homemade record cleaning devices...

spaceghost

New member
Mar 5, 2005
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does anybody have any good methods for cleaning records.soulrez was telling me about a dude he knows who has some attachment for his powerdrill. i couldn't understand exactly how it worked, but it sounded like you hook the record up to some cleaning pads and turn on the drill. said even beat records came out playable.anyone want to share their techniques?
Mac-at-work.jpg
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A brush, a solution, and a rag. Works for me.

Solution = 3 parts distilled water, 1 part rubbing alcohol, 1 small drop dishwashing detergent.

People will disagree with this, but it has worked wonders for me.
 
A brush, a solution, and a rag. Works for me.

Solution = 3 parts distilled water, 1 part rubbing alcohol, 1 small drop dishwashing detergent.
Cosign. And my brush is a soft-bristled toothbrush, for use only on those rilly moldy/muddy records that would be goners anyway.
 
i use about 80% distilled water and 20% denatured alcohol (get it from the hardware store)... leaves a nice shiny luster and does a good job cleaning.
 
lately, when I have a real dirty record, I let water from the sink faucet run on it. Seems to get 'em cleaner than a rag. But, again, I only do this with filthy ones...
 


Where's Frank?

He had some recommendations on the funk45 board a while back.
 
denatured alcohol
this shit's kinda rugged, I'd stick to isuprophyl
isopropyl is good, but there shouldn't be too much of it. the alcohol's only there to facilitate evaporation of the solution.
 

I crank the weight on tonearm as heavy as it will go, switch the speed to 78 (45 at +10 if ya got one of those), and let that mother fly for a whole side. Knock's the dirt right outta those grooves. If it's really dirty I might spit on the grungier spots.
 
Air Conpressor with sand does the trick! Well maybe not the sand but good old air works wonders....
 
does anybody have any good methods for cleaning records.

soulrez was telling me about a dude he knows who has some attachment for his powerdrill. i couldn't understand exactly how it worked, but it sounded like you hook the record up to some cleaning pads and turn on the drill. said even beat records came out playable.
it's complicated to esplain' but it works better than anything i've ever seen used...
 
I retired the machine when I left the game back in in 2015



New generation, custom built record cleaning device using a high quality dry steam cleaner and a pottery wheel, rotating the record at 85rpm, while a cooling nuzzle floods the surface with a jet of ice water to prevent overheating. This removes all dirt and mostly all detectable noise. Recordings before and after treatment showed a vast increase of fidelity.
 
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Frank, that's genius but also a tiny bit insane. Talk to me about why the cooling nozzle looks like my large intestine?
 
hehehe... never made me think of a large intestine. Back in one of my former lives as an industrial mechanic, I spent years working with such components. As a cook, I once washed the large intestine (pig, not human – even though our organs are surprisingly similar) to be filled with sausage and that thing looked and felt entirely different.
 
it makes your machine look like something out of Cronenberg film to me!