Another Method for Cleaning Records.

hearingimpared

Well, I thought I was obsessive when it came to cleaning my records but this is over-the-top! After viewing the video imagine what it would be like cleaning 5, 12, 25 or even 500 records you may have purchased from Good Will or other places using this method.

I have no doubt that is really gets down deep in the grooves and pull out every minute speck of dirt, gunk or even welded vinyl peices but Sheesh!

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george daniel

never

hearingimpared

Yeah I seen it before too and you are correct George, NEVER!

Fongolio

Interesting but very time consuming. I work with wood glue at work so I could get it in bulk cheap. I'll have to try that method sometime.

Toolfan66

I bet it works very well but 12 to 24 hrs??? No Thanks...

hearingimpared

Fongolio wrote: »

Interesting but very time consuming. I work with wood glue at work so I could get it in bulk cheap. I'll have to try that method sometime.

You know what Kelvin, I have about 500 moldy records (had 1500 but could only restore about 800) that I've been putting off restoring because it is such a grueling and dirty task and fouls up my 16.5 hoses and vacuum tubes. This may do the job but I can't see doing 500 LPs in a timely fashion.

Bubinga99

It seems kind of analogous to those adhesive rollers you use to pick up pet hair from the couch. It probably picks up all the loose stuff, and maybe the top layer of any gunk, but it doesn't have any chemical cleaners or scrubbing ability so it won't break down and wash away gunk.

It probably leaves at least a thin residue of any gunk, and maybe a residue from the glue itself. Glue manufacturers consider their ingredients proprietary so there's no telling what residue would be left, or what the long term effect of the residue would be. If there is a residue, it may even attract and bind more dust in the future than a chemically cleaned, rinsed, and vacuumed LP.

dkg999

It works! I use Elmers White Glue. It is a last resort, but for a rare not easy to find another copy of LP, it can do the trick. You need to lay some string like you would use for packages (the brown twine stuff) in the glue to make it easy to pull off the vinyl. I've used it on two LP's with good results.

hearingimpared

dkg999 wrote: »

It works! I use Elmers White Glue. It is a last resort, but for a rare not easy to find another copy of LP, it can do the trick. You need to lay some string like you would use for packages (the brown twine stuff) in the glue to make it easy to pull off the vinyl. I've used it on two LP's with good results.

Good to hear Doug! I may dig out a few LPs out of the mold archives and give the Elmer's glue a shot. I know there is nothing to leave residue with the Elmer's as it's non-toxic and is akin to making paste out of flour & water. Also Elmer's dries opaque so you will really get to see the grunge it pulls out.

Thanks for the tip.

Question; the brown twine, where to you lay it? Would it go around the lead in bead?

dkg999

I just laid it across the LP in a couple of places. It just helps you get the tedious process of separating the dried glue started.

hearingimpared

dkg999 wrote: »

I just laid it across the LP in a couple of places. It just helps you get the tedious process of separating the dried glue started.

Did the glue get under the twine and make contact with the record?

dkg999

I laid the twine in the glue after I had spread the glue. One of those plastic glue spreader thingy's makes spreading the glue easy.

hearingimpared

dkg999 wrote: »

I laid the twine in the glue after I had spread the glue. One of those plastic glue spreader thingy's makes spreading the glue easy.

Ah I see, thank you Sir!:)

Polkersince85

Elmer's works great for getting a splinter out of your finger, too.

hearingimpared

Polkersince85 wrote: »

Elmer's works great for getting a splinter out of your finger, too.

Ah that's for girly men; give me the old rusty safety pin I'll dig that spinter out!:eek::D

TECHNOKID

hearingimpared wrote: »

You know what Kelvin, I have about 500 moldy records (had 1500 but could only restore about 800) that I've been putting off restoring because it is such a grueling and dirty task and fouls up my 16.5 hoses and vacuum tubes. This may do the job but I can't see doing 500 LPs in a timely fashion.

Get to work and stop talking you lazy bum :D:p

hearingimpared

TECHNOKID wrote: »

Get to work and stop talking you lazy bum :D:p

I think I'm going to try Dougy's Elmer's glue method on a couple moldy records and see how they come out. I've been advised by Bubinga99 (Dave) that a rinse is necessary as these glues do leave some residue. He also informed me that the "non-toxic" Elmer's glue is made with petroleum! We use to eat that stuff when we were kids!:eek::eek::eek:

dkg999

The glue trick won't clean a moldy record. Mold has to be killed off, not just removed. I've cleaned many moldy LP's. The first step is to get a long brass or steel rod that will go through the center hole on the LP, and suspend the LP over your sink. Then fill the sink with water, anti-bacterial soap (I've used Dawn anti-bacterial soap recently), a little bleach, and a cup or so of denatured alchohol. You can use any type of tub you can suspend the LP over and have the grooves soaking in the liquid without getting the label soaked. Spin slowly, scrub with a stiff bristled artist brush, remove from the mix, shake the remaining liquid off, then use a spray bottle filled with distilled water or Aquafina to blast the LP clean. You can use a little of the liquid on a soft rag to clean the labels. Then suck any remaining liquid off with the 16.5. Then clean per usual. I've saved a bunch of moldy and flood damaged LP's this way.

hearingimpared

dkg999 wrote: »

The glue trick won't clean a moldy record. Mold has to be killed off, not just removed. I've cleaned many moldy LP's. The first step is to get a long brass or steel rod that will go through the center hole on the LP, and suspend the LP over your sink. Then fill the sink with water, anti-bacterial soap (I've used Dawn anti-bacterial soap recently), a little bleach, and a cup or so of denatured alchohol. You can use any type of tub you can suspend the LP over and have the grooves soaking in the liquid without getting the label soaked. Spin slowly, scrub with a stiff bristled artist brush, remove from the mix, shake the remaining liquid off, then use a spray bottle filled with distilled water or Aquafina to blast the LP clean. You can use a little of the liquid on a soft rag to clean the labels. Then suck any remaining liquid off with the 16.5. Then clean per usual. I've saved a bunch of moldy and flood damaged LP's this way.

Damn I thought I found a less messy way to clean moldy records!

Doug I use Vinyl-Zyme Gold extra strength to restore moldy records then follow-up with my next three steps and fluids with different application brushes and vacuum tubes for each step. Like I said it really fouls the hoses and vacuum tube but it gets every bit of mold and mildew and then some out of the grooves.

dkg999

I'll have to look into the Vinyl-Zyme cleaner. My method gets the mold and grime off the LP before you use the RCM and avoids having all that crap in the hoses and tank on the VPI 16.5.

dkg999

Even on a regular used LP I do 90% of my cleaning on the counter by my sink. The VPI RCM is just used to suck the rinse water off, then to do the final cleaning with MoFi record wash. I've never seen the reason for having all that gunk from the initial cleaning in my RCM. I clean with a homebrew solution and a tergitol solution before cleaning with the RCM.

hearingimpared

dkg999 wrote: »

I'll have to look into the Vinyl-Zyme cleaner. My method gets the mold and grime off the LP before you use the RCM and avoids having all that crap in the hoses and tank on the VPI 16.5.

Here you go Doug. The link below tells you all about Vinyl-Zyme Gold. I put 10 sprays, then apply it with a 4" foam paintbrush and let it set for one minute. Then I put a line of MFSL Super Deep Record Cleaner and scrub it in for 3 revolutions. Then I vacuum and go onto my other two steps with two different fluids.

I've done this on over 1000 moldy records (200 of which were damaged beyond restoration) the past 3 years and it works very, very well BUT the hose & vacuum tube gets fouled. Now realize the mold is dead and doesn't stink in the tube or the hose it just looks nasty. I have a spare hose and several vacuum tubes. I change vacuum tubes with each step and fluid using the same tube (which is numbered 1, 2, 3, 4,) for each step. The same with the scrub brushes.

http://www.smartdevicesinc.com/buggtussel.html

hearingimpared

Keiko wrote: »

I would think steaming would kill off any mold also. Thankfully, I don't have any moldy LPs anyway. I recall a discussion in another thread awhile back w/Troy on this mold subject and suggested using a chlorine solution. I'm inclined to believe you have a solid method in dealing with it, Doug.

Joe, per the It's a Vinyl World DVD Rich sent us, I use my HW-17 much the same way Michael Fremer demonstrates in the video. Instead of the Allsop, I improvised and use a micro fiber cloth to soak up the cleaning fluid then follow with a rinse of purified water. That's the only thing my vacuum pickup, tank and hoses are exposed to. It's been working very well for me and my records.

Mike, the steamer does not get ride of the mold . . . tried it. The mold is like cancer on and vital internal organ, it becomes part of the vinyl. The enzyme cleaners kill and eat the mold all the way to the botton of the groove and what is left over is just some nasty dirty fluid.

hearingimpared

dkg999 wrote: »

Even on a regular used LP I do 90% of my cleaning on the counter by my sink. The VPI RCM is just used to suck the rinse water off, then to do the final cleaning with MoFi record wash. I've never seen the reason for having all that gunk from the initial cleaning in my RCM. I clean with a homebrew solution and a tergitol solution before cleaning with the RCM.

I flush my RCM system out from time to time using distilled water on an old record that I don't use but is clean. I saturate it with distilled water and repeat and vacuum until the hose is full. Then I unlock to the tube stop tilt the RCM and repeat until all the crap is gone. The problem is the tube turns yellow and that's what I mean when I say it fouls it up.

I can't see doing any manual cleaning over a sink when I can do manually on the RCM turntable and vacuum it off. That's why I have a four step method when I buy used or new record. Each step performs a certain duty i.e.,

Step 1) VZG kills and eats mold, finger prints;

Step 2) MFSL Super Deep clean excess dirt and factory mold release compounds, nicotine;

Step 3) MFSL Super Record Wash removes any residue left over from the two previous compounds;

Step 4) VPI record cleaning fluid removes all residue and leaves none.

Those four steps take a few minutes on each side of the record to complet.

Once I do this to a used or new record I place it in an MFSL inner sleeve. Before playing a prepped record I take it out of the MFSL sleeve, place it on the RCM apply VPI fluid spin, vacuum, place clean mat on turntable, flip, repeat, then hit with the static gun and play the record. This whole exercise takes about a minute.

This method has served me well for over 3 years.

hearingimpared

Keiko wrote: »

Same here, but just on the real nasty ones when first acquired. I revert to the old back breaking method of Dawn, warm tap water and the paint brush before cleaning it again with the RCM. Joe turned me onto the Vinyl-Zyme too. That stuff works really well at dissolving fingerprints and other organic crap that can accumulate on a record, Doug.

My method is similar to Joe's, but I like to hit my vinyl with an initial steam, then scrub with a MoFi record brush, MoFi and VPI cleaning fluids. I sop the cleaning fluids up with a micro fiber cloth. My last step is steam again followed by a rinse with purified water, vac.

I used to use a steamer after steps 1 & 2 but because I'm so heavy handed I had to stop because no matter how much I tried to lighten up, I have scorched too many records so I stopped using it. I have the same problem with cooking, I get heavy handed with the herbs and spices and it becomes too "flavorful" so I try to measure more than eyeball . . . I've been cooking since I was five years old and I just can't seem to break this heavy handed habit with cooking or using the steamer.

hearingimpared

Keiko wrote: »

Try measuring cups and teaspoons when cooking, Gus. The trick with the steamer is not to hold it over the same area. Ya gotta keep it moving and held at least 8" above the vinyl. We're not removing paint here, bro.

DUH!!! I use to put the record on the 16.5 turntable and about 4 to 6 inches above the record move the steamer quickly back and forth the radii of the record while spinning for a few revolutions. I tried 8" I tried 2" I tried 10" same results.

Screw it! I developed the method I used and I defy anyone to take a microscope and look at the groove and find anything but pristine vinyl.

TECHNOKID

hearingimpared wrote: »

Mike, the steamer does not get ride of the mold . . . tried it. The mold is like cancer on and vital internal organ, it becomes part of the vinyl. The enzyme cleaners kill and eat the mold all the way to the botton of the groove and what is left over is just some nasty dirty fluid.

I always tought the big selling point for steamers was in fact the property of killing livig bacterias such as mold?

Step 4: You need a Vapor Steam Cleaner to clean, disinfect, deodorize, and kill dust mites and mold. They are the perfect tool for allergy sufferers and those with multiple chemical sensitivities- especially mold allergies. These products help solve a mold problem.

http://www.allergybuyersclub.com/solution-mold.html#moldsteamcleaners http://www.allergyconsumerreview.com/mold-growth-dehumidifier-steamcleaner.html

Here some innexpensive method that could potentially be tried on a scrap record (vinyl);

[grapefruit seed extract or citrus seed extract and water can be used. You mix 20 drops of citrus seed extract with 2 cups of water and mix it in a spray bottle and spray on the problem areas. Do not rinse. Fourth, you can use straight vinegar in a spray bottle and apply it to the problem areas and do not rinse it. This is the cheapest method but like the tea tree oil the smell is very strong./QUOTE]

The dry steam that is produced is very low in moisture content--usually around 6% water. The extremely hot steam kills dust mites, mold, viruses and fungi on contact and begins to evaporate almost immediately on the surface. The surface usually will be dry within 15 minutes, before mold can begin to take hold. With traditional steam cleaners, carpeting and upholstery can end up sopping wet, which creates an environment in that is hospitable to all the nasty mold and fungus that you had hoped to get rid of in the first place. If you are using a vapor steam cleaner to clean carpet or upholstery, it is best to follow up with your vacuum to catch the dirt that has been loosened from the fibers. For this reason, vapor steam cleaning makes your vacuuming much more effective.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-vapor-steam-cleaning.htm

szhleppy

Record Revirginizer

Pretty much the same concept....just a much cooler name (seriously...REVIRGINIZER....who wouldn't buy that?) and slightly higher price tag.

hearingimpared

szhleppy wrote: »

Record Revirginizer

Pretty much the same concept....just a much cooler name (seriously...REVIRGINIZER....who wouldn't buy that?) and slightly higher price tag.

Now that I would go for since it's made for records rather than using the various glues people use.

BTW can't make heads or tails of how much it costs in USD or for shipping for that matter. If it's $56 per bottle, that's a little steep because how many records could that one bottle clean?