Record cleaning - what's your method?

Washing machine with no fabric softener. I heard recommendations to wash them by themselves, but I throw them in with whites (at least the stuff that doesn't need softener). Then again, that practice might have contributed to the retirement of my spinclean.
 
After getting a new or second hand record I'll clean it with a microfiber cloth and a cleaning solution from Tonar. Which is based on the known water, alcohol combination.

For new records one cleaning session is enough, for 2nd hand records I'll clean them two times. Which is mostly more than enough, although a Dire Straits records was crackle and pop free after 4 times cleaning. -_-'
 
Is there any maintainace or upkeep I should know about for my VPI 16.5? I know I might need to replace the pads on the vacuum tube but as far as I can tell those are still fine after a year of having it.
 
bdm105 said:
Is there any maintainace or upkeep I should know about for my VPI 16.5? I know I might need to replace the pads on the vacuum tube but as far as I can tell those are still fine after a year of having it.
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Sooner or later the plastic suction tube gets brittle and cracks. Get the Delryn upgrade and it’ll never happen again. I clean the dust off of the pads with strips of invisible tape.
 
HiFi Guy said:
Sooner or later the plastic suction tube gets brittle and cracks. Get the Delryn upgrade and it’ll never happen again. I clean the dust off of the pads with strips of invisible tape.
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Thanks. When it happens I imagine I'll post in here again because I'm hoping that doesn't happen for a while haha
 
My squeaky clean and final solution ingredients finally showed up today after a couple weeks in transit. Made a lifetime supply of the LJC solution tonight with the girls haha and am excited to try it out whenever I find some time. I have a crazy backlog of things that need to be cleaned because I've been waiting on this guy, so I'll have plenty of records to test it out with.
 
Started to clean records for the first time with the Squeaky Clean last night and I noticed that the pad the record sits on is leaving a residue of some sort on the record and is leaving a polka-dotted pattern on it. Did anyone else have this issue? Is there something I need to do to the pad to stop this from happening? It came off while cleaning the record, but obviously I get caught in a vicious cycle of trying to re-clean haha
 
RowBearToe said:
Started to clean records for the first time with the Squeaky Clean last night and I noticed that the pad the record sits on is leaving a residue of some sort on the record and is leaving a polka-dotted pattern on it. Did anyone else have this issue? Is there something I need to do to the pad to stop this from happening? It came off while cleaning the record, but obviously I get caught in a vicious cycle of trying to re-clean haha
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I've never seen that before. I'm sure if you email Nick he'd be more than happy to offer suggestions. Off hand you could try just running the vacuum over the pad in case it's dust or some kind of packing debris.
 
RowBearToe said:
Started to clean records for the first time with the Squeaky Clean last night and I noticed that the pad the record sits on is leaving a residue of some sort on the record and is leaving a polka-dotted pattern on it. Did anyone else have this issue? Is there something I need to do to the pad to stop this from happening? It came off while cleaning the record, but obviously I get caught in a vicious cycle of trying to re-clean haha
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I did notice that when I first started, but I think it was because I was applying to much pressure rotating the turntable. Once I eased off and let the vacuum do all the work, the turning of record didn't leave any marks or residue.

Just a thought but it might also be from not getting all the cleaning fluid off and then flipping over the record. This might leave a bit of residue on the underlay which gets transfered onto the next record.
 
dbarila said:
I've never seen that before. I'm sure if you email Nick he'd be more than happy to offer suggestions. Off hand you could try just running the vacuum over the pad in case it's dust or some kind of packing debris.
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jamieanderson1968 said:
I did notice that when I first started, but I think it was because I was applying to much pressure rotating the turntable. Once I eased off and let the vacuum do all the work, the turning of record didn't leave any marks or residue.

Just a thought but it might also be from not getting all the cleaning fluid off and then flipping over the record. This might leave a bit of residue on the underlay which gets transfered onto the next record.
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I reached out to Nick so I'm curious to see what he suggests. The pad is a little sticky to the touch, like when I press my hand on it and lift up it sticks to my hand for a bit before falling off, so I'm thinking that's why? It's kind of sticking to the record? It left the marks before I even started cleaning it. I just put the record on there to make sure I knew how to set everything up and noticed it right away.

I appreciate both of providing your feedback, thanks! I'll try not pressing down so hard and see what Nick suggests. I may try to clean the pad too since he says in the video it can be washed. I'll report back when I figure things out.
 
Does anyone el
RowBearToe said:
I reached out to Nick so I'm curious to see what he suggests. The pad is a little sticky to the touch, like when I press my hand on it and lift up it sticks to my hand for a bit before falling off, so I'm thinking that's why? It's kind of sticking to the record? It left the marks before I even started cleaning it. I just put the record on there to make sure I knew how to set everything up and noticed it right away.

I appreciate both of providing your feedback, thanks! I'll try not pressing down so hard and see what Nick suggests. I may try to clean the pad too since he says in the video it can be washed. I'll report back when I figure things out.
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Sticky to the touch is concerning. I have had some stick to the record due to static but usually that goes away after I clean both sides. Did you try flipping the mat and see if both sides do it?
 
dbarila said:
Does anyone el

Sticky to the touch is concerning. I have had some stick to the record due to static but usually that goes away after I clean both sides. Did you try flipping the mat and see if both sides do it?
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Yeah, I flipped it and both sides were like that. It was crazy humid here yesterday (though not really in our house) so I was thinking maybe that contributed to it? I don't really know haha
 
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