From: nospam@nospam.co.uk
OK...
As a chemist, I can assure you that lighter fluid will not react with the
vinyl... Lighter fluid is a mixture mainly of alkanes. Alkanes are also
known as paraffins, from the latin 'parum affinis', meaning 'seldom
connected', from their quality of being unreactive. Chemically, they are
regarded as virtually inert: that might sound odd when you think about how
well they burn, but I can assure you that it's the case. Lighter fluid does
not dissolve or otherwise react with vinyl.
The Notting Hill Music & Video exchange is probably the best record shop in
the UK: upstairs you can find butcher covers, 3d satanic majesties, blue
prism dark side of the moons, numbered white albums and a load of other
stuff you have heard of but never actually seen. They use lighter fluid...
Leaching out plasticisers: I know a lot of people think this is a problem
with cleaning vinyl, and I suppose it might be if you soaked a record in
solvent for a few years. If you do a mass spectroscopic analysis of just
about any liquid - including alcohol or water - that has been stored in a
plastic container, you will see a phthalate peak, from the plasticiser, at
m/e 149. I spent 5 years in the mass spec business, and, believe me, I have
seen leached out plasticisers. Anyway, just about any solvent might,
potentially, leach out your plasticisers, but it is really not going to be a
problem during the couple of minutes that your record is in contact with
your cleaner. If you don't believe me, take a look at a HDPE bottle that's
been used to store something alcohol based - like mouthwash, for example -
for a few months: has it become brittle because the plasticers have been
leached out? No? I thought not.
I'm not sure what you think the mysterious chemicals lurking in auto-wash
ready to damage your records might be: vinyl is pretty unreactive stuff - it
doesn't oxidise in air, or rust, or do any of the sort of things that
reactive chemicals do - so the main problem would be anything that would
dissolve the vinyl, which would cerrtainly damage it. I've never tried
cleaning a record with methylene chloride or ethyl acetate, for example,
because they might well dissolve the vinyl. But does auto screen wash
dissolve vinyl? No.
WD-40, I will admit, is something of a last resort, for records which I have
tried other methods on but still sound much worse than visible marks would
suggest. As I said in my original email, you have to make sure you get it
all off: I clean with an alcohol-water mix (actually windscreen wash
decolorised with activated charcoal), which emulsifies the WD-40. I have
had a look at the stylus after playing a record cleaned in this way and
there is no visible 'gunk' on it.
Pure water - with or without detergent - is not, in my experience, a
particularly good way of cleaning records, although aqueous acetic acid
sounds like it is worth a try...
I have tried proprietary 'REAL' record cleaners, and have generally been
un-impressed. They are generally over-priced IPA-water mixes.
Hope this is helpful.
"TD" wrote in message
news:d6au4s$b8p$1@news6.svr.pol.co.uk...
> The music & record exchange in notting hill use lighter fluid and wipe it
> off with a soft cloth.
> Personally, I use auto windscreen wash, which is
> alcohol-water-color-detergent, which seems to work ok: in fact I paid six
> quid for some specialist stuff at a record fair which I am pretty sure was
> just repackaged windscreen wash.
> I have tried WD-40... actually, I was quite impressed by the results, but
> you need to make sure you've got it all off...
>
>
> "JG" wrote in message
> news:aF5ie.13994$Ph4.503289@ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca...
> > I have some LP records that are dusty & have some scratches on them.
> Since
> > nobody sells cleaning solution anyome(lol) - is there a way of cleaning
> > them? Is there a way to cover up some of the scratches so it won't skip
> > when played?
> >
> >
>
>
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