I put this together using spare parts I had sitting around and a few plumbing parts from Lowe's. I had borrowed a Nitty Gritty from a friend and after using it for a week or so it was helpful, but couldn't justify the insane price. I'd rather spend that money on records.
The box is pretty simple, the top is a scrap piece of kitchen counter. The sides are pine from old stair risers. Nothing spectacular, just solid. I put a bottom on before taking pics so the internal plumbing has to be left to your imagination. Basically just used drain parts from the top inlet routed over to the side.
The platter is likely the trickiest part. Find an old destroyed tt, the first iteration used a water damaged Technics. The spindle wobbled too much, so it was replaced with a Dual spindle, sub platter and platter. Hard part here is to attach the spindle so it won't wobble, I found a part from an old light that the spindle fit into nice and snug. It also helped that I could attach it for more reinforcement.
The wand is an crevice tool from a vacuum. Using a Dremel tool I cut a slit about 1/8" wide that goes a bit beyond the end of the record and just short of the label in the center. I then glued a painter's pad to it and cut the slit.
If the crevice tool isn't super heavy plastic, it will close up the slit with super suction. To resolve this I spent hours of blueprinting and engineering. Just shove a piece of wood in there as a brace.
This is the vac I use. Any shop vac, upright or tiny thing like this will work. I've never had an issue with moisture, but I don't drench the records either. Isopropyl alcohol in my cleaning solution will help things evaporate as well.
It works and it fits on the bottom of my rack so it's a win for me. It's not a silver bullet restoration machine, but then again neither is a $400 Nitty Gritty or similar. The edge the Nitty Gritty has is you vac one side while scrubbing the other so it cuts down on time spent a little bit.
I wet down the records and scrub with the painter pad. Then vac it dry. The hockey puck helps spin the platter or just do like a dj and use the platter rim.
