Velvet Vortex ultrasonic vinyl cleaner

I clean brand new ones also

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You crazy fool!

Well, not really as some are loaded with static from shit paper sleeves, or covered in small fibres. Doesn’t take that long

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I clean every new one. The are often filthy with paper liner bits, oily, and as said above - full of static.
They get a quick turn on the PRC4 which removes the charge and then they go straight into a poly liner.

Ultrasonic only if they are old and dirty.

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Did I hear that there can sometimes be issues with ‘mould release agent’ which is used to help the vinyl release from the press ? You might think that the pressing plant would clean this off, or that they’d use such a small amount that any remaining on the disc wouldn’t cause any trouble.

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Yes. There is residue to stop sticking, and you can sometimes see the oil.

I clean everything in the Velvet Vortex before playing. New ones 6 for mins, used ones for 15 to 20 mins depending on condition.
Then into anti static inner sleeves.
It removes static, all the dirt and makes them sound better because they are super clean. Plus there is no dirt left to burn onto your valuable stylus so it lasts longer and doesn’t get crap burned onto it.
Velvet Vortex for the win :1st_place_medal: :grinning:

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What’s the most up to date advice on cleaning fluid recipe? I always have lots of distilled water around as I use it for rinsing on the vacuum machine.

Is a wetting / surfactant such as illfotol still advised and what about detergent?

No big secret to making an effective cleaning fluid
4.7 ltrs distilled water
300ml 99.9% isopropyl alcohol
10ml ilford ilfotol

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I put a surfactant in too but not much

You can put in some Triton x-100
But be sparing with it, just a few drops literally 5 or 6 drops is more than enough.

Don’t use tergitol, I know some people do but it tends to leave a deposit on the vinyl.

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Yeah, triton x is what I use

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Getting used to it, the mixture seems to work well, although I’m still unsure about the effectiveness of air drying.

What I need is another velvet vortex motor kit, with a big fan under it :wink:

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If you mix is right then air drying should work just fine.

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Yeah but it too slow :wink:

Ps how often are folk filtering and re-using the mix? How many records would I expect to clean before making a new batch

I find it drys ok but I usually vacuum dry on my Moth vacuum cleaner. .

Keep an eye on the fluid level. It does evaporate and I only realised this when I noticed the last track on a number of newly cleaned records were noisy. I assumed the alcohol was the main culprit so topped that up and some water.

Been cleaning some new records today. I read that they are sprayed with something to stop mould forming when in warehouses, no idea if that is true but when @Rob998 was staying we had really nasty tracking problems with static which I have never had with a cleaned record.

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How many you get from a mix is entirely dependent on how dirty they are.
But if not too bad then around 70 to 80.
I empty and filter it after every cleaning session. Which might be one or thirty records depends on what I’ve got for cleaning.
You’ll see when the fluid needs changing as it starts to get cloudy.

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That aligns with my expectations. After each session I also clean and drain back into a 5L bottle, and then wipe out the gunk off the inside of the tank. I’d imagined I’d get maybe 40-50 records at least before changing out the solution.

and yes @mickbald I’ve been topping off the solution :slight_smile:

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You doing exactly the right thing
You can use paint filters to filter out solids when decanting fluid back into 5L container

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Yep, this is the way