Happybuy Ultrasonic Cleaner 6L Ultrasonic Vinyl Cleaner 7-12 Inch 8 Records Ultrasonic Vinyl Cleaning Machine 180W Ultrasonic Records Cleaner with Drying Rack for Home Store

I have a huge record collection that was in a flood a few years ago. Most of the records literally have paper and dirt caked onto them.I also have a VPI 16.5 washer but I can't really use it for the really nasty records. Under the best of circumstances, it overheats after extended use and shuts off. Under the worst, I'd be constantly replacing brushes and felt pads if I tried to scrub down all these exceptionally filthy records with it.So I decided to have a go at this ultrasonic.Altogether, I'm very satisfied. It's not perfect but it's a huge help. It takes several passes for the extremely nasty records and even then it doesn't get them completely clean, but it gets them clean enough that I can use my VPI to finish them off.Remember: when I say extremely nasty, I mean EXTREMELY nasty. Maybe 2mm of paper that has somehow become glued onto the record and a bunch of river silt. This is stuff that isn't even coming off by soaking it in water for hours. After 2-3 30 minute passes in this thing, the solid crap is mostly gone and it just needs some scrubbing to remove the rest, then back in the ultrasonic for one more to get the last of the grime out.But how about records that aren't in such desperate shape? For those, nothing beats this washer. The VPI doesn't even come close.Many of these flood records are just loaded with small dirt particles that are just too small for the VPI brush and vacuum to get out. Even after several passes on the VPI, they still sounded extremely noisy. I've found that for these, I can skip the VPI entirely and just use the ultrasonic, and they come out sounding nearly new. It also doesn't hurt that I can do 8 at a time and leave it unattended for the whole cleaning cycle, then just take them off to dry. With the VPI, I have to do all the cleaning by hand and it's a much more manual process, so I can't do anything else when I'm washing records with it.And now some more neutral-to-negative observations.It's noisy. The cat loses his mind when I turn it on so I make sure he's out of the room and close the doors. It's kind of like someone scratching their nails on a chalkboard in hell for 30 minutes straight. It's not bad if you're in another room but you will not want to hang around right next to it while it's running. It also beeps very loudly when you turn it on or press buttons. In short, you will not be doing any late night cleanings with this if there are other people in your home.It can only do 40kHz. Much more expensive ultrasonics have options for faster or slower vibrations, which make for larger or smaller bubbles. Those different rates are better for cleaning different sizes and kinds of grime. I find that 40kHz is working for most of my needs but it's possible a more expensive washer could get some of that nasty adhesive or solid matter off of there easier. The thing is you just can't beat it for the price. A washer with those options is much more expensive.This is clearly a generic ultrasonic cleaner with a motor addon for spinning the records. It works great but someone may care about that note. For what it's worth, the motor mount and its casing are well made and the motor seems to have plenty of torque.The knob that's used for adjusting vertical positioning of the motor is a little janky (it's a threaded knob with simple serrated locking flange nut on the other side) but it gets the job done. I had some concerns at first but it's held well and TBH it's a fine solution, just not fancy.I think others have noted that the motor seems to spin too fast. I swapped out the power supply it came with with a 3A 12V supply. It spins slower and seems to be getting better results.The drying rack comes with no instructions and at first I had no idea what those parts were for. I've attached a pic of it assembled in case that helps someone else. It's great once it's set up and can hold quite a few batches of records so you don't get backed up waiting for them to dry.The heater takes a while to warm up. I usually just let the records spin in the cleaner while it's heating up as a presoak.The heater is also completely capable of getting hot enough to ruin your records. Run it at the default setting of 30 and you'll be fine though. That said, you *may* notice some minor bowl warp in some records after running them in the washer with the heater on, but for every one of those, it's gone right back to normal after cooling off and drying. If that bothers you, don't use the heater. The heater gets better results but it may not be worth the risk for some people. In my case, these records were mostly lost already so I run them all with the heater on to get things cleaner.There are some acrylic spacers that go between the records. When you have 8 records, a couple of them and their spacers will be on the threaded part of the spindle. If you're not careful, either or both of the spacer and record could crack in the middle. After months of use, my spacers are starting to crack in the middle and I'm not looking forward to trying to replace them. Also, the spacers come with some plastic coating that needs to be peeled off. If you don't, the coating will stick to your labels and pull some of them off.I have not had the problems some have mentioned about getting their labels wet. Just don't overfill the washer and it'll probably be fine. You won't get the entire runout spotless but you're probably not listening to the runout. The height of the records is also adjustable so if you overfill it, just don't lower the records as far.The manual doesn't have much in the way of specifics for fluid. It suggests water or water with some "detergent." I fill mine up with distilled water to the first edge line around the top, then add a couple of caps of Photo-flo so everything will drip-dry nice and clean with no spots.Finally, like most ultrasonics without filtration, you may end up with redeposit problems after a few batches with the same fluid. I had a pump / filter housing 3D printed and it helps quite a bit.Altogether, this is a great washer and in many ways does a much better job than my more expensive VPI washer. I absolutely would recommend it to anyone considering one.

It’s been well over a year and about three hundred records. I love this thing. My records vintage records have never sounded so good. If it were to die I’d happily buy it again.

This unit DOES work and does work well, but there are some things to be aware of:TL;DR: It’s a bit fiddly to get working properly and it IS noisy, but it does a great job of cleaning vinyl records, even with straight distilled water. Don’t run it too hot, or too full, and make sure everything is properly assembled before use. Run a full cleaning cycle, just for the tank, when you first get it. Always wipe down the inside of the tank with clean microfiber after use.At length:1) While the tank should be clean when you first receive it, give it 30 minutes with just distilled water at at least 30 C before you start washing records. Mine actually left an oily film on top of the water! Nothing I want to be submerging my precious collection in! Dump the water and then start again from fresh, giving the tank a quick wipe down with a new, or at least very clean microfiber cloth. Wipe it down between uses too! While most of the gunk will go out the tap with the water, some stays behind and will dry on the bottom of the tank if you don’t wipe it up first.2) Use a separate thermometer! I actually use two, a meat probe and an infrared. Both have confirmed that the water, in my experience anyway, gets three or four degrees warmer than what is indicated on the display. I'm not sure where records start to warp (some say 60 C or even sooner) but it seems the general consensus is that 30 C is about as high as you want to go, 40 C max, for any extended amount of time.3) There IS a flat surface on the spindle for the screw to tighten against and it does work. Get your best phillips screw driver out for this though, get it as tight as possible, and check it every batch. I thought I had it tight but after my first two batches of albums, the spindle just pulled off. I suspect that the ultrasonics vibrate the screw and make it back out, if it isn't REALLY tight. You also must make sure that the spindle fully contacts the face of the motor, through the lift groove, before tightening! If it's just up against the lift thing, and not through the groove, the screw will not secure it! Maybe a drop of thread locker wouldn't be a bad idea here, if you are going to leave it assembled all the time.4) Do NOT trust the acrylic label protectors! If you fill the tank so far that the spacers contact the surface of the water, capillary action will actually draw the water underneath the spacer and onto the label! Remember that the water also moves around in there during the cleaning process so to be truly safe keep the water level at least a quarter inch below the spacer and all will be fine. Of course make sure you have that tightening nut very snug as well. I do six albums at a time and it works fine. You could push it out to do a full eight but that will put the last two on the threaded part of the spindle and those records are unlikely to turn evenly in the ultrasonic bath. Remember that the albums will displace the water too, raising the level. YMMV.5) The lift thing works OK but it is a bit fiddly trying to get the nut to stay put while tightening the knob to keep it in place. I kind of wish it rode on a ferrel or bushing of some sort and just had a notch at the top of the lift to secure the whole works while loading and unloading albums on and off the spindle. Maybe a rubber washer under the nut would help.6) The way mine secures the motor and lift mechanism to the tank is with a single screw that aligns exactly over the seam in the back of the tank. This has to be tightened down to make the lift secure and mostly straight up and down. Over time this may cause that seam to split. While this may not effect the operation of the cleaner, why take a chance? It's a pain to do but slipping a thin shim made of metal between the end of that screw and the back of the tank may give you some extra insurance by spreading the tightening force across more of the back and not directly on that seam. I actually got a quarter to fit in there although I'm sure a flat strip of thin metal would be easier to work with. Room for improvement might include a reinforced spot on the back of the tank for the screw to tighten against.7) The included dry rack assembles with washers and wing nuts. Mine included enough washers to go on both sides of the side panels. I had the whole thing almost together before I realized this and took it all apart again to assemble properly. The whole thing is a bit fiddly, and the top two “arms” of the rack will need to be adjusted to keep your records all neat and tidy. I recommend putting a few albums in it to help get it adjusted before you get busy doing serious cleaning.8) To use chemicals or not? The old way I used to use involved distilled water, isopropyl alcohol, and a tiny amount of tergikleen. But the albums also then got a rinse with just distilled water and vacc'd dry. After watching an almost hour long debate between the old, wise ones, about cleaning solutions in an ultrasonic, I'm going with just straight distilled water! This may or may not clean as well as some of the magic potions touted out there but it's all that "The In Groove" record store in Phoenix uses, for thousands of albums. Mr. Esposito's argument is that ultrasonic cleaners replace cleaning agents entirely, and if that's good enough for him, it's good enough for me. Maybe a really dirty garage sale find might need a pre-clean or something, but I think what's even more important is...9) Change your water frequently! My first four batches (24 albums) were brand new, never played vinyl, and I was amazed at how much stuff came off of them, just using distilled water! For new albums I only run 10 minutes, each batch, at about 30 C. I dumped the water, remembered to give the tank a good wipe with a new microfiber cloth, and will use new water for the next batches. Room for improvement might include a filtration system to extend the life of the water. Maybe an aquarium pump to return it to the tank.10) Last but not least, this thing is somewhat noisy. I put mine in the kitchen, so it could just drain into the sink, went into the living room and watched TV and it was fine. But if you or other family members might need to be in the same room with it, for the duration of the cleaning process, you may want to plan the time of your cleaning sessions carefully, to keep the peace! Drying time will vary depending on what solution you have in the tank, the ambient air temperature and humidity in the room. Plan on at least an hour on the dry rack to get completely dry.