stylus angle and dust accumulation

I have been having an issue recently with dust accumulation on my stylus (the conical m35x stylus). I have another cartridge, the mp-110 that doesn't seen to have this problem and is always perfectly dust free after playback. This has gotten to be pretty infuriating as I am in the process of digitizing my vinyl. I made a similar post about this earlier and thought about it and think I may have the explanation. I was thinking of the difference between the 2 styli other than the shape of course. And I am wondering if the stylus angle of the shure is what is causing it to hold on to dust better than the nagaoka mp-110, which I am not sure what the angle of the stylus is. I also had people mention that my records aren't being cleaned well enough, but what I think the cause is my house is really, really dust and there's tons of cat hair and such floating around. I think the dust and hair is attracted to the clean record surface as it is drying (i tried to cover it up with another microfibre cloth but no luck there. My main worry is that this is affecting the quality of the needle drops I am doing but I am not sure how I can be sure if it's affecting the sound quality. The dust itself doesn't bother me as I brush the stylus after each side anyways.

Any thoughts?

 

Do you use a cleaning method before each album is played, Discwasher or something of the sort?

 

Do you mean like before playing as in once it's on the turntable before I put the needle down? if so yes, I do use one of those carbon fiber brushes. I usually do 2 passes with it to be certain it's as clean as I can get it.

 

I think you brought up something in a prior thread. You need a better cleaning solution, as mentioned before. A brush won't cut it.

 

I have a cleaning solution that I made, which i did mention before. I thought he was asking if I clean before playback IN ADDITION to my cleaning method. RCM is still on the list to get eventually, but even rcm/spin clean cleaned records that I bought exhibit this issue, so it must be the dust in my house. Someone did mention previously that the conical rides higher in the groove, which is probably where the large dust pieces accumulate. I should also mention that its not a big fuzzball of dust/dirt but just a small little particle halfway up one of the sides, only visible with 30x magnification or more.

 

@colby2415 , I don't know if there is a way to do this in your house, but if you have a small spare room (like an office), you may want to store the records that have been cleaned there and keep the cats out of that particular room. Pet hair is a battle. I don't have any pets right now but I can always tell when the previous owner of any used records I've bought had a cat or a dog. The fact that records can be statically charged means they will also attract pet hair and such.

I'd work on getting that RCM, cleaning, anti-static gun/treatment, and then keep them isolated before doing needledrops. Anything you record that has dust on it will be picked up in those recordings. How easy it is to hear depends on how revealing your headphones are.

Recently someone sent me a couple of needledrops to compare. One of the records was cleaned on an RCM while the other was just wiped. Using a pair of modestly priced IEMs I could instantly hear a lot of dirt and nasties on the record that was only wiped. With another pair of headphones - big studio over ears with velour pads - it was a bit less noticeable because some of the high frequencies were being muffled.

 

Interesting, I do my listening exclusively on speakers so I don't think i'd notice but yeah, it probably helps a bit. I do use pop removal software anyways so its even harder to notice. Regarding the seperate room, that is how I am setup now. I have a computer room with my setup that i shut when im not in there so the cats cant get in and interrupt my needle drops, etc. I took a look with my 60-120x microscope at the stylus to see exactly what was being attracted to it. It is a white color of particles almost like salt. From what I seen online that is simply dust. I was thinking maybe cleaning residue but I rinse with distilled water so I don't really think it could be (but at this point i dunno). I am just worried if it is truly dust, dust that was attracted to record after cleaning and RCM/spin clean isn't gonna make a difference. Maybe I am just over thinking about it. My needle drops sound good to my ears even stacked against the digital version on tidal.

 

@colby2415 , what I do is after I clean the record via RCM, if I feel any trace of static at all, I simply hit the record with the Zerostat gun.

I've done all the spraying/wiping/rinsing DIY stuff and it never gets all the dust and grime in the grooves. Not possible IME. Same thing with Spin Clean. The RCM + enzyme cleaner is much more thorough and the difference is obvious. The only bad thing is that I've had to re-clean records that I previously cleaned some other way over a year ago.

Do you have some kind of air filter in your computer room? Not sure if that would help with airborne dust...

 

other than the regular furnace filter no, but I have been trying to replace it more frequently than recommended. I have also not dusted my room for a while so that could help too. Regarding the rcm, you are probably right. If the dust is attracted to the wet surface when drying, the rcm would avoid that as you suck up all the liquid. I'm going to try using my shop vac to make a d.i.y rcm for the time being as someone suggested in my previous post. I am not doubting the rcm, but it would be nice to "try it out" if you know what I mean. I think you mentioned a 3d printed machine made by someone in Canada. Since he's based in Canada i get to avoid the exchange rate hell, and get the machine for much cheaper than others I have seen online. All in it would be about 40 dollars more than the spin clean which is 100 dollars. Even if using an rcm doesn't help with my dust, it will certainly make cleaning quicker than this nonsense about letting it dry out in the open, etc.

 

@colby2415 , yes the Canadian one is what I recommend if on a budget. I ordered mine with two vac wands - one for cleaning and one for rinse cycles. If your shop vac is really dirty you may want to just by a miniature one specifically for cleaning records. That's what I did. You can get a small 2hp mini shop vac for around $30. Beware that vacuuming records can cause static, especially if you have dry air in your environment or if you vacuum the record for more than 2 turns during the last part of the cleaning cycle. That is why I have the Zerostat gun around. I realize these aren't cheap, but some people have figured out other ways to a get a similar effect, such as a thoroughly washed dryer sheet or by using a homemade stat gun. I haven't tried either of those things myself though.