record cleaning fluid????

soundfreak1

I have read some old threads regarding the use od Tergitol for fluid. Is this still good or has it been rethought????

soundfreak1

Could really use some input. Thanks

MrBuhl

Not the exact answer - but this was very recent and it appears that Tergitol is still a well approved ingredient:

http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/171212/record-cleaning-fluid-recipe-rcm

I'm too lazy yet in the end, and still buy Pure2.

soundfreak1

Thanks much.

soundfreak1

Still a little confused by the "oil soluble" type as will it desolve in water????

MrBuhl

Honestly I never got that far so I'm not sure either - @KennethSwauger or @SCompRacer are your men probably?

vmaxer

I am thinking it is still fine as it has been, but please for Ken to respond.

Others may chime in as well.

voltz

I use VPI's cleaner, you just add it to a gallon Distilled water. on the VPI forum someone asked what was in it. this was the response

We use a small amount of cleaner and surfactant, the rest is water. The best solution you can make is 25% isopropyl alcohol, three drops of clear dishwashing detergent (in a gallon jug), distilled water. We do not ship alcohol based cleaners due to shipping restrictions but that combo really works very well.

HW
Harry
Admin

http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=VPRCMCON

thsmith

I use Triton.

Cut and past from diy article.


For the record cleaning fluid I use Laura Dearbon's formula from her book "Good Sound". There are a number of other formulas that could also be used. The following is quoted from Laura's book (without permission, of course).

The safe formula is the same as archival commercial preparations, except that you are mixing it yourself and therefore it costs you a fraction of the price of ready mixed. It can be used for both hand and vacuum cleaning. It is a 25 percent solution of isopropyl alcohol in water, with a drop of surfacant. Ethyl alcohol, sometimes applied to records in the form of vodka is more damaging to vinyl than is isopropyl. Use it only in an absolute pinch.

Drugstore isopropyl contains too many impurities to qualify it for record cleaning. Use technical or lab-grade isopropyl, which is extremely pure. Reagent grade is unnecessary and far more expensive. Water should be steam distilled, triple de-ionized. Both of these are readily available at a chemical supply house, which should sell them to you in pint and gallon sizes.

You also need to add a drop of surfacant, or wetting agent, to reduce the surface tension of the water so the formula can penetrate down into the grooves. Very high frequency grooves, in the range of 15 kHz, can be as small as four millionths of an inch, according to Wald Davies of LAST. Though alcohol itself helps somewhat, you still need a wetting agent. Two excellent and safe choices are Triton X-114 from Rohm-Haas and Monolan 2000 from Diamond Shamrock. Both of these are nontoxic - but don't take them internally - and biodegradable. Very importantly, they leave behind no residue on the record. They are harmless in these small amounts to record vinyl and, as far as is known, to any of the conceivable by-products and impurities likely to be found in record vinyl.

Kodak's Kodaflow is sometimes recommended as a wetting agent. Do *not* use this as it contains chemicals in addition to surfacants that would leave behind residues bad for both record and stylus. Kodak recommends against this application.

soundfreak1

This may not be a good idea saying this but what the hell. Why do I feel stupid for considering paying 26+ bucks for 100 ml of surfactant/wetting agent like triton x114? Same goes for the tergitol? Especially since dish soap is primarily surfactant and wetting agent! With a clear non colored (dyes) non fragrant dish soap, what's the difference????? Am I just being cheep??? LOL

ken brydson

I use Fukitol... Works great...

thsmith

soundfreak1 wrote: »

This may not be a good idea saying this but what the hell. Why do I feel stupid for considering paying 26+ bucks for 100 ml of surfactant/wetting agent like triton x114? Same goes for the tergitol? Especially since dish soap is primarily surfactant and wetting agent! With a clear non colored (dyes) non fragrant dish soap, what's the difference????? Am I just being cheep??? LOL

I have donated to others.

muncybob

Here is probably more than you'll ever want to know about record cleaning:

https://sites.google.com/site/vincesaudiofiles/

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/record-cleaning-based-on-science.630137/

Surfactants are discussed in both sites. I just recently got my tt back in service and I have acquired all the ingredients to start cleaning my old records, I just hope that they are in good enough physical condition to warrant the effort.

I have also read elsewhere that we are wasting our time and $$ and just clean your records with a non tar based hair shampoo/conditioner combo like Pert.

soundfreak1

Well I have that RO water, even found the 99% isopropal ( at a vet pharmacy ) just tweets my noise to spend that much considering its a lifetime supply LOL only need I drop per gal. As to the donations go I'm calling local friends as of yesterday to spread it around.

soundfreak1

BTW I found a source for the 99.8% pure isopropal, found it cheep at a vet pharmacy for 2 dollars and change for 16 Oz bottle. And can get all I want.

muncybob

That's a good price, Amazon was over $6.00

soundfreak1

Check a local vet pharmacy in your area.

JuanR

"TERGITOL™ 15-S-9 is a secondary alcohol ethoxylate, nonionic surfactant used in applications such as high performance cleaners and agrochemicals.
This product has proved effective in removing grease, oil and fingerprints from phonograph records and cleans old acetate, lacquer-covered, aluminum disks".

TERGITOL™ 15-S-9 is the water soluble solution - which means it dissolves in water. The 15-S-3 is oil soluble - which means it dissolves in oil. It is actually recommended to use 1ml of each (2ml total) with 1 gallon of distilled water. Each pint has 473ml - so do the math - their is nothing cheaper out there and it is what is recommended by the Library of Congress
http://www.loc.gov/preservation/care/record.html

Talas sells pints for $21.75 plus shipping, http://apps.bnt.com/ecom/catalog/product_specific.cfm?ClientID=15&ProductID=17376

I use Tergitol and for me this is ALL I need, you want to pay more...go ahead, after all it's your cash.

Any extra cash is always welcomed here, please send some my way

I have also tried the pure alcohol version with dish washing liquid solution and it also is a very good way of cleaning records, I guess it depends how filthy your records are and your preferred method.

Both cleaning methods will require you to rinse the records with fresh distilled water after you clean them, I us my record machine to clean them otherwise you need to spray and wipe (lint free cloth)

hope this helps,

Juan