DIY Record Cleaning Machine

My DIY record cleaning machine based on the "thread buffer" concept, originated by Percy Wilson and sold commercially by Keith Monks and Loricraft. A vacuum pulls contaminants and cleaning fluid off the record surface through a narrow-diameter nozzle. The nozzle concentrates the vacuum to a tiny area for maximum pulling power, and is buffered from the vinyl surface by a thin thread. The thread is pulled through the nozzle/tubing and deposited in a collection jar along with the junk sucked up out of the grooves.

My version was inspired by numerous other DIY efforts. In particular I'd like to acknowledge the work of Audiokarma member "edd9000":

http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.ph...

edd9000's use of the Arduino micro-controller and servos was a great starting point.

As a side note, I admit a slightly noisy LP soundtrack is ironic for demonstrating a record cleaning machine. Oh well. My copy is a bit beat up but I love the song. (And hey, it did sound better after cleaning.)

Soundtrack:
Johnny Hammond Smith — "The Sin In", from "Gettin' Up" (Prestige PR7494.)