New ultrasonic vinyl cleaner in the works: Humminguru

After reading the “sulphonic soap” recommendation from Ortofon posted in another thread, I decided to experiment with Dawn dishwashing detergent in my Humminguru.

I found an old moldy Chubby Checker record without an inner sleeve in our house. Normally, a record in this condition I’d prefer to clean first on the Record Doctor RCM before putting into the Guru.

I used 0.1 ml of Dawn in the tank with 375ml of distilled water and ran it for two full wash cycles and one final 5 minute drying cycle. The record was fully wet by the mixture and had minimal foaming. A mildly objectionable part here was the intense perfume scent that came from aerosolizing the Dawn - I used standard Dawn versus Free and Clear.

Once out, the record no longer had visible surface mold, but did have a couple of chunks of material that the Guru did not remove. It also did not come out fully glossy but a bit dull, which I could not attribute to the cleaning fluid or just the record condition.

I used a wet, wooden-handled swab to remove the stuck material and to circle around the label and deadwax where it’s hardest for the Guru to clean. I found that the swab was darkened by the deadwax, indicating the record was not fully clean.

The record went back into the Guru with just distilled water alone, after rinsing the tank and filter. I ran this cycle for 5 mins clean, 5 mins dry. The record still had a couple of drops on each side, which was not the case in the first run.

I reran a swab on the deadwax and found minimal darkening. However, when I ran the swab along the lead-in groove, it was darkened by residual dirt.

Another swab ran against a gap between songs in the middle of the record produced minimal, but nonzero, darkening of a swab. The record looked superficially “clean” for a record of this age and condition, but not glossy.

Not wanting to put a dirty record back on the shelf, I resorted to my old, pre-RCM method of cleaning - a diluted cleaning spray with paper towel scrubbing. It took a couple of paper towels per side before a towel would show without dirt. I popped the record back into the Guru for a quick rinse/dry in distilled water before putting it into a new sleeve for storage. It was a bit more glossy at this point; I’d play the record in this condition but did not choose to do so.

So, what did I learn?
  1. I should continue a physical contact, two-step washing of really dirty records - the Guru probably can’t deep clean them alone without three or more full cycles.
  2. Dawn is probably a good wetting agent and detergent, but it won’t work miracles in the Guru with cruddy records. If I use Dawn again, I’d opt for the Free and Clear variety. I did not establish that it really was any better (or worse) than another surfactant. I’d consider using it when doing a contact clean of a record.
  3. Really dirty records that have been ultrasonic cleaned and look clean to the eye may still have residual dirt. I need to test those records with a wet swab after cleaning.
 
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Angsty said:
After reading the “sulphonic soap” recommendation from Ortofon posted in another thread, I decided to experiment with Dawn dishwashing detergent in my Humminguru.

I found an old moldy Chubby Checker record without an inner sleeve in our house. Normally, a record in this condition I’d prefer to clean first on the Record Doctor RCM before putting into the Guru.

I used 0.1 ml of Dawn in the tank with 375ml of distilled water and ran it for two full wash cycles and one final 5 minute drying cycle. The record was full wet by the mixture and had minimal foaming. A mildly objectionable part here was the intense perfume scent that came from aerosolizing the Dawn - I used standard Dawn versus Free and Clear.

Once out, the record no longer had visible surface mold, but did have a couple of chunks of material that the Guru did not remove. It also did not come out fully glossy but a bit dull, which I could not attribute to the cleaning fluid or just the record condition.

I used a wet wooden handled swab to remove the stuck material and to circle around the label and deadwax where it’s hardest for the Guru to clean. I found that the swab was darkened by the deadwax, indicating the record was not fully clean.

The record went back into the Guru with just distilled water alone, after rinsing the tank and filter. I ran this cycle for 5 mins clean, 5 mins dry. The record still had a couple of drops on each side, which was not the case in the first run.

I reran a swab on the deadwax and found minimal darkening. However, when I ran the swab along the lead-in groove, it was darkened by residual dirt.

Another swab ran against a gap between songs in the middle of the record produced minimal, but nonzero, darkening of a swab. The record looked superficially “clean” for a record of this age and condition, but not glossy.

Not wanting to put a dirty record back on the shelf, I resorted to my old, pre-RCM method of cleaning - a diluted cleaning spray with paper towel scrubbing. It took a couple of paper towels per side before a towel would show without dirt. I popped the record back into the Guru for a quick rinse/dry in distilled water before putting it into a new sleeve for storage. It was a bit more glossy at this point; I’d play the record in this condition but did not choose to do so.

So, what did I learn?
  1. I should continue a physical contact, two-step washing of really dirty records - the Guru probably can’t deep clean them alone without three or more full cycles.
  2. Dawn is probably a good wetting agent and detergent, but it won’t work miracles in the Guru with cruddy records. If I use Dawn again, I’d opt for the Free and Clear variety. But, I did not establish that it really was any worse than another surfactant. I’d consider using it when doing a contact clean of a record.
  3. Really dirty records that have been ultrasonic cleaned and look clean to the eye may still have residual dirt. I need to test those records with a wet swab after cleaning.
Click to expand...
This is really informative. Thanks for sharing! You have way more patience than I do! 😯
 
It was about 90 minutes to learn something new and to test a couple of my assumptions.

Don’t think of it as a time investment into cleaning a record that I didn’t really want to play!
 
Angsty said:
It was about 90 minutes to learn something new and to test a couple of my assumptions.

Don’t think of it as a time investment into cleaning a record that I didn’t really want to play!
Click to expand...
Hahaha! I get that. I think it's great that you were willing to play it out the way you did and answer some of the questions you wanted answers to.
 
Angsty said:
After reading the “sulphonic soap” recommendation from Ortofon posted in another thread, I decided to experiment with Dawn dishwashing detergent in my Humminguru.

I found an old moldy Chubby Checker record without an inner sleeve in our house. Normally, a record in this condition I’d prefer to clean first on the Record Doctor RCM before putting into the Guru.

I used 0.1 ml of Dawn in the tank with 375ml of distilled water and ran it for two full wash cycles and one final 5 minute drying cycle. The record was fully wet by the mixture and had minimal foaming. A mildly objectionable part here was the intense perfume scent that came from aerosolizing the Dawn - I used standard Dawn versus Free and Clear.

Once out, the record no longer had visible surface mold, but did have a couple of chunks of material that the Guru did not remove. It also did not come out fully glossy but a bit dull, which I could not attribute to the cleaning fluid or just the record condition.

I used a wet, wooden-handled swab to remove the stuck material and to circle around the label and deadwax where it’s hardest for the Guru to clean. I found that the swab was darkened by the deadwax, indicating the record was not fully clean.

The record went back into the Guru with just distilled water alone, after rinsing the tank and filter. I ran this cycle for 5 mins clean, 5 mins dry. The record still had a couple of drops on each side, which was not the case in the first run.

I reran a swab on the deadwax and found minimal darkening. However, when I ran the swab along the lead-in groove, it was darkened by residual dirt.

Another swab ran against a gap between songs in the middle of the record produced minimal, but nonzero, darkening of a swab. The record looked superficially “clean” for a record of this age and condition, but not glossy.

Not wanting to put a dirty record back on the shelf, I resorted to my old, pre-RCM method of cleaning - a diluted cleaning spray with paper towel scrubbing. It took a couple of paper towels per side before a towel would show without dirt. I popped the record back into the Guru for a quick rinse/dry in distilled water before putting it into a new sleeve for storage. It was a bit more glossy at this point; I’d play the record in this condition but did not choose to do so.

So, what did I learn?
  1. I should continue a physical contact, two-step washing of really dirty records - the Guru probably can’t deep clean them alone without three or more full cycles.
  2. Dawn is probably a good wetting agent and detergent, but it won’t work miracles in the Guru with cruddy records. If I use Dawn again, I’d opt for the Free and Clear variety. I did not establish that it really was any better (or worse) than another surfactant. I’d consider using it when doing a contact clean of a record.
  3. Really dirty records that have been ultrasonic cleaned and look clean to the eye may still have residual dirt. I need to test those records with a wet swab after cleaning.
Click to expand...

My DIY cleaning mix has always been 3 parts distilled water, 1 part Isopropyl Alcohol, and a drop or 2 of Dawn. I would see just using Dawn as a surfactant in an ultrasonic to to really not be much different.

As far as really cruddy records, I would think some sort of pre-cleaning would be beneficial. I still preclean when I use my VPI for those really bad thrift store purchases - i just use the dent puller method with a soft paint brush and tap water rinse- then use the VPI for the actual "cleaning".

But once I get my ultrasonic I'll have to see what works for me.
 
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Got my Humminguru today as a joint gift from my wife and in-laws. They also bought me a bottle of the Humminguru cleaning agent. What’s the difference between the Humminguru version and the G-Sonic (which I already bought a few weeks ago) and is there enough of difference to prefer one over the other?
 
swamp said:
Got my Humminguru today as a joint gift from my wife and in-laws. They also bought me a bottle of the Humminguru cleaning agent. What’s the difference between the Humminguru version and the G-Sonic (which I already bought a few weeks ago) and is there enough of difference to prefer one over the other?
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I don’t think there should be any difference. They’re both surfactants so should work equally well. You’ve now got enough to last about 500 years!
 
LeeVing said:
Yeah...the one I mentioned a page or 2 back. I like the idea of being able to do more than 1 at a time.

Amazon product ASIN B07L3G9TBS
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I’m not convinced there’s enough space between the records to get good cavatation/cleaning when doing multiple albums. Each “outside” side should be good but I’m not sure about all the sides that “face” each other.

I love my Humminguru.
 
HiFi Guy said:
I’m not convinced there’s enough space between the records to get good cavatation/cleaning when doing multiple albums. Each “outside” side should be good but I’m not sure about all the sides that “face” each other.

I love my Humminguru.
Click to expand...

I'm still not sure which way I'm going to go. I'll probably just save up a little more and get the humminguru, but I do like the idea of doing more than 1 at a time.
 
LeeVing said:
I'm still not sure which way I'm going to go. I'll probably just save up a little more and get the humminguru, but I do like the idea of doing more than 1 at a time.
Click to expand...
more than one at a time would be great, but then i'd also need a rack to dry everything off at once which is counter space i don't have. the HG is great because it's very compact and drying works well.
 
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