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Posted

For the past 5+ years I've been using a home made vacuum based RCM. Took a small coffee table, platter & bearing from a busted turntable, VPI 16 to 16.5 upgrade kit, shop vac and some hose to connect them. It's served me well, but takes up more space than it deserves and it isn't exactly a neat & tidy (or quiet) unit. Besides this, it's fairly laborious to use what with the platter being hand-turned so I'm looking for an upgrade.

 

Having been cleaning records one way or another for 15~ years now I've gotta say, the idea of a unit that lets me: plonk in a record, push a couple of buttons, then return X minutes later to a freshly cleaned (and dry) record has a lot of appeal to me. Especially given the mileage I'm anticipating with my purchase.

 

I'm sold enough on the cleaning ability of the Degritter (despite having not auditioned one) but I'm curious about the drying action and just what kind of finish records are left with. How does the fan-drying compare to vacuum drying?

Posted

There should be no issue with the fan drying. I have a KLAudio and depending on the weather, anywhere from 3-5 mins (adjustable) works. I’m pretty sure Degritter is the same.

Posted (edited)

Use a spinner box. Max 3-4 [edit] minutes [edit] for completely dried records

While spinning, you can apply different water to the surface of the record to condition its sound to your taste.

 

Alternatively, use an old fan. mount the record onto the spindle, apply a screw cap and spin away.

Best do this in the bath room or garden.

 

 

Edited by jeromelang
Posted
10 minutes ago, jeromelang said:

Use a spinner box. Max 3-4 seconds for completely dried records

While spinning, you can apply different water to the surface of the record to condition its sound to your taste.

I'd use Lime & Coconut water on Nilsson Schmilsson.

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Posted
On 20/07/2020 at 11:07 PM, Hydrology said:

There should be no issue with the fan drying. I have a KLAudio and depending on the weather, anywhere from 3-5 mins (adjustable) works. I’m pretty sure Degritter is the same.

Yeah I figured it would work pretty similarly, I'm more curious about how nicely it dries (i.e. does it leave obvious droplet residue etc)

 

Is there much difference in performance with soft vs hard water or do the filters in fully-auto cavitation units handle this?

 

On 21/07/2020 at 2:43 PM, jeromelang said:

Use a spinner box. Max 3-4 [edit] minutes [edit] for completely dried records

While spinning, you can apply different water to the surface of the record to condition its sound to your taste.

 

Alternatively, use an old fan. mount the record onto the spindle, apply a screw cap and spin away.

Best do this in the bath room or garden.

At a pinch, I have used a DataVac in the past for some crude kitchen-sink/detergent record cleaning. Worked reasonably well but it did seem to leave some slight residue despite rather thorough rinsing and what I believed to be fairly soft water.

 

But hey what do you mean by spinner box, like a spin clean type thing?

Posted

Fan drying is great, no residue. 

I have an Audio Desk which is brilliant. It's the original model and on the odd record may not dry the record complete. 

When this happens I use an anti-static hair dryer on cold to finish the job. 

Makes me think that it could be good dying option for those without a drying option on their cleaning machine (like the Kirmuss. 

Could be a win-win, buy your partner a high quality hair dryer and 'borrow' it occasionally ?

 

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Posted (edited)
19 hours ago, spaceritual said:

 

But hey what do you mean by spinner box, like a spin clean type thing?

 

 

Its a box with a motor in the centre. The record is placed over the motor and spun at high speed to expel moisture from its surfaces. 3-4 minutes for record to dry completely. 

 

Screenshot-20200724-160841-Facebook.jpg

 

What I usually do is spray water on the record surfaces as it is being spun at high speed. Cleaning effectiveness is nearly as good as cavitation cleaning in my experience. I do not hear any improvement in cleanliness with ultrasonic cleaning. The ELP is ultra fussy as you know. The advantage is that with this spinner box I can use different type of water (or combination) to tailor the resultant sound to my preference. 

 

Buyers can order with acyclic cover to prevent moisture spilling.

 

Screenshot-20200724-160732-Facebook.jpg

Edited by jeromelang
  • 3 weeks later...
Posted
17 hours ago, cafe67 said:

Thanks for this, I think I'm pretty much sold on buying one despite still not having pulled the trigger. I'll have to give this a read.

 

What has really sold me on US cleaning is probably this write-up here: http://www.high-endaudio.com/Ultrasonic.html

 

I've also been meaning to try get through this thread:

 

8 hours ago, Batty said:

Shame they are so expensive, as are most RCMs.

They are simultaneously so easy and yet so difficult to justify. I'm a collector with at least 2k records, I'm also a small time dealer. Between my personal collection and "stock" there's easily over 1000 records currently waiting to be cleaned. I know I'll only acquire more vinyl in the future and with all that, it's just enough to warrant the investment.

 

I've also recently discovered that several hundred of my nicer LP's (including a good handful with four digit price-tags) were placed into defective(?) sleeves after I'd cleaned them. After 2 or 3 years I'm seeing small oily(?) spots showing up on them, can be hard to see them but with a little condensation they really stand out and look odd. At first I thought this to be moisture issue, perhaps mildew trying to grow? But since it's only appearing with one batch of sleeves I think it's safe enough to blame those. The following batch of inner sleeves from the same (Australian) source were extremely abrasive and quickly went in the bin. While they seem to clean up easily enough, I want them out of those suspect sleeves sooner rather than later and there's hundreds just sitting there...

 

At the end of the day I'm not some kind of vinyl purist chasing analog nirvana. The best of my gear is in mid-fi territory, but I do want to look after what I've got (and reduce the effort involved in prepping my stock).

 

Something I can't justify spending on though would be the 7" and 10" adapters... Why in the world wouldn't I just cut the middle out of a couple of trashed/unwanted LP's, drill 3 holes and add grommets. I'm sure I can manage that for less than $120~ a piece. Someone please tell me if I'm missing something here...

 

Degritter Ultrasonic Record Cleaning Machine

 

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Posted

From my recent experience I'd certainly recommend an ultra sonic cleaner for the best results, and I'm certainly not going to use anything else.

 

You pay a considerable premium for the convenience of the Degritter, and if the convenience over a more 'manual' system of ultra sonic cleaner is worth it to you, then you'll enjoy the results.

  • 4 weeks later...
Posted

Hi - I have a degritter - Fantastic results and easy to use. Sure they are expensive but best results I have had out of any machine.

Service is outstanding as well should you need it.

Love mine.

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Posted
47 minutes ago, LancePeT said:

Hi - I have a degritter - Fantastic results and easy to use. Sure they are expensive but best results I have had out of any machine.

Service is outstanding as well should you need it.

Love mine.

Yeah I am considering one of these.  Which other ultrasonic RCM have you compared to ?

 

currently I use the Kirmuss and a vacuum dry via record doctor 5.  The Kirmuss is great for 2 doing records at once but because of the larger volume 5-6 litres it is setup for larger batch cleaning of records (30-50 in my case).

 

See if I can sell the Kirmuss

 

 

 

 

Posted

I had one of the do it yourself cheapo jobs. I researched all the other units and liked some of the features of the degritter better, IE: Water is filtered. Transducers are especially designed. Fan is adjustable for drying. Firmware updates and just how easy to use it is.

 

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Posted

OK so question for the group - I've been spending quite some time researching the degritter.  The school of thought seems to be if the record is fairly clean, then you can just use the degritter. BUT if the record is quite dirty (eg. second hand purchase) then good idea to use a vacuum system first to get the worst of the dirt off before putting it into the degritter.

 

The appeal of this machine for me is the simplicity of having one cleaner doing it all.

 

Is it OK to put a dirtier record in the machine?  I would have thought the filtration system would catch the dirt anyway?

Posted
5 minutes ago, qik_shift said:

OK so question for the group - I've been spending quite some time researching the degritter.  The school of thought seems to be if the record is fairly clean, then you can just use the degritter. BUT if the record is quite dirty (eg. second hand purchase) then good idea to use a vacuum system first to get the worst of the dirt off before putting it into the degritter.

 

The appeal of this machine for me is the simplicity of having one cleaner doing it all.

 

Is it OK to put a dirtier record in the machine?  I would have thought the filtration system would catch the dirt anyway?

I'm interested in the response to this also.

 

From what i understand, the degritter can do an ok job on 'dirtier' records but you then start going through the consumables much quicker.

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Posted (edited)

Jeez, I can't believe I've been stewing on this since mid July (I still haven't ordered one). I did a bit of reading over the last couple of months and what I'd gleaned is that you're better off pre-cleaning particularly-grimy-records. Think of LP's covered in mildew, decades old & hard-set oily fingerprints etc.

 

I know for sure that some folks just throw whatever records in(to their fully-automatic units) and if they don't come out clean, they just put them in again. But as @wikeeboy mentioned this would speed up your consumption of distilled water, cleaning solution(s) and degrade the filter sooner. Without filtration, I couldn't imagine this working out very good at all.

 

Ultrasonic cleaning is (to my understanding) best suited as a final-step in your cleaning process, or for tackling dusty, static-ridden LP's and dealing with light residues. I plan on pre-cleaning most LP's to hit my Degritter (when I get around to ordering one), although to be honest I really do avoid seriously grimy LP's like the plague anyway.

Edited by spaceritual
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Posted

Ive put my order in for a Degritter :).  Thanks for all your inputs and reference to the articles provided.  Will post thoughts!

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Posted
10 hours ago, t_mike said:

Perfect for kitchen bench tops, looks just like a toaster.

Makes for a very expensive toaster! But yes agree :)

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

Hi Everyone,

I thought I'd post in here to say that, I am a registered Australian reseller of the Degritter and have just listed them on my website with free shipping Australia wide.

I am happy to advise and help you with questions you may have too. 

I'm available via PM, TEXT ( through website), phone and email.

https://www.heynowhifi.com.au/collections/record-cleaners/products/degritter-ultrasonic-record-cleaning-machine-rcm

Kind regards 

Geoff 

  • 2 months later...
Posted
4 hours ago, wikeeboy said:

Hi all, any updates after further use of the Degritter? Considering having a crack at one.


I’m at approximately 250 records now and still super happy with it. 
 

If the weather is warm, back to back cleaning can be a pain because the machine will run cooling cycles which extends cleaning time. I find this is only a problem when playing multiple 12 inch records at a time or cleaning a small pile of records for a friend. 
 

but otherwise I love the fact that I place the record in the machine, hit a button, walk away and come back to a thoroughly clean and dried record. 

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