I’ve lusted after an ultrasonic cleaner (USC) for the last few years but could never bring myself to part with the necessary money for the Audio Desk or KLAudio machines. I mean, $4k is no small sum, even if I still buy and play tons of vinyl. I tried to rationalize it by determining the unit cost for each record, and even added in the time saving to tell myself that it would be worth it but no, that price was just too much for me. I nearly pulled the trigger on a reconditioned model from KLAudio, and even bookmarked their site just in case one appeared again but nothing could quite get me to write the check.
Like many of you, I’ve looked into the DIY options. There’s a ton of info on the web, some of it very useful but I was always left a bit concerned. Which of those E-bay USCs would work? Then there’s the LP rotating issue. How do you get the records into the water and keep them spinning there safely? Those selling the cleaners never seemed to mention LPs. Those selling record holders/spinners never seemed to mention which USC device would it would fit, other than gross measurements. I signed up online to get one of the most highly recommended cleaners, built to allow timing and temperature control, and even asked the guy making them if he knew about the rotating holders and if one I had my eye on would fit. He answered that it would, but he never said so on his listings and just as I was about to buy one, they always went out of stock.
Well, problem solved now, so let me share some practical advice. I bought a DIY set up put together by a local audiophile who demonstrated proof of concept and wanted to move on to other devices. You can put this exact rig together yourself for about $700, maybe less if you are lucky, buy used, or if you are willing to use cheaper machines. But compared to the price of other set ups, this one seems a good deal. Here’s the parts (each one linked to a relevant eBay listing, but check Amazon on the Kendal):
The Vinyl Stack Sonic Spin Kit:
which fits perfectly with a 9L Kendal ultrasonic cleaner
There are cheaper but this one I can assure you works well.
To clean the water (or keep it minimally clean while cleaning crud from your records) there’s a TopFin aquarium filter that sits on the side of the cleaner. These are about $15 from Pet Smart.
With these three in combo, a little photo-flo, drop of organic dishwasher detergent and a couple of gallons of distilled water from the supermarket, I’ve given this rig a work out on 20 Lps so far. The results are impressive. The records look cleaner than ever, and coupled with a distilled water rinse on my Loricraft afterwards, the sonic results are impressive. More as I go, there’s no end of discussion online about better combos of cleaning fluid and drying but the real advantage here is that I got 20 lps cleaned in about two hours total time, some of that learning the set up, developing a decent workflow, and running 9 mins ultrasonic cycles (longer than most people recommend but I’m experimenting).
I think I can easily get 10 records cleaned, dried and sleeved in under an hour if I employed air drying, dabbing dry with microfiber cloth, or if I would cut back on the final run through distilled water on the Loricraft (a process that adds almost 3 min per record on its own given the suction rate of the Lori’s point nozzle system). But for now, this set up is the best I’ve achieved in home cleaning, better than the Loricraft/Audio Solutions combo that I was using, and it’s comparatively quick. No, you don’t get Audio Desk or KLAudio auto-dry/ready-to-play convenience but you can make a real dent in your cleaning backlog with this set up. If you are on the fence, give this a try.
Like many of you, I’ve looked into the DIY options. There’s a ton of info on the web, some of it very useful but I was always left a bit concerned. Which of those E-bay USCs would work? Then there’s the LP rotating issue. How do you get the records into the water and keep them spinning there safely? Those selling the cleaners never seemed to mention LPs. Those selling record holders/spinners never seemed to mention which USC device would it would fit, other than gross measurements. I signed up online to get one of the most highly recommended cleaners, built to allow timing and temperature control, and even asked the guy making them if he knew about the rotating holders and if one I had my eye on would fit. He answered that it would, but he never said so on his listings and just as I was about to buy one, they always went out of stock.
Well, problem solved now, so let me share some practical advice. I bought a DIY set up put together by a local audiophile who demonstrated proof of concept and wanted to move on to other devices. You can put this exact rig together yourself for about $700, maybe less if you are lucky, buy used, or if you are willing to use cheaper machines. But compared to the price of other set ups, this one seems a good deal. Here’s the parts (each one linked to a relevant eBay listing, but check Amazon on the Kendal):
The Vinyl Stack Sonic Spin Kit:
which fits perfectly with a 9L Kendal ultrasonic cleaner
There are cheaper but this one I can assure you works well.
To clean the water (or keep it minimally clean while cleaning crud from your records) there’s a TopFin aquarium filter that sits on the side of the cleaner. These are about $15 from Pet Smart.
With these three in combo, a little photo-flo, drop of organic dishwasher detergent and a couple of gallons of distilled water from the supermarket, I’ve given this rig a work out on 20 Lps so far. The results are impressive. The records look cleaner than ever, and coupled with a distilled water rinse on my Loricraft afterwards, the sonic results are impressive. More as I go, there’s no end of discussion online about better combos of cleaning fluid and drying but the real advantage here is that I got 20 lps cleaned in about two hours total time, some of that learning the set up, developing a decent workflow, and running 9 mins ultrasonic cycles (longer than most people recommend but I’m experimenting).
I think I can easily get 10 records cleaned, dried and sleeved in under an hour if I employed air drying, dabbing dry with microfiber cloth, or if I would cut back on the final run through distilled water on the Loricraft (a process that adds almost 3 min per record on its own given the suction rate of the Lori’s point nozzle system). But for now, this set up is the best I’ve achieved in home cleaning, better than the Loricraft/Audio Solutions combo that I was using, and it’s comparatively quick. No, you don’t get Audio Desk or KLAudio auto-dry/ready-to-play convenience but you can make a real dent in your cleaning backlog with this set up. If you are on the fence, give this a try.
