RCM KIT!

soundfreak1

Wanted to pass this along. Bought this RCM KIT from Nick in canada (canfab3d.com) great guy to deal with, we'll built kit and Nick is very helpfull. Works as stated (if not better). Built my own plenth and bought a used wet vac (20.00) from CL. Did a fantastic job on all my very good to mint records, totally eliminating all pops and clicks and background noise (dead quiet now) I have a collection of vintage vinyl ( bought new by me back in the early to mid 70's) all were not in condition to be listened to due to the noise and pops and clicks in them. After cleaning them they are now very good and play wonderfully with only a few spots where noise is still noticeable (will try recleaning to see if they can be improved any more but at this point I'm very satisfied with the results on even the worst of them so far. The cost(of the kit) has been paid back just in the resurrection of just a few of these "vintage" albums. This is the best bang for the buck I have seen in the market for RCM'S. Again no affiliation but very satisfied with this unit.

Moose68Bash

Hey, @soundfreak1,

Very nice work!

And a very nice story. You make me very sorry that in 1989, when I decided to go digital, I gave away my record collection, and I only recently gave a friend my vintage AR turntable.

I'm glad this project worked out so well for you.

MrBuhl

And it looks great too! Nice work!

soundfreak1

Moose68Bash wrote: »

Hey, @soundfreak1,

Very nice work!

And a very nice story. You make me very sorry that in 1989, when I decided to go digital, I gave away my record collection, and I only recently gave a friend my vintage AR turntable.

I'm glad this project worked out so well for you.

And where was I when all this took place? LOL

msg

Fantastic job! I think I'm going to try using a higher powered Shopvac next. I deliberately went with a smaller lower powered one having heard that too high suction could be problematic, but since you're getting better results than I am, I'm gonna give a shot to following your process!

I agree, bang for buck ratio on this setup is great, and +1 to Nick. That guy's a real pleasure to work with.

soundfreak1

On the wand is a "air flow control" valve check its position and adjust as needed.Your vac should have plenty of strength. Could be the contact time, rotation speed, ect. I go 2 rotations in each direction in the clean and in in the rinse phase. Also the wetting agent used is a factor as well. I found a source for "triton x100" which was recommended to me as well as 99.9% isopropal (25% in solution) RODI water (from highend salt water coral breeder and store (75% solution), the x100 at 2 drops per gal. Makes a full gallon of solution. I flood the record with solution and wait 10/15 sec and then scrub in both directions all the way around then vac it up. I do the rinse the same way.I will admit that on the worst of albums in my collection so far only a little noise remained. Maybe a second cleaning will release the rest of the dirt on the more stubborn ones? The design (wish I'd thought of it) is simple and effective. What surprised me the most was the audible difference in my "mint " albums! They were dead silent in the run in, between songs and run off sections and most important no audable background noise just clean music. I'm pickled tink. Plus very satisfying to build the plenth and do the plumbing (alias my version of his (Nick) original design not mine). It's also nice to share. Went to a friend's house Saturday and had a vinyl cleaning party complete with music, beer, comradery and.... All had a large time!

gudnoyez

Looks sweet does Nick provide everything but the plinth, or do you got to make a trip to the plumbing departmentioned at the home Depot? Do you have the dimensions for the plinth, and did you just use a hole saw to mount the piece that holds rhetoric suction part in place. Nice job.

soundfreak1

Almost,yes,yes,and yes, thanks

soundfreak1

He (Nick) provided all but the PVC elbows and the wood (18x18x3/4) and the feet. Did use a hole saw and the feet came from his source (on Web site) wood was Cherry hardwood veneer on 3/4" ply . Side banding was real cherry as well. I basically just retrofitted his original plenth design mk1 with his mk3 kit. Came out ok. Works great. A lot of fun to build.Thanks again.

soundfreak1

As a follow up on the cleaning of the ooold albums.... they came out so much better than I could have hoped. Of the 50 or so I considered "unlistenable" 30 or so have been returned to my "everyday rotation" as they sound very good now. Still a little noise one would expect from vinyl. The rest are still being worked on. It's amazing the effect that a good cleaning can do.

msg

I've been meaning to post up with some feedback with the SCVRCM. I spent Sunday morning/early afternoon cleaning a bunch of stuff and noticed that older records, in general, seem to clean up much nicer than some of the newer stuff I have. I get varying results with the new stuff. Some of it's great, after, but some of it, I don't know could be pressed in, and also some surface muck isn't coming off, so thinking, maybe enzyme or something.

Also, I'm completely spoiled to clean records now, so much so, that when I see new oe records coming out of the jacket, I really just can't get over how littered a lot of these albums are with scuffs, muck, and paper or cardboard bits. It's really neat to clean a record, flip it, and noticed just how dirty it really was before the cleaning. I wanted to try to post some before/after photos, but it's difficult to detail the stuff that you can remove in a cleaning process like this, you know, since you kind of have to view a record at a certain angle to see the condition.

Definitely spoiled.

soundfreak1

This is the finished (almost) cleaning station. Cart is temporary until I fund one a little larger and proper finish and color. But it allows me to roll it into area to use more easily.

msg

man, you look like you're ready to offer cleaning services at audio shows

soundfreak1

Lol, I was thinking of a card table at the end of my driveway. I did have a lemonade stand when I was a kid. Same idea.

muncybob

Very nice looking set up! Can you give us an idea on how much total money you have into it?

soundfreak1

About 60.00 including everything except the kit.

gudnoyez

Looking like you are a pro. Mine is on the way Nick must of sent it off as I got a Canada Post e-mail today with tracking # I ordered a couple of goat hair brushes for the cleaning and rinsing cycles where did you get your squeeze bottles? I'm going with the 80% Distilled 20% Isopropyl and either a couple of drops of dawn or the dishwasher drying agent for my cleaning mixture. I even got one of his Zerostat holsters hope to be cleaning Vinyl early next week. I will probably retire the ol Spin Clean.

soundfreak1

Bottles came from "Michaels" a craft store.

gudnoyez

Just found squeeze bottles at Target, and just ordered 2 goat hair brushes a bottle of Clearaudio Stylus cleaner and a 50 pack of Okki Nokki inner sleeves off of Audio Advisor. I'm looking forward to my latest passion cleaning Vinyl the right way to bad I'm OCD I see some late nights ahead of me.

msg

Hey Steve, did you ever get your Okki Nokki goat brush and the rest of the RCM cleaning stuff?
I'm curious to hear how these goat brushes work out with wet/RCM cleaning.

StevieB

Does anyone use tergitol for a cleaning solution? It's pretty inexpensive but sounds like it really needs a lot of rinsing.

SCompRacer

Nice work! Long live DIY!

soundfreak1

Thanks

msg

I was just shopping surfactants/detergents and settled on Triton X-100.
What kind of recipe are you looking at?

StevieB wrote: »

Does anyone use tergitol for a cleaning solution? It's pretty inexpensive but sounds like it really needs a lot of rinsing.

StevieB

I was looking at using tergikleen. https://amazon.com/gp/product/B019YI38Z2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

msg

Just checked that out. Interesting; just add to water.

soundfreak1

msg wrote: »

Just checked that out. Interesting; just add to water.

Don't "just add water" you need to use a "PURE" water or you will be leaving residue of minerals and other nastys on your records.. I use RODI water and this will leave no residues. This is important!! Also some surfactants are not allowed to be sold to private individuals (crazy laws)

msg

oh. dehr, yes, I presumed everyone would know this meant distilled water.

soundfreak1

msg wrote: »

oh. dehr, yes, I presumed everyone would know this meant distilled water.

I meant no slight just some may not realize the importance or difference.

msg

oh, none taken, and I agree - it needed clarification for kb purposes.

jonicont

StevieB wrote: »

I was looking at using tergikleen. https://amazon.com/gp/product/B019YI38Z2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Working great for me. I do put it through 2 rinses. Using my Spin Clean brushes. Got the squeeze bottles for under a buck in the baking section of Walmart supermarket. Set up in the bathroom connected to my listening room (second floor "princess" suite)