How to clean vinyl?

[mitch65]

It sounds like people have had good experiences with the anti-stat. Sounds like a good investment.

Thanks again for everyone's comments!

and the good news is that you can easily make up your own fluid refills for next to nout :bigsmile:

 

[bretty]

ooooh that's cheap!! Oh fiver delivery

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Conrad-Disco-Antistat-Disco-antistat-set/dp/B000BFXIVW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302464082&sr=8-1

Yeah, that's the £35 jobbie that I linked to. I've not seen it cheaper anywhere else. Hopefully Shropshire lad is gonna share his secret with us

 

[mitch65]

ooooh that's cheap!! Oh fiver delivery

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Conrad-Disco-Antistat-Disco-antistat-set/dp/B000BFXIVW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302464082&sr=8-1

Yeah, that's the £35 jobbie that I linked to. I've not seen it cheaper anywhere else. Hopefully Shropshire lad is gonna share his secret with us

Oooops so you did

Have to say 35 quid delivered is a bargain any day of the week

 

[shropshire lad]

ooooh that's cheap!! Oh fiver delivery

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Conrad-Disco-Antistat-Disco-antistat-set/dp/B000BFXIVW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302464082&sr=8-1

Yeah, that's the £35 jobbie that I linked to. I've not seen it cheaper anywhere else. Hopefully Shropshire lad is gonna share his secret with us

Bretty ,

I'm afraid to say that I was fibbing and your figure of £35.00 is right . I had it in my head that I only paid £30.00 for my Knosti from Conrad's ( on your recommendation I must add) but I failed to add the postage which bumps it up to £35.00 , as Mitch kindly points out .

Anyway even at £35.00 it is money well spent . Having said all that I can't seem to find it on Conrad's website . I guess they have had a run on them since you gave us the heads -up last December .

Nick

 

[lindsayt]

Some great advice has been given on this thread on how to clean records without spending a lot of money.

Sometimes the clicks and pops are from dirt, sometimes they're from scratches. A lamp shined horizontally parallel across the surface of a record is great for showing up the dirt and scratches.

I've bought plenty of filthy records that have cleaned up into pop and click free zones.

It's very important to keep your stylus clean. I use a small brush that came with a Denon cartridge I once bought plus some silly putty or an Onzow Zerodust. The brush is good for brushing off hairs. The silly putty / Zerodust is good for cleaning off the white / grey gunk that can build up on the stylus.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi LindsayT

Do you use the anti-stat device as described to clean your records?

What is "silly putty"? How often should I clean the stylus/records?

Thanks!

 

[bretty]

Hi LindsayT

Do you use the anti-stat device as described to clean your records?

What is "silly putty"? How often should I clean the stylus/records?

Thanks!

Silly putty is the kids toy that comes in a plastic egg. Flexible, slightly tacky stuff.

How often to clean your records is a matter of personal preference and how many anally retentive traits you have in your make-up

Personally, I only clean them once, when I get them. Then I just give them a quick once over with the carbon fibre brush whenever I play them.

 

[Anonymous]

I've just ordered the carbon fibre record cleaning brush from ebay. Let's see if makes a difference! I'll get the stylus cleaner ordered at the end of this month, together with some new vinyl

 

[Anonymous]

I came across this site on simply vinyl which gives some more instructions on how to clean vinyl:

http://www.simplyvinyl.com/index.php/Vinyl-Care

Interestingly, instead of a few drops of dishwasher rinse aid, they say to use "isopropyl alcohol". Is this better than rinse aid? Where can I buy this stuff? (has anyone tried it?)

 

[bretty]

I came across this site on simply vinyl which gives some more instructions on how to clean vinyl:

http://www.simplyvinyl.com/index.php/Vinyl-Care

Interestingly, instead of a few drops of dishwasher rinse aid, they say to use "isopropyl alcohol". Is this better than rinse aid? Where can I buy this stuff? (has anyone tried it?)

Yep, that's an ingredient in most DIY recipes. Don't fall into that trap, though. The alcohol doesn't help the cleaning, at all. What it does is bond with the water, making it evaporate quicker (the posh word for what it becomes when it bonds with the water is an azeotrope). It's expensive, too.

I experimented with fluids last year and found that fluid without alcohol only took about an extra ten minutes to dry. There was no difference in cleaning quality between the fluid with alcohol and the one that was without.