It took 5 days to ship directly from China to US. Happy to report everything is in perfect condition out of the box. So far so good. Operates as it should with no issues. I'm pleasantly surprised operating the machine isn't overly noisy which I was concerned about. It runs relatively quiet which I think it a huge plus. I'll use the machine a bit more and hopefully try to evaluate how well it's cleaning records.
None. FedEx dropped it at my door, rang the doorbell and left. No email from courier indicating additional charges at this point.
Looking forward to your reports on using the machine. The user manual says 'Do not run the machine over an hour. Allow the machine to cool off for at least 30 minutes'. Do notice any heat build up when using it for a time?
I haven't noticed any heat when operating the machine. This is after doing 3 or 4 records back to back. I'll watch out for it now to see if there is any noticable heat.
I completed my huge manual record cleaning project yesterday and was so pleased with myself to finally get it done. The HumminGuru arrived today. I have no records to clean. I unboxed it. It was packaged nicely and looks well made. New records should be trickling in and I’ll get to test it out.
I'm hoping that one of the 'usual suspects' ( US distributors) won't get their hands on this one...and boost the price to the heavens to cover their massive margin.
Congrats on safely receiving the machine! Your first impressions and experience sounds really good, so happy And I am now so eagerly anticipating my pre-order (#11oo-something)...
hmm..kind of regret not putting in a preorder. it looks like a profesional package and early feedback on youtube and in the kickstarter comments seems favorable. hopefully they go on sale soon
I’ve enjoyed using the machine the past few days. I’ve cleaned a small stack of records so far. Nothing major to report on the effectiveness of the cleaning. The records I have now have already been cleaned so it’s a bit tough to get a full picture. The records come out spotless and sound good to me. I’ve been using the machine as they intended with only distilled water and nothing else. Are people who are receiving the machine plan on using an solvents?
The instructions explicitly recommend against using any solvents; only distilled water is supposed to go into the machine.
I thought about the possibility of using something stronger in the tank, but at least to start I'm more inclined to play with the water temperature instead. I have a number of years in food service, so I have some thermometers handy - I'll probably start by getting a good clean mason jar and microwaving some distilled water to get it up to 35 degrees C (95 F for those of us still using that scale) or so, and go from there. Some of the initial trial I do is going to be figuring out the temperature drop/rise going into the tank and during the cycle.
Clearly, but some individuals gravitate towards the wild side and might be inclined to go against the grain my friend.
Good point about the warmer (but not too warm) water. They give the recommendation to try it as well.
Yep - even if they didn't mention it, I'd be trying it (wild side! against the grain! anarchy eventually!). Based on my limited experience with the home-built system at the local record shop (which I chipped in to help build in exchange for more-or-less unlimited usage), 35 C seems to be about the sweet spot - cooler water noticeably does not perform as well pulling some things (oils/fats/tars?) out of the grooves, while warmer water temporarily warps some discs (which would be a much bigger issue with the Humminguru's slot design than the open-top tank they have at the shop). The trick is going to be figuring out how much the temperature drops going into the tank, which will presumably be room temperature to start, and how much it rises during the cycle - I don't really want a disc to start rubbing partway through a cycle because it's gradually warping.
I set my HumminGuru up and seems to be doing a pretty good job. It uses a lot of water. Is the water supposed to be changed per every record, or, every session. Distilled water is cheap, but, it seems wasteful.
New vinyl and new to me. I cleaned two new double LPs and one used LP so far. I used the shorter time for the new LPs and the deep clean/longer time setting for the used LP. All five LPs looked fine afterwards. I don’t have a way to inspect the grooves, but, the surfaces looked good. There were some static cling particles that didn’t get knocked off which was a little disappointing and if you have to change water per record seems like a waste of water, but, overall, so far, this seems to be working well. I usually don’t buy really badly used LPs, so, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to see what it can do on those, but, maybe I’ll pick up a beater from Goodwill for a test. My old manual method is probably slightly better for removing surface gunk, but, I can’t verify how well the ultrasonics work. The process was easier and less of an active duty on the HumminGuru. I feel confident taking an LP from the HunminGuru and placing it in the turntable. The inventors of the product seem to know what they were doing and it seems like a labor of love.
