Degritter ultrasonic record cleaner

Hi y’all, just a few words on what I think is a worthy alternative to the Audio Desk Systeme and KLAudio ultrasonic cleaners.

http://degritter.com/media-kit/

I’ve been a beta tester on the Degritter for the last few weeks, and am happy to offer my opinions and answer any qs for those interested.

I believe official launch is in early May, and at this stage after a couple of quibbles in day to day use, I’m planning to keep my unit, it’s been a pretty good success, and invaluable addition to day to day life as a vinyl addict.

 

Well your message was unclear. It sounded like you were asking for help. Seems like a connection possibly came loose in shipping. I’m quite positive they are tested before shipping.

Sorry Djsina2, it wasn't my intention, i'm not motherlanguage, just complaining about a new machine, things like that should not happen, specially at the beginning of a company. In my opinion

 

Sorry Djsina2, it wasn't my intention, i'm not motherlanguage, just complaining about a new machine, things like that should not happen, specially at the beginning of a company. In my opinion

Things happen. They will take care of you and you’ll love the machine. It truly is outstanding. I also had to send back my first machine.

 

Things happen. They will take care of you and you’ll love the machine. It truly is outstanding. I also had to send back my first machine.

things happen.. hope better next machine.

 

the new machine works perfectly. no problems at all

 

Glad it worked out.

I'd like to give a shout out to Taniel from Degritter. Not only is the machine an outstanding performer, but his customer service has been second to none. I was one of the IndIegogo initial adopters, and he has stood by us ever since. The firmware updates have added useful features and fixes along the way, and Taniel always seems to respond to email almost instantaneously. Big thanks and definitely a happy customer here! Keep up the great work!!

 

I’ve cleaned over 300 LP’s so far with the Degritter. Love mine!

 

Degritter review at TAB.

 

Fantastic. I'm so glad I got involved w Taniel and the Degritter boys. This is the fifth product in this hobby that I was made aware of v early on/got involved at beta testing level, and it's repaid my faith. I know how much of a challenge it was to create the final product, iron out bugs and manufacturing challenges, and then get the word out there. This review is a culmination of sorts for getting visibility on the product.

 

Love my Degritter, much better than the Audio Desk (and it's poor customer treatment... long sad story elsewhere).
I had a clear acrylic cover made for the machine by a company here in Sweden, so now I can protect it and admire it at the same time

 

I sat on the fence since the Degritter became available and finally ordered one a few months ago.
Had to wait about 2 months before it finally arrived, due to the Pandemic.
I have had it about a week and have only ran a few Lps thru it, but not sure if it is working correctly.

I have ran a couple of new Lps through the Degritter, on the maximum cleaning cycle, and they seem 'clean' coming out... about the same as going in, except that when I inspect the record there seems to be tiny specs of lint/paper still stuck on the suface and in the grooves.
Last night I cleaned an album multiple times using the maximum setting and then finally added 1.5 ml of the cleaner, as I was just using distilled water at first because these are all new records I'm 'cleaning'.

The lint/paper specs come loose after a little rubbing with my finger, but shouldn't the Degritter be doing this?
Is there a way to check that the transducers are operating as they should?
How am I to know if all that is running is the pump or fan?
Is there something in the software I can check on the screen?

I have a Keith Monks KMAL twin platter RCM which I have almost completed rebuilding/modifying..
I replaced the original vacuum pump with a new, more powerful modern pump (same one they use on their new model)replaced both the arm motor and the thread spool motor with custom Industrial HD motors that turn 1/2 the speed of the originals and also slowed both platters speed from 100 rpm, down to 50 rpm. Also added a vacuum gauge.
Cleaning a record now will take 2x longer (was 1 minute per side, now will be 2 minute per side), but I was not comfortable with the high rpm of both the platters original speed. I believe this will be a better cleaning RCM, as the vacuum arm will be working the same area with slightly more vacuum (also adjustable) than before and safer on the records than the original design.

Everyone stay well!

Rick

 

Is there a way to check that the transducers are operating as they should?

Hi Rick,

I don't own a Degritter but there is an easy way to test if the tranducers of any Ultrasonic RCM are operating - it's called the Foil Test.

Cut a piece of ordinary household aluminum foil about the length of your tank's depth and 1 inch wide. Tape a weight to one end, maybe a couple quarters, or anything metal that weighs enough to sink the foil into the tank.

Turn on your machine. If it has a degas feature turn that on for, say 10 minutes; also turn on the heater and let the temperature rise to whatever is standard operating temperature.

Once those actions are complete, insert the foil strip into the tank, holding the non-weighted end with your fingers. Don't let it touch the bottom of the tank. Hold the foil in the tank for 2 minutes then remove it. If the transducers are working, you should see the foil has hundreds of tiny pin pricks or perforations in it. Simple.

Iirc the Degritter runs at a higher frequency (120kHz) than most USCs. Higher frequency transducers create smaller cavitation vacuum bubbles with less implosive force than lower frequency transducers. While I have not used a Degritter I suspect the pin pricks it makes in the foil may be small and/or shallow, but the foil should be covered with them. You can't gauge the exact frequency, but the foil test will tell you if the transducers are working.

As you maybe discovered, imo, one should use cleaning fluid in an USC.

One would expect the Degritter to remove the paper/lint from the record. Since this is the Degritter thread I won't criticize it or give my speculations here about why it did not remove the paper.

Your KMAL Gemini is pretty cool! Old school but still a v. nice machine from its day.

 

Degassing definitely matters in my experience with the Degritter. Don't forget that step. I haven't needed to use the cleaning fluid, however. I've tried with and without it and have stuck to not using it.

 

Hi Rick,

I don't own a Degritter but there is an easy way to test if the tranducers of any Ultrasonic RCM are operating - it's called the Foil Test.

Cut a piece of ordinary household aluminum foil about the length of your tank's depth and 1 inch wide. Tape a weight to one end, maybe a couple quarters, or anything metal that weighs enough to sink the foil into the tank.

Turn on your machine. If it has a degas feature turn that on for, say 10 minutes; also turn on the heater and let the temperature rise to whatever is standard operating temperature.

Once those actions are complete, insert the foil strip into the tank, holding the non-weighted end with your fingers. Don't let it touch the bottom of the tank. Hold the foil in the tank for 2 minutes then remove it. If the transducers are working, you should see the foil has hundreds of tiny pin pricks or perforations in it. Simple.

Iirc the Degritter runs at a higher frequency (120kHz) than most USCs. Higher frequency transducers create smaller cavitation vacuum bubbles with less implosive force than lower frequency transducers. While I have not used a Degritter I suspect the pin pricks it makes in the foil may be small and/or shallow, but the foil should be covered with them. You can't gauge the exact frequency, but the foil test will tell you if the transducers are working.

As you maybe discovered, imo, one should use cleaning fluid in an USC.

One would expect the Degritter to remove the paper/lint from the record. Since this is the Degritter thread I won't criticize it or give my speculations here about why it did not remove the paper.

Your KMAL Gemini is pretty cool! Old school but still a v. nice machine from its day.

Hello tima,

Thank you for your very informative post and glad to see someone knowledgeable about the Keith Monks RCMs. It is a great machine, even though it was built in the 1980's ... I have all my custom parts/motors just a mater of soldering/putting everything back together.

As for the Degritter... the company says that the transducers draw 300 watts, so I used 2 different clamp-on Amp meters (I'm an Electrician) so as to reference each other... ran the Degritter on the quick cycle a number of times.
Never got higher than .42A, I got fluctuations from about .24A to 42A when the pump/fan switched...which @ 120v amounts to about 50 watts at the most.
I assume between the pump and the fan together is the 50 watts.

This is troubling as I can see someone else thinking this machine is working fine and never know any different and keep using as-is... as the pump and fan operate when they should. When you take the record out it looks shiny and 'clean'... it's not until you look very closely that you see very fine specs and especially when you use a loupe to view the grooves.

I think the people at Degritter need to add something to the softward/display that verifies that the transducers are ALL working, all 4... how else are you to know if one, two, or three are not working let alone ALL four?

So, now to contact MusicDirect where I bought the Degritter.

Again, thank you for your help and great post

Rick

 

Degritter is just a total pleasure to deal with. Some of the best customer service I have ever experienced!
The faulty machine is now on its way back to Estonia. One of the corners of the shipping box is got a pretty good crushed corner, probably evident of an impact that caused the damage.

Very much looking forward to getting the new Degritter so I can see how well it works when the transducers function properly

I did a little more exploring a couple days ago and found the problem on the transducer amplifier board:

 

Just to add my bit, I've had an Audio Desk cleaner for around 2 years maybe less. The pump has failed so I contacted my suppling dealer to get it fixed, it has taken 5 weeks to get an answer, apparently I'm lucky that my machine can be repaired! most it seems cannot. The cost to repair is £750.00 plus shipping both ways to and from Germany or they can supply a new one at £2195.00 plus return the old machine. I checked on Google and it appears that this is a very common problem machines that can't be repaired and very poor customer service. One guy has posted how to repair it yourself which is what I'm going to do, nothing to loose but one things for sure I won't be buying anything else from Audio Desk.

 

Just to add my bit, I've had an Audio Desk cleaner for around 2 years maybe less. The pump has failed so I contacted my suppling dealer to get it fixed, it has taken 5 weeks to get an answer, apparently I'm lucky that my machine can be repaired! most it seems cannot. The cost to repair is £750.00 plus shipping both ways to and from Germany or they can supply a new one at £2195.00 plus return the old machine. I checked on Google and it appears that this is a very common problem machines that can't be repaired and very poor customer service. One guy has posted how to repair it yourself which is what I'm going to do, nothing to loose but one things for sure I won't be buying anything else from Audio Desk.

Wow... sorry to read about your issues with the Audio Desk and Company.

Again, I can not say enough good things about those at Degritter...

I received my replacement machine last Thursday.... Only about a week after sending off the faulty one and remember, this is going to/from Estonia!

I checked it out for power output and had some questions. Within hours I received an email from the main entities at Degritter... Taniel (he has been the one I talked to up to now) and Taniel referred me to Uku (designer of the transducer amplifier board).
Taniel replied to my questions by emailing me that Uku would be in contact to answer, as it was his specialty... I received both messages at about the same time... like I said, within a few hours of sending my original message.

So far, the new machine is running great!

Rick

 

Hello Rick Sounds good I'll have to check them out, do they have dealers or do you buy direct? I've stripped my Audio Desk and drilled a large hole in the tank to get to the pump so if I can find a replacement pump I should be up and running again, fingers crossed
Kim

 

magichifi,

I bought mine through MusicDirect, but I'm sure other major audio businesses sell them also.

 

Hello everybody from Italy, received a new degritter today, washed a record and is loosing water from the bottom, a lot of water, emptied the machine, dried it and recharged, washed another record, and pouring water again, and before you tell it, not from the filter, from the inside, I'm black..
Max

My Audio Desk leaked water from the power socket Needless to say I won't be buying one of theirs again.

 

I have my KLAudio for near to 5 years now and washed 1670 records. It works fine. Very happy with it. I know they are out of business.
My 2 cents