Re: arsclist HELP with cleaners for vinyl records

[Rod Stephens <savecal@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

gary wrote:

> I have a record cleaning machine for my vinyl collection, but I need 
> to get some more cleaner to use with it.  When I bought the machine, 
> it came with one small bottle of cleaner.  I also bought a bottle of 
> concentrate that I added to a gallon of distilled water.  After 
> sitting around for years, that mixture got kinda funky so I threw it 
> away.  It's time to get something new.
>  
> I shopped around for commercial cleaners, but all the ones I found are 
> priced out of this world. 
>  
> I did some research on the subject online.  I think this is the 
> solution I want to make:
>  
>
> 75 ml distilled water
>
> 25 ml Isopropyl alcohol (make sure there are no additives, like Lanolin)
>
> .5 ml wetting agent (Kodak Photo flow, Triton X-114 or X-100)
>
>  
>
> ... but instead of Triton X-114 or X-100 which are suppose to be nasty 
> things that can cause health problems, I hope to use Triton(tm) XL-80N 
> surfactant from Dow Chemical which is suppose to be safe.
>
>  
>
> I went to Dow's web page and requested a sample a couple weeks ago.  
> The only thing I received from them was a specification in the form of 
> a .pdf document.
>
>  
>
> Any thoughts/comments on the subject?  Does anyone know I can buy a 
> small quantity of Triton(tm) XL-80N surfactant.
>
>  
>
> thanks
>
> Gary
Gary,

Please don't use isopropyl alcohol in any cleaner for cleaning.  The 
solution I use is "The Disc Doctor's Miracle Record Cleaner" which is 
used by a number of archival organizations and is recommended by audio 
various publications, too.  The one thing he mentions in his literature 
is the following, "_The requirements for a cleaner that will safely 
clean any type of disc are strict._  It must: (and this is the fourth 
paragraph) Not contain isopropyl alchohol, which can dissolve shellac 
surfaces [not your case], and cause leaching of plasticizers from 
synthetic plastic pressings making them brittle and subject to excess wear."

Aside from other considerations, that makes isopropyl alchohol not a 
good cleaning agent for recordings.  Also, the Disc Doctor is a chemist 
and has been selling his product for a number of years, and we at Family 
Theater have cleaned over 300 acetate discs with it with excellent 
results.  It is relatively inexpensive and comes with a set of brushes 
for preparation and removal of the contaminants.  I've also used it on 
my vinyl collection, too, with the same good results.  I know that it is 
also used in disc vacuum cleaning machines by other archivists.

I'd be interested in any other comments by users of this product, 
although there are a number of other products that people swear by.

Rod Stephens
Archivist, Family Theater Productions


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