lazylistener
Member
It's laborious and tiring, but cleaning vinyl is actually quite therapeutic for me, and I do it as often as I can when I have new inner sleeves lying around.
I've settled onto using the Vinyl Vac, which works wonders, along with a homebrew mixed from distilled water, 99% isopropyl alcohol and a few drops of Ilford Ilfotol. A lot of collectors have recommended Tergitol/Triton-x100 as a surfactant, but Ilfotol has been a great substitute, since Tergitol/Triton isn't as commercially available (only available through archival supply stores, and they don't ship worldwide). I use a paint pad as a brush, and it's been a terrific combo for cleaning new and used vinyl. Fact: about 70% of the records I've cleaned with this method have been new vinyl, and the brush has accumulated a fair amount of dirt. Mad.
It'll be great to use an ultrasonic machine, but it's just too big for my room atm. I'd love to hear what everyone else has been using!
I've settled onto using the Vinyl Vac, which works wonders, along with a homebrew mixed from distilled water, 99% isopropyl alcohol and a few drops of Ilford Ilfotol. A lot of collectors have recommended Tergitol/Triton-x100 as a surfactant, but Ilfotol has been a great substitute, since Tergitol/Triton isn't as commercially available (only available through archival supply stores, and they don't ship worldwide). I use a paint pad as a brush, and it's been a terrific combo for cleaning new and used vinyl. Fact: about 70% of the records I've cleaned with this method have been new vinyl, and the brush has accumulated a fair amount of dirt. Mad.
It'll be great to use an ultrasonic machine, but it's just too big for my room atm. I'd love to hear what everyone else has been using!