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Ultrasonic cleaner consumables - quick answer needed


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Hi All

 

Before I get berated too badly, and I do acknowledge this is my own fault, I would like a quick answer on what supplies I need to set up my ultrasonic cleaner. I know the information I need is already here on the forum, but I don't have the time right now to search for it (I suspect), however please read on.

 

I bought one of these machines about two or three years  now. A couple of moves and a reno in a short period of time, some very significant health issues for a long period, and then a very heavy work load meant it has never been set up. I have read various threads on this over time, but never landed on what exactly I needed. It has the normal bath, I just need to know what to fill it with. I also vaguely recall some sort of diy filter mechanism using an aquarium pump and filter medium.

 

A a result of the pandemic, we have moved our firm out of the city office and into remote working. I am responsible for a large book of clients, and am also part of the management team, and responsible for the IT function (but I'm not a techo). It is my busiest time of year from a client workload perspective, so right now I can barely scratch myself. I am actually posting this as part of procrastinating as I sit here working for yet another late night. All of this is just to give background why I can't concentrate to do the research right now.

 

I believe very soon we will be in lock down, and it won't be short. In order to have some sort of silver lining out of the tough times to come, I would like to clean my records. I have the USM, now I just need the consumables and filter, and want to order them ASAP. Can anyone help me out with links to the right parts of the various threads to read?

 

Thanks in advance, and apologies for being so disorganised

 

Mark M

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wow you are brave opening up this can of worms.... like what is the best recipe for chocolate cake? I eagerly await the answers.... I know I was this past week trying to find out the dilution for Ilfotol and that led to many different answers ! so now what mixture of waters or chemicals or surfactants or even shampoo  should one use? and btw Owen here has a recipe for his us cleaner.

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Just now, Toyboyo said:

wow you are brave opening up this can of worms.... like what is the best recipe for chocolate cake? I eagerly await the answers.... I know I was this past week trying to find out the dilution for Ilfotol and that led to many different answers ! so now what mixture of waters or chemicals or surfactants or even shampoo  should one use? and btw Owen here has a recipe for his us cleaner.

Nice answer - lucky I'm not that big on chocolate cake! But seriously, I'm happy to just try to find the main ingredients for now, and maybe even a few special ingredients if they aren't wildly expensive, I will have plenty of time to research and test the measurements and combinations over the coming weeks and months.

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If you have a Bunnings nearby, go into their cleaning section and buy up on 5 litre bottles of demineralised water, it's as cheap as you will find anywhere. You will then need to go to a proper photographic shop and buy a bottle of Ilford Ilphotol or similar, Photoflo is another. This is the surfactant you use. I wouldn't be too concerned will isopropyl alcohol as most of it starts to evaporate away as the mixture warms up, and it is getting difficult to find being the active ingredient in sanitiser. If you decide to go down the filtration route, check the main thread on US cleaners to see what the components are, they can be aquired via ebay and delivered. You only need about 5 ml of Photoflow or Ilphotol is with the water, a small syringe may help with this. Good luck.

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24 minutes ago, t_mike said:

If you have a Bunnings nearby, go into their cleaning section and buy up on 5 litre bottles of demineralised water, it's as cheap as you will find anywhere. You will then need to go to a proper photographic shop and buy a bottle of Ilford Ilphotol or similar, Photoflo is another. This is the surfactant you use. I wouldn't be too concerned will isopropyl alcohol as most of it starts to evaporate away as the mixture warms up, and it is getting difficult to find being the active ingredient in sanitiser. If you decide to go down the filtration route, check the main thread on US cleaners to see what the components are, they can be aquired via ebay and delivered. You only need about 5 ml of Photoflow or Ilphotol is with the water, a small syringe may help with this. Good luck.

Thanks @t_mike, that is exactly what I am after. As I read it, it seemed quite familiar. I think that was where I got to previously, just hadn't book-marked or written anything down. I'll add that to my Bunnings list for the weekend

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I recently purchased an Ultra Sonic Record Cleaning Machine from a member of this forum. It works wonderfully well using de-mineralised water, a drop of dish washing liquid and isopropyl alcohol. When I took delivery of the machine I placed an order on E-Bay for 5 litres of the stuff and it was delivered to my door. All up cost for it was about $20 delivered. It was a fixed price item.

Looking to get some more, in these Covid 19 times, I went back to E-Bay to do another purchase. Phuq Me!!

It's all at auction now, at stupid, stoopid prices. A 20 litre container was being advertised for $4050!!!!! A 60/40 Iso/water solution is a very effective antiseptic solution you see. Go to E-Bay and search isopropyl alcohol to see how much humand greed there is in the land.

 

Happily, I have most of my original purchase so I don't have to worry for quite some time.

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Distilled (or demineralised) water.

A half-->one teaspoon of a surface tension reducer--photographic, or dishwasher rinse aid, or even a clear dish detergent (if nothing else is available).

Some commercial or pharmaceutical grade alcohol (ethyl or isoproply)--up to 1 cup in a 5 litre tank. (Some say this is optional.)

Some say you have to filter, some say you don't. Some say filter after every record/session.) I don't--when the water leaves stuff on the record, I change the water.

Some way of drying the record. (Leaving the water to evaporate enables some dissolved garbage to solidify back on the surface and the wet surface will collect dust. I use a  slotted tube covered with velvet-like microfibre attached to a wet-dry shop vacuum which does the job in 30-40 seconds.)

 

ps--forget eBay for isopropyl, search for commercial chemical suppliers.

Edited by GregWormald
ps
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All the isopropyl alcohol has been purchased for home-made hand sanitiser and disinfecting.  Mrs.Feline's got her eye on the bottle I bought for record cleaning.  Looks like I'm not going to clean vinyl for 12 months!

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I found a couple of bottles of Melody Mate I was given ages ago, which contains isopropyl alcohol. Now i just need to figure out what the proportion the mix is to adjust when record cleaning. I too noted that IPA is almost impossible to get now. Fingers crossed I can find a store open to buy the Ilford

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4 minutes ago, PKay said:

Mark if you have a RCM I would use that at the end of the US wash as a fast dry and it obviates the need to filter the water.

Thanks Peter, but no RCM. Just a US bath and record kit I bought from a member. I think possibly some form of filtration regularly rather than constant should be the go, will figure it out over time I guess

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And from my setup thread using the above parts :-

Quote

10mm clear hose from the garden section. 

5 x worm clamps to suit 10mm hose.

From the air fittings section, a 3/8" to 1/4" adapter (for the tank tap), and 3 x 1/4" barb fittings.

The pump comes with barb fittings, the filter and tank don't. Screw them in using teflon plumbers tape to seal.

I mounted the pump and filter to a cut up cutting board I bought from ALDI  for something else, and never used, and will put some rubber stoppers underneath.

The handle is "handy", but two would be doubly so. I used an old 12V DC plugpack from an old modem to power the 12V solar pump.

Mr Relish

Edited by Monkey_Relish
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@Monkey_Relish, @benny Just one more question if I may, with the plug pack, i have found 3 I can repurpose, all 12 V, but they are 1.25 amp, 2 amp, and 2.5 amp. From what I can see on the listing, the rated amperage is o.7 amp. Is the 1.25 amp psu going to be too powerful for it, or ok for the short duration it will be used? I also have a few lower voltage ones, but assume they will be useless

 

Thanks very much again

 

Mark M

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9 minutes ago, markm1111 said:

@Monkey_Relish, @benny Just one more question if I may, with the plug pack, i have found 3 I can repurpose, all 12 V, but they are 1.25 amp, 2 amp, and 2.5 amp. From what I can see on the listing, the rated amperage is o.7 amp. Is the 1.25 amp psu going to be too powerful for it, or ok for the short duration it will be used? I also have a few lower voltage ones, but assume they will be useless

 

Thanks very much again

 

Mark M


hi mark, the power supply supplies the designated voltage, the amperage demand is from the device. The power supplies amp rating is the maximum it’s capable of supplying.

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13 minutes ago, benny said:


hi mark, the power supply supplies the designated voltage, the amperage demand is from the device. The power supplies amp rating is the maximum it’s capable of supplying.

Thanks so much Benny, sorted!

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  • 1 month later...

Great info above. I have an in-line filter, and use isopropyl alcohol, distilled, demineralised water and triton X-100. Before I had this I just used tap water, and drip dried them after the ultrasound, and it still worked, so don’t let the lack of ingredients slow you down too much, especially if you have some second hand records that need a good cleaning. Procrastinate away!

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