The VP one does benefit from a wash now & again.
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Test materials assembled:
- Brand-new, unopened, virginal, Vinyl Passion Dust Buster (hereinafter ‘VPDB’)
- ~10 year old, well-used VPDB
- Control substance: White-Tac
- Cracked but freshly-cleaned mirror -
Undersides or new (L) and old (R) pots - a canny cost-saving that won’t affect performance since only the top 1mm is ever used:
Close-up of the working surface of my old, well-used, and not-recently-washed pot of VPDB… These things certainly work! :
Opened pots - new (L) and old (R) - I’ve just cleaned the old pot here, and what looks like remaining dirt is tiny pits left by my styluses over the years:
Here I’ve extracted the old gel from its pot because the lip of the pot is too high to allow the gel to be pressed onto a flat surface.
I will use this untouched virginal surface to attempt a residue test:
Here is the old gel pressed firmly onto the mirror with a clean spatula, and then left for 30 seconds:
And here, for what little it is worth is an image of the mirror after removing the gel.
You can see nothing, partly because my camera and photography skills are both shit, but mainly because there is nothing to see.
I looked under a strong hand-lens: nothing. Clean. No residue:
Let’s try that again with the brand-new gel, again removed from its pot:
And again, exactly the same result - no residue of any kind:
FWLIW, the White-Tac also left almost no trace of residue - but it contains potentially-abrasive fillers, so I’d not be tempted to clean a stylus with it!
Largely pointless cartridge pic - under a stronger lens the diamond appears well-defined and with no obvious gunk build-up, but I don’t have a microscope, so can’t be sure:
Conclusion:
I can find no evidence of deposits that suggest I should stop using the VPDP - the fact that it’s a firm viscoelastic-copolymer which the stylus does not sink into indicates it’s much less likely to leave much in the way of deposits than the much softer Onzow.
That’s not to say long-term use might not leave deposits. For example, sorbothane supports do tend to mark some surfaces, so there still may be some slight contamination, plus, even well-cleaned records do seem to continue to yield a variety of contaminants. Consequently, occasional cleaning with ultrasonic brush/cleansing solution is still going to be advisable, IMHO.
Along the way, I’ve also learned: that it’s easy to pry these gels out of their little pots and flip them over to get a brand new cleaning surface, thus doubling the already long lives of this useful little product!
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Please elaborate.
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Already got a grant app into UKRI … SEM’s are pricey things…
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Did this with mine, but can’t get it back in the pot properly, similar to the vp one.
Did wonder about slicing one in half with a surgical knife to get 4 sides, and a couple of shallower pots.
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Nice work, seems like the VP is leaving less residue. Tomorrow we tackle cold fusion!
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Had to ease mine back in with the spatula by pushing the sides down bit-by-bit.
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Yep, shoulda said - “Just imagine you got carried away with your Bad Dragon Mega and have to get that prolapse back in place, again…” - much more relatable for Meatmen…
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Just had a go with the DS audio pad. The curvature of the magnifying glass paid off here as the flat pad doesn’t seem to want to come out of the metal housing. Managed to get reasonable contact - The DS is a lot tougher / stickier than the Onzow but left no notable residue. For good measure I did the Onzow again. Same circular gak mark left behind.
I’d be binning the Onzow, were I you…
In true Cunty style I will be selling it on eBay.
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I would too. They’re all cunts on ebay, deserve everything they get…
I assure you it does with a certain measured brutality, after which you can clean it by running it under the tap 
.
… I’ve just been washing the whole thing.
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My sonic cleaner and a dab of alcohol works wonders when the tip begins to look dull.
VP used here. I wanted a DS audio one but the height of the VP gel works better.
Opens draw, looks at Onzow, closes draw and Googles VP.
Fancy splatting it on your bathroom mirror? More science needed.
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Yeah, it is relatively new as the vendor chucked it in when I bought my ex-dem Hana SL recently.
To quote The Martian, I will “science the shit out of it” later on.
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Something else that’s not going anywhere near my diamonds
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