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Our DIY Ultrasonic Record Cleaner


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A pic of one of our kits, from Mike in California.

 

It's good to have a decent 1" (23-25mm) or so between records, for the ultrasonic cavitation to work nicely & in some cases if I'm really fussy, I'll clean only 2 records a time (with a double spacer between). 

 

Cheers, Owen

Dark Lantern blog - http://darklanternforowen.wordpress.com/

Mike-T-2.jpg

Edited by Owen Y
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Chaps, an update:

Just a note that current price of the kit is A$149 + airparcel postage $15 to most parts of AU.

(Kit is as below.)

 

You just need to purchase a model PS30A tank from ebay.au & a Gasmate rotisserie motor.

 

Assembly involves 4 screws + attaching the motor with 3 screws.

 

Cheers, Owen

Dark Lantern blog - http://darklanternforowen.wordpress.com/

IMG_1421.JPG

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well mine blew up on the weekend.... I'd been testing just how hot I could run a record through it (that was already warped) and see what happened to it. So it was running at 80 degrees + (the max on the dial) and I didn't hear a pop or spark, or smell anything. IT just finished a run and I noticed my cavitators just didn't seem to be....cavitating!  :)   It had gone a bit quiet.... more like a gentle 'ticking' now instead.

 

I think I broke it!   ?

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11 minutes ago, candyflip said:

Well mine blew up on the weekend.... I'd been testing just how hot I could run a record through it (that was already warped) and see what happened to it. So it was running at 80 degrees + (the max on the dial) and I didn't hear a pop or spark, or smell anything. IT just finished a run and I noticed my cavitators just didn't seem to be....cavitating!  :)   It had gone a bit quiet.... more like a gentle 'ticking' now instead.

 

I think I broke it!   ?

 

80 f'ing degrees, cf!!  WOW!!  :(

 

Maybe just let it cool down and it will get back to working again?

 

Andy

 

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3 minutes ago, andyr said:

 

80 f'ing degrees, cf!!  WOW!!  :(

 

Maybe just let it cool down and it will get back to working again?

 

Andy

 

I know, I know - live dangerously and all that.  ;) 

Yeah maybe - ....I'll do it on the weekend, see how I go.

 

BTW - I've been using filtered water out of our large home Brita-like filter unit, which comes with a built-in tester, and the water filtered out and used in my cavitator is showing Zero parts per million contaminants.  So I reckon whoever said they were doing that earlier on, is probably on the money for effectiveness and cost benefit ratio.  

 

I'm using Kodak Pro Photo-Flo 200 from Vanbar in Victoria (2 x 473ml bottles were under $30, pick-up) and I've barely touched the sides on bottle #1 yet... great stuff to use. 5mls per 2 records in the machine.

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Here is the current iteration of my cleaning rig. Was great with just tap water, triton-X, and isopropyl alcohol. Have taken on board others suggestion, and have gone to demineralised water, and put together a filtering line. Running a few second hand mono classical albums and assorted other bits n pieces. Soon we will see how it all works out- will the results go from A to A+?

FDD86140-93B6-4878-81FD-F04BC6B715A6.jpeg

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1 hour ago, Juzbear said:

Here is the current iteration of my cleaning rig. Was great with just tap water, triton-X, and isopropyl alcohol. Have taken on board others suggestion, and have gone to demineralised water, and put together a filtering line. Running a few second hand mono classical albums and assorted other bits n pieces. Soon we will see how it all works out- will the results go from A to A+?

FDD86140-93B6-4878-81FD-F04BC6B715A6.jpeg

 

I'm curious to know, J, why you went for that narrow white pipe?  I will be restricting your water flow, compared to the clear piping from filter to tank.

 

Andy

 

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40 minutes ago, andyr said:

 

I'm curious to know, J, why you went for that narrow white pipe?  I will be restricting your water flow, compared to the clear piping from filter to tank.

 

Andy

 

The white pipes were purely what was suggested by the bloke at the water purifier place where in bought the filter. I had some aquarium tubing in a couple of gauges, but this worked out best with the mix of joiners I had. It is what is used for filtering systems under the sink, and there does not seem to be any limitation of flow in practice- if it was used for the final run back to the tank, I imagine it would hose out with more pressure that I want. I imagine the one micron filter is more of a limitation, though I don’t know. As a side benefit, it looks quite neat. It would have been easier if I had a pump with standard threads, but I was too impatient to wait for eBay, and was going to the pet shop for other reasons, so I made do with the small aquarium pump!

 

Justin

Edited by Juzbear
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29 minutes ago, Juzbear said:

 

I imagine the one micron filter is more of a limitation, though I don’t know.

 

 

Agreed!  :thumb:  IMO the filter is so much of a limitation that you don't want any additional ones!  :lol:

 

29 minutes ago, Juzbear said:

 

but I was too impatient to wait for eBay, and was going to the pet shop for other reasons, so I made do with the small aquarium pump!

 

 

Should be fine - I imagine the duty cycle for an aquarium pump is 24x7?

 

29 minutes ago, Juzbear said:

 

The white pipes were purely what was suggested by the bloke at the water purifier place where in bought the filter. I had some aquarium tubing in a couple of gauges, but this worked out best with the mix of joiners I had. It is what is used for filtering systems under the sink

 

 

 

Well now it's actually working ... you have time to organise v2.0.  :)

 

Andy

 

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1 hour ago, Juzbear said:

I imagine the one micron filter is more of a limitation

 

Yes, I use a 0.2 micron filter so no aquarium pump for me. 

 

Today I am modifying an old 20 litre water cooler/esky to cycle my water through so that I can keep cleaning records and not have to wait for the water to cool down.  It's bloody warm here in Qld, and it does not take much cleaning to warm up already warm water. 

 

Clean some records >> dump the warm water into the 20l cooler >> start the filter pump >> take a new, cooler usc tank-full of water from the the clean side of the filter >> load-up the next spindle of records >> keep cleaning.  Owen was kind enough to sell me three spindles so I can have two spindles on the drying rack and one in the usc at any one time.

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22 minutes ago, acg said:

 

Today I am modifying an old 20 litre water cooler/esky to cycle my water through so that I can keep cleaning records and not have to wait for the water to cool down.  It's bloody warm here in Qld, and it does not take much cleaning to warm up already warm water. 

 

Clean some records >> dump the warm water into the 20l cooler >> start the filter pump >> take a new, cooler usc tank-full of water from the the clean side of the filter >> load-up the next spindle of records >> keep cleaning.  Owen was kind enough to sell me three spindles so I can have two spindles on the drying rack and one in the usc at any one time.

 

Great concept, acg.  :thumb:  Your filtering action - to remove the dislodged gunk from the cleaning solution - takes place in a separate tank from where the us cleaning is going on.  (As I'm sure you know, 'best practice' says that you shouldn't have the pump running whilst the us vibrators are turned on - as the water flow reduces the effectiveness of the us action - so I currently have to have a 10 min clean cycle followed by a 10 min filter cycle ... so cleaning takes twice as long!  :(

 

I need to think about following your lead.  :)

 

Andy

 

Edited by andyr
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33 minutes ago, acg said:

 

Yes, I use a 0.2 micron filter so no aquarium pump for me. 

 

Today I am modifying an old 20 litre water cooler/esky to cycle my water through so that I can keep cleaning records and not have to wait for the water to cool down.  It's bloody warm here in Qld, and it does not take much cleaning to warm up already warm water. 

 

Clean some records >> dump the warm water into the 20l cooler >> start the filter pump >> take a new, cooler usc tank-full of water from the the clean side of the filter >> load-up the next spindle of records >> keep cleaning.  Owen was kind enough to sell me three spindles so I can have two spindles on the drying rack and one in the usc at any one time.

I have thought about getting another spindle to speed the process a bit- I think that would be the rate limiting step for me, rather than filtering. I usually do a twenty minute cycle, so thought I would do the same, but filter for the last five minutes or so (when I am watching it, otherwise I just do five mins when I get back to it).


How hot do you run your water? Down here, I have to heat it to reach my aim of 40 degrees- it started at 14 today! So no need to cool it in an esky for me.

 

17 minutes ago, andyr said:

 

Great concept, acg.  :thumb:  Your filtering action - to remove the dislodged gunk from the cleaning solution - takes place in a separate tank from where the us cleaning is going on.  (As I'm sure you know, 'best practice' says that you shouldn't have the pump running whilst the us vibrators are turned on - as the water flow reduces the effectiveness of the us action - so I currently have to have a 10 min clean cycle followed by a 10 min filter cycle ... so cleaning takes twice as long!  :(

 

I need to think about following your lead.  :)

 

Andy

 

I figure that the relatively slow flow won’t impede the US too much, though I have no evidence to back this up! 

 

From my first post, I was wondering how much “betterer” it could get. I am not sure that the records sound any different, but hopefully all this will streamline the process and reduce the need to manually replace the water.

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4 minutes ago, Juzbear said:


How hot do you run your water? Down here, I have to heat it to reach my aim of 40 degrees- it started at 14 today! So no need to cool it in an esky for me.

 

 

Don't want it to go over 40C, prefer 35C, but still getting used to the whole system.  Was 37C here yesterday, so it does not take any heating whatsoever for the water to reach 40C and it ain't going to cool quickly on its own with our summer temperatures, hence the additional reservoir of water to spread the heat load.

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On 07/11/2019 at 9:30 PM, candyflip said:

I know, I know - live dangerously and all that.  ;) 

Yeah maybe - ....I'll do it on the weekend, see how I go.

Still blown up.... not cavitating.

Looks OK inside....no really smoky smells or anything.

Everything seems alright, but I'm useless with electrics.

 

 

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1 hour ago, candyflip said:

Still blown up.... not cavitating.

Looks OK inside....no really smoky smells or anything.

Everything seems alright, but I'm useless with electrics.

 

 

... and mine just did the dame thing! This is the second of these cheap Chinese tanks I've had die on me, so no more. They have nowhere near enough power to clean even 1 record at a time. When you calculate surface area, you need to allow about 50% more than the surface of both sides of the record due to it being grooved, not flat. These machines are not up to the task, and start to reduce in power from day one. The exciters vibrate themselves to death. Anyone notice what appears to be pumice crumbs appearing under the tank after use? This is the epoxy that holds the exciters together and adhered to the tank. This starts to break up from the vibration, and in the case of my first tank, suffered a short as the exciter self dismantled. That's a 240 vot short in a metal tank!

 

Hmmm....

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1 hour ago, t_mike said:

... and mine just did the dame thing! This is the second of these cheap Chinese tanks I've had die on me, so no more. They have nowhere near enough power to clean even 1 record at a time. When you calculate surface area, you need to allow about 50% more than the surface of both sides of the record due to it being grooved, not flat. These machines are not up to the task, and start to reduce in power from day one. The exciters vibrate themselves to death. Anyone notice what appears to be pumice crumbs appearing under the tank after use? This is the epoxy that holds the exciters together and adhered to the tank. This starts to break up from the vibration, and in the case of my first tank, suffered a short as the exciter self dismantled. That's a 240 vot short in a metal tank!

 

Hmmm....

bugger....  

 

Image result for damn

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@candyflip  @t_mike

 

I was not game to go straight with the chinese tank so I purchased one of these.  It is very quiet, is dual frequency, is German made, has an Australian warranty, and fits Owens kit with only a little bit of dremel work on a couple of nuts on the kit.

 

 

 

Elmasonic-P-60-H-web.jpg

 

Edited by acg
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1 hour ago, acg said:

@candyflip  @t_mike

 

I was not game to go straight with the chinese tank so I purchased one of these.  It is very quiet, is dual frequency, is German made, has an Australian warranty, and fits Owens kit with only a little bit of dremel work on a couple of nuts on the kit.

 

 

 

Elmasonic-P-60-H-web.jpg

 

Truth be known, this is the sort of money you have to spend for a decent US machine. There certainly is a reason why the purpose made US record cleaners cost as much as they do. Years ago when involved with motor racing, we used to use a small US cleaner for fuel system parts. They were very expensive machines and they worked well. They also had a lot more power than the Chinese tanks on ebay.

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1 hour ago, acg said:

@candyflip  @t_mike

 

I was not game to go straight with the chinese tank so I purchased one of these.  It is very quiet, is dual frequency, is German made, has an Australian warranty, and fits Owens kit with only a little bit of dremel work on a couple of nuts on the kit.

 

 

 

Elmasonic-P-60-H-web.jpg

 

 

Great tank, acg - and 80kHz as well as 40kHz!  :thumb:

 

I also decided I would pay more for a non-Chinese us tank, a couple of years ago.  I bought a (US-made), 60kHz Sonix-IV tank - which I'm very happy with.

 

Andy

 

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I have limited electronic skills, but pretty good google skills, and it would seem that they can be fixed. You just need someone who has the first set of skills you can outsource to, if you are lacking them yourself! There are plenty of folks on here who may be able to help, though given the price of them via ebay, it may not be worth investing too much time. 

 

 

Cheers, Justin

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1 hour ago, Juzbear said:

I have limited electronic skills, but pretty good google skills, and it would seem that they can be fixed. You just need someone who has the first set of skills you can outsource to, if you are lacking them yourself! There are plenty of folks on here who may be able to help, though given the price of them via ebay, it may not be worth investing too much time. 

 

 

Cheers, Justin

That's not helpful at all, and not the reason I posted above.

No Google search is going to specifically direct to an 'Ultrasonic cleaner repairman' in Australia.  :yawn: 

Even less so since the culture we have all raced to adopt now means there are very few electronic repair specialists making their services obvious, Google or not.

 

It's exactly the highlighted part above I was hoping to hear about. 

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12 minutes ago, candyflip said:

That's not helpful at all, and not the reason I posted above.

No Google search is going to specifically direct to an 'Ultrasonic cleaner repairman' in Australia.  :yawn: 

Even less so since the culture we have all raced to adopt now means there are very few electronic repair specialists making their services obvious, Google or not.

 

It's exactly the highlighted part above I was hoping to hear about. 

I am disappointed you didn't find it helpful, and that you felt the need to post back saying so- I was certainly not trying to make light of your very valid point about the lack of repairability of many of the electronic items we use currently. I looked firstly to see if people were repairing them- they certainly are, and from looking at the posts, often the repairs sounded easy, in the order of replacing a resistor. I also thought that there may actually be ultrasound repair techs, as our audio part of the world is tiny, compared to the uses in health, computing, etc. I did not find these, but thought the other information may be useful in enlisting the help of the many DIYers on here. As to electronics repair, there are quite a number of places that come up when you google this, if that answers the question better.

 

I read your post, spent some time thinking about how I might help, did what I could, and posted back to the best of my ability and in good faith. 

 

Justin

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2 hours ago, Juzbear said:

I am disappointed you didn't find it helpful, and that you felt the need to post back saying so- I was certainly not trying to make light of your very valid point about the lack of repairability of many of the electronic items we use currently. I looked firstly to see if people were repairing them- they certainly are, and from looking at the posts, often the repairs sounded easy, in the order of replacing a resistor. I also thought that there may actually be ultrasound repair techs, as our audio part of the world is tiny, compared to the uses in health, computing, etc. I did not find these, but thought the other information may be useful in enlisting the help of the many DIYers on here. As to electronics repair, there are quite a number of places that come up when you google this, if that answers the question better.

 

I read your post, spent some time thinking about how I might help, did what I could, and posted back to the best of my ability and in good faith. 

 

Justin

So this is the post where I reflect back on reading the original post without really getting it, responding accordingly which could come across awkwardly, and then getting offended by Candyflip's response. Given I am here for light relief, and enjoying the journey, I hope that nothing I have said offends. @candyflip I am sorry for a bit of an overreaction.  

 

Nothing to see here, move along...

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