Needle Cleaning

Hi Suresh
make a cleaning brush out of children's drawing paint brush. cut the bristles in half (so hair bristles remain stiff) and clean with Iso Propyl alcohol (old Cassette Head Cleaners contains the same stuff) It will be difficult to clean needle while it is still in the cartridge. But if you are not used to removing needle / stylus why take the risk. My only advise will be clean gently if angle of needle/stylus changes it will affect the performance of record player. Though it can easily take light pressure of cleaning with the brush.
Regards
Hiten
 
Hi,

You can do it as hiten above has suggested. I have always used a stylus cleaning brush with 70% or so isopropyl alcohol. There are other brushless commercially available solutions, but I am not sure if they are available in India.

Do not ever touch or clean the needle with your fingers.

If you have a needle cap that came with the cartridge, use it when not playing the TT.

You can clean the needle both dry and wet (wet with the alocohol mentioned, obviously not water). Get the brush from back to front very gently. Wet cleaning is necessary to remove grease which, believe it or not, somehow gets deposited on the needle. You can follow a routine where you do the dry cleaning every once in a while and you do the wet cleaning less frequently.

If you do wet cleaning, please wait for some time to let the liquid dry off by evaporation.

Keep your vinyl records clean. This has been described by several people in recent times in this forum. Just look for it. If you keep the records clean, naturally there will be less frequent need for the stylus cleaning.

Regards.
 
Mostly a confirmation of the reccs of Hiten& Asit except that I used a soft painting brush w/o cutting it short to make it stiffer-needles are delicate & expensive & not so easy to replace here, so the extra effort needed with a soft brush is, IMHO, worth it.I would use a front to back one way motion since the other way the neddle assy could loosen but if you check to see that its snug at the end of the exercise, it'd be OK.
Second Asits comment re keeping the LPs clean, handling only by the edges etc.What do you use for LP cleaning?
 
with the iso distilled water mix, back to front strokes ONLY gently. preferably after every play since the needle will pick up some dirt or the other. i've heard a clarity that does not come with dry cleaning. and this is on cleaned lps so even there the stylus picks up some miniscule dirt.
 
Mostly a confirmation of the reccs of Hiten& Asit except that I used a soft painting brush w/o cutting it short to make it stiffer-needles are delicate & expensive & not so easy to replace here, so the extra effort needed with a soft brush is, IMHO, worth it.I would use a front to back one way motion since the other way the neddle assy could loosen but if you check to see that its snug at the end of the exercise, it'd be OK.
Second Asits comment re keeping the LPs clean, handling only by the edges etc.What do you use for LP cleaning?

Thanks to all for the valuable guidance.

Regarding Kamals query for cleaning of LPs, I first clean it with vacuum cleaner followed by putting some drops of isopropyl alcohol and wipe the same with a wet cotton cloth.

Regards,

Suresh Babu
 
i think you're doing it in reverse. :) the vacuum ought to be done after wet cleaning. preferably after the last distilled water rinse. wet clean the lp, rinse it once or twice as per your preference and after the last rinse and wiping with a cloth to remove the liquid, then vacuum to pick up the remaining moisture, dirt. vacuuming first wont get out the solidified dirt. you can get this loose dirt/dust off the lp by cleaning with a carbon fibre brush, then wet clean it. also i hope you're not using only isopropyl alcohol! please mix it with water preferably distilled water 80% iso alchohol 20% and a few drops of a surfactant. i use pril neem few drops per litre of the cleaning mix. its like cleaning a dinner plate. only water and you'll still have stains but with the surfactant (pril dishwashing liquid) you get a clean plate.

regards
 
For cleaning the needle, you can use a painting brush dipped in alcohol which vaporises quickly. Clean from back to front and ensure that the cantilever is not wiped with the alcohol. Also ensure that the alcohol is ccompletely dry before you put the next record to play.
Regds
Kuruvilajacob
 
I would be obliged if our forum members can elaborate on the method of cleaning Turntable Needle/Stylus.

Regards,
Suresh

IMO the best method is Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.Its a sponge and available on Ebay.I am using Magic eraser since one year,and its very effective.You can read more here.
Magic Eraser- Finally Tested for Myself. - AudioKarma.org Home Audio Stereo Discussion Forums

Turntable Forum :: View topic - Mr. Clean Magic Eraser

You can buy it from here
MR CLEAN MAGIC ERASER | eBay

Regards,
Sachin
 
Hi
I think a soft brush stroking from back to front is ok, I don't think liquid is a must as only dust collects on the needle, always use clean records
 
You are right. Only in case of too much of dirt , alcohol need to be used. Yes, many factors affect dust collection. If the cantilever is almost touching the record, dust tends to collect fast. The VTA and stylus force have to be correct to get best results in quality as well as freedom from abnormal dirt collection on the needle
 
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