UltraSonic - Ultra Yes!

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by skimminstones, Sep 17, 2017.

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  1. skimminstones

    skimminstones Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Kent, UK
    The last few days ive been making up my own Ultra sonic cleaner using some of the many videos on youtube as inspiration. Just listening to the the first few that have gone through the cleaner and im amazed at the difference.

    Normally i clean them using a paint edger, rinse with distilled water and then vacuum up with a vinyl vac. This left me really happy with the difference but some of the records just wont clean up.

    So i've made this Ultrasonic machine and now they have gone to another level of clean. There are still the very occasional pop or click which i dont think youll ever get away from in this medium but the difference is staggering.

    For anyone thinking of doing it id so its a no brainer. The tank was £90, a motor was £8 but the rest of the bits i used were no more than a few pounds between them. Considering proper machines sell for thousands this is so far, remarkable

    I'm one happy chappy :D
     
  2. Paully

    Paully De gustibus non est disputandum

    Location:
    Tennessee
    Glad you are happy. I bought a vinyl stack for turning and a cheap Chinese tank. My results compared to my VPI have been mixed but still working on it. What tank did you buy?
     
  3. skimminstones

    skimminstones Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Kent, UK
    JUst one of the Chinese ones from Ebay.... Digital Stainless Ultrasonic Cleaner Ultra Sonic Bath Cleaning Tank Timer Heater | eBay

    I used this video as inspiration although i used balsa wood instead of plastic and some cork table mats instead of hockey pucks.

    After going through the tank im brushing off with distilled water and sucking up the liquid using the vinyl vac. Only cleaned 5 albums so far so will still experiment and see if anything changes but at the moment all 5 have been markedly quieter in terms of pops and clicks.
     
  4. Paully

    Paully De gustibus non est disputandum

    Location:
    Tennessee
    Looks like what I have. One debate was whether or not high frequency was being damaged but most say no. I may have gotten a defective unit because I just have not been overjoyed with the results. May just buy a new tank and try again.
     
  5. skimminstones

    skimminstones Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Kent, UK
    Ive used up the last bit of L'art Du Son cleaning fluid i had to use in this, dont know if thats the cause of any difference. Ive not tried with the standard water/alcohol/wetting agent that most people seem to recommend yet.
     
  6. feinstei9415

    feinstei9415 Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Bend, IN
    You can test the ultrasonic capabilities of your unit stretching a piece of aluminum foil tightly over a frame (I used a a thick piece of wire bent into the shape of a 2" ring). Then immerse the aluminum foil into the ultrasonic cleaner. If you see the aluminum foil having holes ripped in it, your ultrasonic cleaner is working fine.

    Here's a YouTube video on how to do it...

     
    Purplefowler likes this.
  7. Paully

    Paully De gustibus non est disputandum

    Location:
    Tennessee
    Nice! That is one of the most helpful posts I have gotten on this subject and I have been asking about this elsewhere. Thanks a lot!
     
    Rolltide likes this.
  8. Paully

    Paully De gustibus non est disputandum

    Location:
    Tennessee
    But jeez, that video makes me wonder how in the world aluminum gets perforated but vinyl has no damage done to its surface in an ultrasonic bath.

    P.S. just ran and did the aluminum foil test. Didn't get as many perforations as quickly as the video but the cleaner definitely perforated the aluminum and left a large amount of it on the bottom of the tank. Looks like mine is operational. Thanks again!
     
    Last edited: Sep 17, 2017
    AaronW likes this.
  9. skimminstones

    skimminstones Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Kent, UK
    foil is a fraction of a mm thick
     
    Paully likes this.
  10. feinstei9415

    feinstei9415 Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Bend, IN
    I wonder if shellac 78's could stand up to ultrasonic cleaning at 40 kHz?
     
  11. Paully

    Paully De gustibus non est disputandum

    Location:
    Tennessee
    One way to find out. There are a lot of throw away 78's that are worthless to experiment on. And take a hard look at the bottom of the tank and then play it.

    I didn't see a definitive answer though I just skimmed it:

    Can records made of shellac be cleaned in an ultrasonic?

    Better discussion:

    Cleaning 78's in an ultrasonic cleaner? | Audiokarma Home Audio Stereo Discussion Forums
     
  12. skimminstones

    skimminstones Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Kent, UK
    Another batch of 5 done tonight and i continue to be amazed at how much cleaner the records are sounding. Barely any surface noise at all on any of them.
     
    kronning likes this.
  13. AaronW

    AaronW Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    A record groove is 0.003" deep.
     
  14. AaronW

    AaronW Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Yeah, I was thinking the same thing!
     
  15. skimminstones

    skimminstones Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Kent, UK
    But the vinyl record is a lot thicker. Having bubbles hitting against it is not going to damage it, just as people scrubbing their record isnt going to scratch them. Vinyl is a lot harder wearing than foil.

    Anyway, im not going to get into a debate about foil.....my ultrasonic cleaner is working brilliantly and im pleased with it.
     
  16. Paully

    Paully De gustibus non est disputandum

    Location:
    Tennessee
    Wasn't looking to debate, was just curious.
     
  17. Joel S

    Joel S Forum Resident

    Congratulations! You're a very forward-thinking person. Ultrasonic cleaning is the wave of the future. In fact, it's been the wave of the future since the 1950's. Disneyland's House of the Future featured an ultrasonic dishwasher, for cleaning — and storing! — plastic dishes (which is what a vinyl record is after all). Starts about 5:00:

     
  18. Mike from NYC

    Mike from NYC Senior Member

    Location:
    Surprise, AZ
    You don't need any chemicals or cleaners - just distilled water - it is the bubbles that do the cleaning NOT the cleaning fluids.
     
  19. feinstei9415

    feinstei9415 Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Bend, IN
    But won't the low concentration of alcohol and Kodak Photo-Flo in the cleaning solution serve to dissolve away dirt loosened by the ultrasonic bubbles and act as a surfactant?
     
    Johnny Wong likes this.
  20. harby

    harby Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, OR, USA
    Aluminum accumulates fatigues and fractures, and has a limited number of cycles before failure, so offers this demonstration of damage. Vinyl is more elastic, although the same aggressive forces are applied to the surface from cavitation. As ultrasonic cleaners can damage diamonds, pearls, glass, and tungsten, best to limit the exposure to just what is needed to clean contaminants, and keep the disc moving to avoid overexposure to standing wave hotspots.

    Ultrasonic Damage
     
    Helom likes this.
  21. Diraan

    Diraan Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I'm really close to pulling the trigger on one of these (6L tank, 40khz transducers). How is the performance compared to one of these 3-4k machines? I don't expect parity, but it'd be helpful to know just what an improvement this would be over something like a nitty gritty.
     
  22. Mike from NYC

    Mike from NYC Senior Member

    Location:
    Surprise, AZ
    Use photoflo at your own peril as it foams easily - it's a super wetting agent and not a cleaner - I used it for 40 years in darkrooms to prevent spots. Alcohol is used to dry things more quickly but it also dries out plastic/vinyl by dissolving the oil. In small quantities neither will do much damage but in small quantities they really don't do anything to help

    We used ultrasonic cleaners to clean metal, glass negative holders, gears in photo processing equipment and more.
     
    Bods1968 likes this.
  23. EdogawaRampo

    EdogawaRampo Senior Member

    All the warnings here are well taken, but I have cleaned dozens (maybe hundreds) of records with my ultra sonic cleaner and never damaged anything as far as I can tell. In fact, on one very rare LP, I was delighted when my cleaning regimen cleaned out some surface noise that I'd concluded was the result of a poor pressing and not gunk. I'd cleaned it many times using other methods to no avail. When it came out of the ultra-sonic cleaner I was quite surprised and as I mentioned before, delighted.
     
  24. 808_state

    808_state ヤマハで再生中

    It seems to really make the difference between good and razor sharp vocals. You get a lot more texture. It will definitely expose just how bad some pressings really are.
     
  25. 12" 45rpm

    12" 45rpm Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York City
    What are people using for cleaning agents? I use a teaspoon of laundry detergent that is free of any dyes/perfumes. I also add some 70% isoproply alcohol. This is a cheap 6L Chinese machine. I rinse off with distilled water in a spray bottle. Then I pat dry with some 100% cotton cloth.
     
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