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Kiwi Record Cleaning Machine "Group Buy" & Discussion


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Cheers. all very helpful.Re. lube. I was talking about where the wand shaft connects to the RCM base. Though it might smooth out the up and down action of the wand when turning the vac off/on.Re. water line. I'll give that a go. I was also trying to slowly control the up/down of the wand by opening the vent (with vac left on).I found that I needed to adjust vent opening anyway to get just the right suction on different records. Is this to be expected??Some records would stop spinning at 1/4" open (low suction) while others would keep going with it fully close (full suction). I figure it's related to warps in records, but maybe also because the wand connection is a bit broken so may not be coming down square on the record.

I can't see any harm from using some lubricant on the connection point of the tube to the body, but just a fine layer even just the layer after a wipe will probably be enough

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Cheers Dave. haha. I just re-read your post and it makes much more sense now. dunno what my mind was doing yesterday.

I definitely didn't have enough fluid, but could wait to try it out. I only had a little bit or pre-made 'record cleaner' left in 250ml spray bottle I already had lying around (I think I paid $10 for that cleaner which I can now re-fill for about 25c !)

I think I averaged about 8 min per record, but a bit of practice I reckon I could get it down to 5.

Not sure if this is a good idea, but towards the end I was just leaving the platter spinning and vac on all the time. Wand on-off was controlled by opening the vent. I think it sped up the process and I think I prefer the sound of vac on constantly rather than whiring up and down every few minutes.

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I need to get back to more cleaning ... lack motivation cos no vinyl spinner at the moment! What I want costs too much. But, I will work up the courage to spend it.

Re vac noise - I got an extension lead with on/off switch & stuck the vac in the next room.

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Not sure if this is a good idea, but towards the end I was just leaving the platter spinning and vac on all the time. Wand on-off was controlled by opening the vent. I think it sped up the process and I think I prefer the sound of vac on constantly rather than whiring up and down every few minutes.

Opening the vent to release the wand is effective, but it does mean you need to re-set the valve with every record.  The sound of a vacuum stopping and starting is annoying, but I am more concerned about the vacuum switch.  In my experience, the switches are the cheapest and weakest components on these crappy Chinese vacuums, and will fail long before the motor goes.  I use an external switch / power board because I don;t like turning the cheap K-Mart vacuum on and off constantly.  You leave the vacuum's switch on but use an external power board switch to On/Off the machine.

 

D

Edited by Prana69
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I need to get back to more cleaning ... lack motivation cos no vinyl spinner at the moment! What I want costs too much. But, I will work up the courage to spend it.

Re vac noise - I got an extension lead with on/off switch & stuck the vac in the next room.

jeez - how long is your vacuum's hose?  it's long enough to be in the next room AND shoved into the cleaning machine?  I feel so inadequate now......

Edited by Prana69
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  • 2 months later...

I've finally given my kiwi a permanent home next to my turntable, rather than being pulled out just for a batch every now and then.

It was all made possible by a $5 'piranha' 900w vac purchase from the local salvos. It's powerful enough to do the job and small enough to store underneath in a sideboard. Having the vac in the sideboard cuts the noise down brilliantly.

I can see it getting used daily now!

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  • 1 year later...

Forgot to mention.

Michel record clamp really helped with any records that were slightly warped.

A clamp would be great with the odd warped one & the Kiwi wand not slurping up flat across the vinyl. It has a thread - so what do people recommend for a clamp? (I won't use it with the TT rig).

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