Stylus cleaning . . .

[CJSF]

on to the next post for text and pic . . . !!!

 

[CJSF]

on to the next post for text and pic . . . !!!

My visit to Northwester Audion has been followed by numerous records, lost count of how many today, wonderfully musicl . . . :O I always clean the stylus with a dry brush, Domonic warned against using stylus cleaning fluids, turns the metal parts of the cartridge inards rusty!!!

So, after so many LPs, I thought a good clean, Dominic has given me a sample of a 'cleaning rubber' he sells, its slightly sticky, gently touch the stylus to creat an indent, job don!!!??? Yea, OK I thought, but he has not been wrong so far, the recomendation was at the start of each session. I've don the equivilent of two or three session, so, I very gently press the gum on the stylus . . . It works, supper clean!!! puts an extra air around the music that was not there before, I'm curently listening to Don Williams, not night and day, but a perception of 'clean and smooth', rather than 'warm (coloration?) and smooth' . . . if that makes sense

This is it, not impresive to look at, but sure dose a job . . . thats a 35mm film canister.

CJSF

 

[Anonymous]

I use a stylus liquid cleaner with a brush the dealer I use recommended to use it after a couple of albums have been played. Works for me. The gum seems an interesting alternative. Had a terrible accident back in March. Went to clean the stylus while the tone arm was not locked down resulting in the tone arm bouncing across an LP. Result the diamond tip came off. A very expensive accident. The dealer got me a discount to replace it but it was still a costly experience. Now I am paranoid every time the stylus gets a clean that the tone arm is locked down.

 

[floyd droid]

Surprised that you havnt heard about these little badgers CJ..

Simply lower your stylus onto the blob of sticky goo. Takes the shaking hand out of the equation ,lol.

 

[chebby]

I use a stylus liquid cleaner with a brush the dealer I use recommended to use it after a couple of albums have been played. Works for me. The gum seems an interesting alternative. Had a terrible accident back in March. Went to clean the stylus while the tone arm was not locked down resulting in the tone arm bouncing across an LP. Result the diamond tip came off.

I have never 'locked down' an arm to clean a stylus.

I always made sure the arm cueing platform was raised and the stylus brushed (back to front) gently from underneath. That way, if I exerted too much pressure, the cartridge & arm were free to move upwards. (The raised cueing platform would ensure the stylus couldn't hit the deck if I'd fumbled it.)

I never used stylus cleaning fluids either*. The stuff has a habit of creeping up the inside of cantilevers and causing corrosion and/or messing with any adhesive it comes into contact with.)

*Although all my records were all cleaned on my local record dealer's Keith Monks machine before playing them (even brand new ones), so the worst my stylus 'collected' was minor amounts of airborne dust. No gunk or residues.

 

[floyd droid]

I always made sure the arm cueing platform was raised and the stylus brushed (back to front) gently from underneath. That way, if I exerted too much pressure, the cartridge & arm were free to move upwards. (The raised cueing platform would ensure the stylus couldn't hit the deck if I'd fumbled it.)

Thats how i go about it, common sense really

I never used stylus cleaning fluids either*. The stuff has a habit of creeping up the inside of cantilevers and causing corrosion and/or messing with any adhesive it comes into contact with.)

I can never get my head around that one. How can a fluid travel up hill ?.

 

[chebby]

I can never get my head around that one. How can a fluid travel up hill ?.

Capillary action.

 

[floyd droid]

I know what that is but sorry i still dont buy it. Well unless the fluid is daubed on all over the cantilever with a 4" paint brush. Not having a dig at you Chebby but ive seen that posted so many times on different forums and it always gets me thinking 'bloody hell exactly how are these people applying the fluid , and how much of it '.

 

[CJSF]

I always made sure the arm cueing platform was raised and the stylus brushed (back to front) gently from underneath. That way, if I exerted too much pressure, the cartridge & arm were free to move upwards. (The raised cueing platform would ensure the stylus couldn't hit the deck if I'd fumbled it.)

Thats how i go about it, common sense really

I never used stylus cleaning fluids either*. The stuff has a habit of creeping up the inside of cantilevers and causing corrosion and/or messing with any adhesive it comes into contact with.)

I can never get my head around that one. How can a fluid travel up hill ?.

+1 Thats how I do it . . . the cleaning rubber is new to me, although I have seen the verious versions advertised, seemed expensive at the time, but now I have tried it it will be part of my regime.

. . . Fluid up hill . . . As Chebby says, capiliary action, dip the end of a tissue into a bowl of water, see how high it goes . . . Dom says the corosion cleaning fluids causes can deteriate the performance of a cartridge and make retiping/repair a dificult job to the point in the worst casses of the 'bin'!!!

CJSF

 

[CJSF]

I know what that is but sorry i still dont buy it. Well unless the fluid is daubed on all over the cantilever with a 4" paint brush. Not having a dig at you Chebby but ive seen that posted so many times on different forums and it always gets me thinking 'bloody hell exactly how are these people applying the fluid , and how much of it '.

Floyd, fluid travels up the dust and debry that you ar trying to remove, look inside a regularly cleaned cartridge, only the stylus tip is clean, the rest, up around the coils and inside the body after time is thick with debry off all kinds. Another word that explains the action better is 'wicking', its why a parafin or oil lamp works.

CJSF

 

[floyd droid]

CJ. I'm aware of all of this but as i said, how much fluid do folks use. The stylus is microns in size so you only need a teeny amount of fluid. Also the vast majority of stylus cleaning fluids contain isoprope which evapourates in seconds. Oh i dunno maybe its me.

 

[CJSF]

CJ. I'm aware of all of this but as i said, how much fluid do folks use. The stylus is microns in size so you only need a teeny amount of fluid. Also the vast majority of stylus cleaning fluids contain isoprope which evapourates in seconds. Oh i dunno maybe its me.

The process we are talking about with respect to cartridges take a long time, and according to Dominic the amount of cleaning fluid used by some people! But the flicking action of the bush bristles . . . remember when we were kids, old tooth brush, paint and run the finger across the top of the bristles, a mist of paint drops on the paper, and every where else if I recall? So, over-generous with the fluid, the draging action, dust and debry on the cartridge where you cant get at, over time, it can have its affects, Best not to use cleaning fluid regularly, preferably not at all.

My retip cost £250, a full rebuild because of corosion could be another £160, or worse, the bin!

CJSF

 

[floyd droid]

and according to Dominic the amount of cleaning fluid used by some people!

Ahem !. .

 

[oldric_naubhoff]

what capillary attraction? with respect to a cantilever? why don't you make a simple experiment. stick a piece of wire in a glass of water for a few days and see how much it got wet above the surface of the water. in order to the capillary attraction to be efficient the body needs to porous. and I think a cantilever is anything but porous.

also, I think most people forget that more threat to iron parts cause the surrounding air itself rather that some needle cleaners. what about water in the air? what about oxidisation?

I use an Audio Technica fluid. it's applied with a nail-polish-type brush. I can't see how you can overdo with such a tiny tool. and the fluid does a great job too. besides I can't think how you can clean anything without using a solvent?

 

[CJSF]

what capillary attraction? with respect to a cantilever? why don't you make a simple experiment. stick a piece of wire in a glass of water for a few days and see how much it got wet above the surface of the water. in order to the capillary attraction to be efficient the body needs to porous. and I think a cantilever is anything but porous.

also, I think most people forget that more threat to iron parts cause the surrounding air itself rather that some needle cleaners. what about water in the air? what about oxidisation?

I use an Audio Technica fluid. it's applied with a nail-polish-type brush. I can't see how you can overdo with such a tiny tool. and the fluid does a great job too. besides I can't think how you can clean anything without using a solvent?

Obviusly naubhoff, you have not looked closley at the underside/inside of a cartridge with a few hundred hours use. Sure a clean stylus, but stuck all around is the debrie from the record grooves that did not stick to the stylus. One also suspects there is a water content in a cleaning fluid that might cause long term problems? The stuck debrie might promote the wicking into the works from brush flicks as you clean the tip.

Incidently, this is not only one company that has told me this, I have had a very similar conversation with 'The Expert Stylus & Cartridge Co.' . . . stay away from stylus cleaning fluids unless you think that after a few hundred hours the deteriation in SQ from your cartridge says that its time for a 'new one' at x£100's, rather than a retip. On cheaper cartridges I can see a point, but to fork out a grand or more when a mear £250 would revitalise a sound you love, its a no brainer in my book?

CJSF

 

[ifor]

Surprised that you havnt heard about these little badgers CJ..

Simply lower your stylus onto the blob of sticky goo. Takes the shaking hand out of the equation ,lol.

What's the top one? I have the bottom one, but I've not yet washed it. I've no idea how good a job it does; I know it collects some crud, but I don't know how much might still be left behind.

 

[CJSF]

Surprised that you havnt heard about these little badgers CJ..

Simply lower your stylus onto the blob of sticky goo. Takes the shaking hand out of the equation ,lol.

Thanks for that Floyd, I put some of the cleaning gum into the film canister top, its just the right thickness to clear the stylus by a couple of millimeters, works a treat.

CJSF

 

[CJSF]

Thinking over the way the gum works compared with a brush . . . looking at the thickness of some brush bristles and the way cleaning gum will totaly mould around the tip . . . :? stikes me for removal of dust particals etc, the gum might be superior, although one has to trust the sticky nature of the gum????

CJSF

 

[floyd droid]

What's the top one?

Vinyl Passion. Fleabay amongst other places. Around 20 quid , pretty much the same as the onzow.

 

[floyd droid]

the gum might be superior, although one has to trust the sticky nature of the gum????

Kiss of death this but I've never read or heard any reports about either of them yanking the stylus out of the glue. I use both by the way.

 

[floyd droid]

what capillary attraction? with respect to a cantilever? why don't you make a simple experiment. stick a piece of wire in a glass of water for a few days and see how much it got wet above the surface of the water. in order to the capillary attraction to be efficient the body needs to porous. and I think a cantilever is anything but porous.

Be careful here oldric or you could end up in the same bucket as me ,lol.

Far too much scaremongering touted around with this vinyl mullarky. Have you ever heard of someones cantilever dropping off, except when its been bounced ?. Nah me neither .

 

[CJSF]

what capillary attraction? with respect to a cantilever? why don't you make a simple experiment. stick a piece of wire in a glass of water for a few days and see how much it got wet above the surface of the water. in order to the capillary attraction to be efficient the body needs to porous. and I think a cantilever is anything but porous.

Be careful here oldric or you could end up in the same bucket as me ,lol.

Far too much scaremongering touted around with this vinyl mullarky. Have you ever heard of someones cantilever dropping off, except when its been bounced ?. Nah me neither .

Scaremongering??? I think its fairly rare, but coments from those that do the work, they do see the serious corosion issues on ocasions. Personaly I would consider it much more of an issue at the expensive end of the cartridges market. They dont fall apart, but their opereation can be compromise if corosion sets in seriously? Bit like smoking, there is a health problem, some get away with it . . . :?

CJSF

 

[floyd droid]

CJ. Not aimed at yourself /Chebby or Dom. But to newbs it all reads a bit 'oh my god' im leaving that golfball sized lump of gunk on my stylus,lol.

 

[MajorFubar]

For years (20+) I have cleaned dust off my stylus by lowering it onto a freshly-kneeded blob of BluTac stuck to a credit card.

I've never mentioned it as a tip (no pun intended) because I figured I'd get massacred.

But now it turns out there's some official gum which does basically the same job.

I should have trademarked and patented this process two decades ago.

Ah well.

 

[floyd droid]

YOU HAVE BEEN DOING WHAT !!!.

Did you know that the chemicals in blu-tak leach up the cantilever then up the arm tube and finaly will seize your bearings up, stupid boy,lol.

Good on yer Major, yip you should have stuck it in a tub and your millions.