Cleaning Vinyl

Resurrecting this thread.

I’ve been considering the Pro-ject VC-E vacuum based RCM when I stumbled upon this:
https://humminguru.com/

This started as a Kickstarter and should be shipping this month or next for backers. They have pre-orders up on their site. Ultrasonic all-in-one for a super affordable price. Apparently they working protos shown in various videos on the net. I guess I’ll hold off and see how reviews of this thing go. The more hands off the better for me.

 

My understanding is that the manufacturer doesn’t recommend any cleaning agent, just distilled water. That’s not to say a cleaning agent can’t be used but it will apparently void the warranty should the cleaning agent be the cause of any breakdown.

It possible that this unit will be pretty good with just distilled water as the transducers (or whatever they are called) that produce the ultrasonic bubbles are located on each side of the record album, where as most ultrasonic cleaners, particularly those that are just spinners on top of a generic cleaner, have the transducers art the bottom. Perhaps this will make more effective with just water.

I’ve read about the VC-E exhaust location. Pro-ject now supplies a clear acrylic/plastic disc/platter to protect from the exhaust. However I figured I could just slice a plastic water bottle up and make a little DIY vent diverter easily enough.

I’ve read some reports of the VC-E being quieter than the VC-S2, so that made it more interesting to me. I checked out the VC-S2 at my local dealer and it was pretty dang loud and surprisingly large in footprint. Large enough I worried about where I’d store the thing.

At any rate, I’m going to wait on initial impression of the production Humminguru before finally deciding.

 

The Humminguru has been shipping to backers. They have nearly 1200 backers and I believe they are over half way through getting them out.

Early impressions and videos show a pretty quiet cleaner; so quiet you can talk over it without raising your voice. There has been one report I’ve seen of one that is slightly loud with a high pitched screech.

From the videos I’ve seen, it looks like the transducers are towards the front of the until, on the left and right and nothing towards the back. All in all, it looks solid for a sub $400 unit.

In regards to cleaning, it does a solid job based on the videos I’ve seen. You have choice of a 2 and 5 minute cleaning cycle and a 5 and 10 minute drying cycle. Most users I’ve read impression or watch videos on have reported it takes around 7 minutes or so to completely dry a record. Records come out pretty clean for the most part. It does seem to struggle with fingerprints but this really seems more to do with the Humminguru only using distilled water and no other additives/surfactants. A few people have added IPA mixture with great results. I’m sure more will experiment with other proven cleaning solutions as time passes. The relatively low cost of admission means many will experiment and not worry too much about voiding warranties.