-Vinyl-Records-Instructable by mattdp.But there are always recurring mechanisms. On of them I tried to build on my own and as I can say, it works fine. I have had washed some of my records at a store near by me. They wash with a Loricraft PRC3 or PRC4 and I couldn't here a difference - neither better or worse.Sadly I built this record-cleaning-device before I thought of making an instructable. So the thing is done, but I will try to give you as much detail as I can.Please know that there are similar constructions around. This one is quick, cheap and dirty. I did it this way, so you can see that it is possible to construct this thing, even with two left hands.

But sure you can improve, upgrade or just built in more accurate way.The drive of my turntable was the broken part I had to replace. Unfortunately I only had a less powerful motor in the house and - yes, this is ridicolous but also works if you have only the opportunity to clean records - it turnes only counterclockwise. The weakness of the motor is the reason, why I have to push the the table sometimes in the video.upright vacuum cleaner with attachmentsBe careful in every step and practice on old records first. vacuum cleaner bags for mieleI assume no liability.dyson vacuum cleaner animalStep 1: SuppliesShow All ItemsWhat you need:Tools:« PreviousNext »View All Steps DownloadBuild your own high quality, easy to use record cleaner.

can be built for less than $50 and will remove at least as much grunge as the expensive VPI record cleaners. The original concept was developed Here is a list of the parts for the record cleaner. The vacuum cleaner may be used as is. I suggest removing the vacuum bagThe small volume of liquid pulled from the records quickly evaporates so nothing needs to be done to trap it. In my case I wanted a one piece assembly so I dissembled the vacuum and embedded the vacuum motor into my record cleaner box. This also had the unexpected benefit of being considerably quieter. The turntable may also be used as is or it can be integrated into a record cleaner box as I have done. Next the crevice tool needs to be modified. Use a saw to square off the end of the crevice tool and then plug the end. I cut a thin piece of MDF to fit into the end and then glued it in place with 5 minute epoxy. narrow slot into one side of the crevice tool.

The slot should be about 3-3/4" long and about 1/16" wide. Extend the slot all the way to the end of the crevice tool to create a small opening at the end of the tool. acts as a pressure relief and also maintains a minimum amount of air flow. Be sure that the slot is smooth and has no burrs. A hand held Dremmel is ideal for cutting the slot. Line both sides of the slot with velvet. Velvet works better than felt since it retains less liquid. works best for attaching the velvet. My record clamp is a 4" circle cut from 3/4" MDF but other materials couldA small plastic equipment foot from my junk bin was used to create a handle for spinning the record. The record clamp needs a rubber grip of some sort to turn the record while it is being vacuumed. A rubber O ring or rubber weather-stripping around the circumference of the clamp provides the needed traction and also keeps the cleaning fluid off of the record label. Having a good clamp makes the cleaning process much easier so don't cut

corners for this item. A threaded clamp would probably work even better for this application if you happen to have a threaded spindle. For the record cleaning fluid I use Laura Dearbon's formula from her book "Good Sound". There are a number of other formulas that could also be used. The following is quoted from Laura's book (without The safe formula is the same as archival commercial preparations, except that you are mixing it yourself and therefore it costs you a fraction of the price of ready mixed. It can be used for both hand and vacuum cleaning. is a 25 percent solution of isopropyl alcohol in water, with a drop ofEthyl alcohol, sometimes applied to records in the form of vodka is more damaging to vinyl than is isopropyl. Use it only in an absolute Drugstore isopropyl contains too many impurities to qualify it for recordUse technical or lab-grade isopropyl, which is extremely pure. Reagent grade is unnecessary and far more expensive.

Water should be steamBoth of these are readily available at a chemical supply house, which should sell them to you in pint and gallon You also need to add a drop of surfacant, or wetting agent, to reduce the surface tension of the water so the formula can penetrate down into theVery high frequency grooves, in the range of 15 kHz, can be as small as four millionths of an inch, according to Wald Davies of LAST. Though alcohol itself helps somewhat, you still need a wetting agent. excellent and safe choices are Triton X-114 from Rohm-Haas and Monolan 2000Both of these are nontoxic - but don't take them internally - and biodegradable. Very importantly, they leave behind no residue on the record. They are harmless in these small amounts to record vinyl and, as far as is known, to any of the conceivable by-products and impurities likely to be found in record vinyl. Kodak's Kodaflow is sometimes recommended as a wetting agent. this as it contains chemicals in addition to surfacants that would leave