Ultrasound cleaning machine for vinyl addicts

Recently I found myself in a position to play my records after a long time. Had been too busy with career and so had little time to indulge. In my Hifi system I have one of the best Record cleaning machine - Loricraft RCM model PRC3 and thought this was final in dealing with my (mostly old and second hand) collection of records. 
However every time I cleaned and played my records there was the issue of cleaning my stylus which I thought was strange after being cleaned with a good RCM. I had previously used a Nitty gritty and later a Clearaudio Matrix vacuum RCM but hated the noise and not very satisfactory clean. The Loricraft was much better, quieter and cleaner.
Until I read about ultrasound cleaners, but the price of commercial ultrasound Record cleaners were expensive ie. Audio systems at US$3000 and Klaudio at US$4000 (gulp). Then I found 2 companies suggesting you buy an ultrasound cleaner (usually made in China) by just making a search in eBay or Lazada or Shopee (my choice) or Amazon. I got mine a refurbished unit very cheaply
And then comes the expensive part - the unit that turns the Record in the cleaning machine. I had 2 choices (as above) one from the US and the other from a German company that is 3D printed both about the same price and that set me back US$360. 
What can I say? The best Record cleaning machine ever and cheaper than the Loricraft to boot. My stylus is clean and the sound is much better. Only caveat is it does not save a damaged record.
If anyone is interested or wants pictures, please respond to this posting

Do you use normal water or some other solution?

From what I understand it needs to have clean water. Some of the journals suggest distilled water but here in M’sia that is hard to come by. So the second best is the RO water that you can buy for about 50sen because the size of the particles that is filtered is down to the micron size and the record grooves can pass that - also the water should leave no sticky residue.
With that in mind, I use a small amount (1 cap) of diluted record cleaning solution as a wetting agent to make sure the record is properly wetted when the process starts.
Change the water once it starts getting slightly murky or that record cleaning solution smell vanishes - about 10 records

Very interesting post @ samazzah. 

I use an exceedingly noisy RCM that is supposedly a copy of the VPI and I would prefer an ultrasound unit as it is much quieter. However I have been put off by the asking price thus far.  

What is the final total cost of your RCM? 

And how long would it take to clean one record?

To answer your question as to how much, the ultrasound cleaner is the cheapest - Shopee is the cheapest site way cheaper than Lazada, I got a reconditioned @RM200 6l ultrasound cleaner. Works fine but if that is too cheap , you can get some for RM1k+. The most expensive part is the record spinner which should turn as slowly as possible, about 1 rotation every 3 mins so forget about spinning manually - that cost me RM1.2kimported from the US. So all in all RM1.4k. There are probably cheaper ones now, mine was cheapest then. Good luck

Sorry, about 9 mins but 3 records each time. Enough for a night’s spin

That is far more affordable than the branded ones. Gonna shop around for this.

Many thanks for sharing, much appreciated.

Welcomed. Err, the ultrasound machine is not silent in operation as it emits a soft crackling sound when in operation. Doesn’t bother my daughter studying nearby though

hi, please send photos.... tqvm!!!

I knew this was coming,... but here goes. 

what do you think about this from china?

Looks good to me - I expect as time goes by, the (China, etc) manufacturers will realize there is a market for this and produce cheaper alternatives.
Ps. When finished cleaning records, drain the fluid into a (plastic drinking 5l) vessel to store to reuse later.

Noob question. How do you dry the records after their bath?

Ah yes, the record spinner kit supplies 2 pieces of micro fibre cloth and juggling a record while wiping is something else. If you have more money, you can specify the kit with a computer fan blowing but I just air dry it after wiping as suggested - a cheap skate guy.

If it helps, the the 2 companies for turning the records are cleanervinyl.com and thevinylstack.com. There are others though