Hello every vinyl enthusiast's!
For awhile now, I've bee wondering how to build myself a record cleaner.
The reason i want to try this, is because every washer you can buy, are making too much noise.
A buddy of mine came up with an idea of making one by using a ultrasonic washer.(or maybe he had read it somewhere, I don't know)
Any how, the idea turned me on. So I bought one from the US, and got ahead on the drawing board.
Here is what I came up with, as a start:
The washer I bought, and going to use:
This will of course be a fully automatic cleaner (well, almost 😀 )
The idea is to be able to wash up to 10-15 records at the time.
Lars
For awhile now, I've bee wondering how to build myself a record cleaner.
The reason i want to try this, is because every washer you can buy, are making too much noise.
A buddy of mine came up with an idea of making one by using a ultrasonic washer.(or maybe he had read it somewhere, I don't know)
Any how, the idea turned me on. So I bought one from the US, and got ahead on the drawing board.
Here is what I came up with, as a start:

The washer I bought, and going to use:

This will of course be a fully automatic cleaner (well, almost 😀 )
The idea is to be able to wash up to 10-15 records at the time.
Lars
Here's more pics:
This is the motor I'm going to use to turn it all around:
The transmission make it go around at 26 rpm with a voltage of 24.
I'd like it to go slower than that, so a buddy of mine is going to make a converter, and make it go with approximately 6-8 volt.
I want the large wheel to go with something like 1/4 rpm, so the records stays in water as long as possible at the time.
(Please forgive my poor English)
Regards
Lars


This is the motor I'm going to use to turn it all around:


The transmission make it go around at 26 rpm with a voltage of 24.
I'd like it to go slower than that, so a buddy of mine is going to make a converter, and make it go with approximately 6-8 volt.
I want the large wheel to go with something like 1/4 rpm, so the records stays in water as long as possible at the time.
(Please forgive my poor English)
Regards
Lars
It looks nice and I was not aware that records could be cleaned well with ultrasonic. Guess they can and I sure don't want to spoil the fun. I'm an adept of the old school 'Brush, Liquid and Vacuum' system. 🙂
/Hugo
/Hugo
Thank's Netlist!
Well pinkmouse, it's almost done, but I don't want to give you all of it instantly 😉 😀
A little discussion on the project would be nice. Will it work or not?
I forgot to mention, I work as a CNC operator, and mainly work with acrylic, pehd, pom, and further plastic products. So it's natural for me to make this rig in acrylic.
A few more pics :
A simple rubber gasket as a wheel
I don't know the English word for this macine , but it's a "bender". It warms up the acrylic so i can shape it in the angle I want.
So, her's the first"bend":
And we use heavy pieces to hold it in place while it cools down:
Lars
Well pinkmouse, it's almost done, but I don't want to give you all of it instantly 😉 😀
A little discussion on the project would be nice. Will it work or not?
I forgot to mention, I work as a CNC operator, and mainly work with acrylic, pehd, pom, and further plastic products. So it's natural for me to make this rig in acrylic.
A few more pics :
A simple rubber gasket as a wheel

I don't know the English word for this macine , but it's a "bender". It warms up the acrylic so i can shape it in the angle I want.
So, her's the first"bend":


And we use heavy pieces to hold it in place while it cools down:

Lars
My first attempt got wrong, as I managed to get the plate for the motor on the wrong side, and forgot to make a hole for the handle 🙄
Well, in every prototype, something goes wrong, does it not? 😀
Lars




Well, in every prototype, something goes wrong, does it not? 😀
Lars
Not much interest here😀 , but I keep on posting.
Made a new set in glossy instead of clear acrylic. much better don't you think?
And a hole to the handle as well🙂
And a wheel in red acrylic placed on my wife's knitting needle for a test😀
Beginning to get an idea of where I'm going?
regards
Lars
Made a new set in glossy instead of clear acrylic. much better don't you think?
And a hole to the handle as well🙂



And a wheel in red acrylic placed on my wife's knitting needle for a test😀


Beginning to get an idea of where I'm going?
regards
Lars
Hey, I'm interested! We have a nice deep ultrasonic at work, and I've thought about trying it on a very dirty record. What worries me is that ultrasonics can be very aggressive- try putting a strip of aluminum foil in your cleaner. It should disintegrate or severely pinhole in about 30 seconds. That's actually a manufacturers test for whether the cleaner is working properly. OTOH, vinyl isn't aluminum. Also, most ultrasonic cleaners don't work well if the water is stirred while running, so the records need to rotate quite slowly. Keep posting!😀
Sclalars said:Not much interest here😀 , but I keep on posting.
Hi,
Don't be discouraged by the lack of responses - a lot of silent observers here. I, for one, am VERY interested.
Keep up the good work.
Same here, and I admire your skills.
All holding our breath. 🙂
What liquid will you be using?
/Hugo
All holding our breath. 🙂
What liquid will you be using?
/Hugo
MJL21193 said:
Hi,
Don't be discouraged by the lack of responses - a lot of silent observers here. I, for one, am VERY interested.
Keep up the good work.
Nice to hear!
I thought I was the only one here 😀 😀
Well, I'll keep posting.
A little test on the placement of the motor:

And this will be the spacers between each record:

Lars
Netlist said:
What liquid will you be using?
/Hugo
One part isopropanol, 7 parts distilled water, and a drop of detergent.
Lars
Sclalars said:
Made a new set in glossy instead of clear acrylic. much better don't you think?
Oops, there should be frosted, not glossy 🙄
Lars
Thank you guys, for those kind words.
I'm very satisfied with the result so far. And I really believe in this project.
Regards
Lars
I'm very satisfied with the result so far. And I really believe in this project.
Regards
Lars
I have some thoughts: Will not cause any problem if you clean another set of records in the same dirty water? Could perhaps a VTA-style record cleaner be combined with ultrasonic generator? Are the mist makers of those chinese indoor fountains usable for the purpose? I believe they also work on ultrasonic principle.
Anyway, congratulations for the nice acryl work!
Anyway, congratulations for the nice acryl work!
I agree with a previous poster, ultrasonics are VERY harsh.
They work by having sufficient intensity to cause cavitation in the liquid. Tiny bubbles forms and collapse, and this loosens dirt. But it also damages the surface, even on strong materials like glass or silicon. For example, if you use an ultrasonic cleaner on a substrate for thin film growth, you get a very poor quality film with many defects, as there are damage sites both on the surface and immediately below.
I would only consider ultrasonics for extremely dirty records that milder cleaning methods fail on; for most records the risk of irreversible damage is too great.
They work by having sufficient intensity to cause cavitation in the liquid. Tiny bubbles forms and collapse, and this loosens dirt. But it also damages the surface, even on strong materials like glass or silicon. For example, if you use an ultrasonic cleaner on a substrate for thin film growth, you get a very poor quality film with many defects, as there are damage sites both on the surface and immediately below.
I would only consider ultrasonics for extremely dirty records that milder cleaning methods fail on; for most records the risk of irreversible damage is too great.
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