Cleaning Acetates...

[Jonathan Kristian]

I have recently been given some acetates (aluminum disc coated in shellac) to transfer to digital... Most of them have seen better days and are quite dirty and was wondering the best way to clean them. I have heard alcohol can dissolve the shellac and that water can corrode the aluminuim disc if the shellac coating has any cracks in it, so i am at a bit of a loss as to what to do. I have also heard CRC can be used to clean them but am a bit hesitant about that one.

Any suggestions??


Cheers.

[chris p]

I'd give the National Film & Sound Archive a call - see http://www.nfsa.afc.gov.au

I seem to recall they have a preservation and restoration service that has dealt with acetates.

[rick]

you have only one choice ( compressed air ) so go and buy a cheap air compresser , make sure you get a "water" filter
like the kind they use for paint sprayers for the line as condensed water in the air line will give you grief and blow the dirt off
if its worse then dirt and dust your out of luck
the lacquer is very fragile

[Ausrock]

Rick,

What pressure (psi) would you use for something like this?

8)

[Jonathan Kristian]

Thanks Chris and Rick for the replies...

Have already tried using compressed air which was good for dust but some of the acetates have actual gunk on them. Ive tried playing them through a few times to clean out the grooves but the shellac is literally being torn off by the stylus...
So i guess there is not much to be done to improve the sound quality which is a pity... some pretty cool stuff on them...

Oh and Ausrock if you do use compressed air, be gentle, i tried cleaning a couple of acetates that had a few cracks in them and ended up blowing some of the shellac off! Not good...

[Ausrock]

QUOTE.........." if you do use compressed air, be gentle, i tried cleaning a couple of acetates that had a few cracks in them and ended up blowing some of the shellac off!"


It's highly unlikely that I'll ever see an "acetate" but I've worked with both shellac and compressed air and could envisage exactly what you experienced. The catch is that there's no correct air pressure as it is going to depend on the degree of adhesion between the shellac and the substrate.