Vinyl Asylum: Re: okay, no more D4 fluid, Discwasher in another takeover hiatus, making my own * by mrspindlelegs

JD,

I looked up the original Discwasher patent on their cleaning formulation. The pattent is U.S.# 3,951,841. This patent most likely applies to D3 which preceeded D4. I don't know what changes might have been made when going from D3 to D4 but they were likely minor and still fall within the scope of the original patent.

The cleaner basically contained an antifungal agent, a surfactant, one or two solvents to keep the surfactant soluble in water and assist in cleaning, and distilled water.

The Patent discussion indicates the following possibilities:

1. The antifungal agent was sodium azide and probably ran between 0.0001% and 0.004% by weight.

2. The surfactant was either Triton X-114 or Triton N-57 and probably used somewhere between 0.0003% and 0.025%. These surfactants start to become insoluble in water when the temperature reaches 70 - 75°F which is what makes them effective at cleaning oils/greases but can cause formula stability problems (separation into two layers) without the assistance of a cosolvent or other surfactant.

3. The two possible solvents are propylene glycol and isopropyl alcohol (IPA). Propylene glycol is probably run between 0.001% and 0.2%. The patent suggests IPA is run anywhere from 0.01% up to 5%.

Since this cleaner can be thought of as being similar to a glass cleaner, the total solids level usually does not exceed 0.1% by weight (glass cleaners are prone to leaving visible streaking above this level). Thus, my best guess at the original D3 Discwasher solution is:

Sodium Azide = 0.004%
Surfactant (most likely Triton X-114) = 0.025%
Propylene Glycol = 0.01% to 0.075% (probably closer to the high end)
IPA = Won't hurt to run the full 5%
Distilled Water = quantity sufficient to add up to 100%

I personally was never impressed with D3 or D4; they didn't wet the surface very well as evidenced by the formation of liquid beads when applying to either the album surface or the Discwasher Brush. Poor wetting action usually results in poor cleaning.

Mr. Spindlelegs