Ultrasonic Cleaners - whats your experience?

[Billy Golightly]

Looking to buy an ultrasonic cleaner. Mostly for small pieces and parts in the shop, some wheeler stuff occasionally. Few questions:

How much heat do these things actually put off? Do I need to keep it away from stuff or is it relatively safe about anywhere?

How often does the cleaning solution need actually dumped out and new put in? (assuming I'm not putting a total greaseball of something inside of it...)

Is there any reason to not just buy the biggest one I can afford/reasonably use in my space? Are there any disadvantages to getting a large one?

Are the stainless steel chicom ones on ebay any good?

[El Camexican]

Mine is an SS digital eBay unit, it cleans stuff of, but I probably need to experiment with chemicals. The results so far don’t put this thing on my “must have” tool list.

So far all I’ve used is carb cleaner (the instructions say not to) and its loosened up some pretty nasty stuff, but I still seem to have to do some manual labor to get a few areas clean. Things like nasty carbon covered power valves seem impervious, at least to the carb cleaner.

If you don’t want to clean it too often, try to power wash the greasy parts first. I had it on a bench, it gets warm and buzzes, but nothing too annoying. If I had a wood shop I’d probably be leery of leaving it alone for long.

Warning! They aren’t very big. Look at the advertised dimensions closely. Mine is a 10 liter and it’s cramped.

266249

[ATC King]

I've been looking at possibly getting one too.

There are some tips that sound good. One is to put just water in the cleaner and the actual parts and solution into a separate plastic container, immersed in the water. This uses less solution and keeps the tub clean. It's just sound wave doing the work, so as long as the whole thing is filled with some type of fluid, it doesn't matter if there's a separate container inside with it's own fluid, as long as it's sitting in the water in the cleaner, the waves still travel.

Another is using Simple Green Extreme Aircraft and Precision Cleaner. https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Aircraft-Precision-Cleaner-13406/dp/B001VXU7OE/ref=bmx_2?pd_rd_w=FrEoK&pf_rd_p=82aca571-3653-4c76-afa2-d596d18861b7&pf_rd_r=WDY1W22G0BA60QW8EHH4&pd_rd_r=202c340b-11bd-4206-9233-3f831989886d&pd_rd_wg=0m9nr&pd_rd_i=B001VXU7OE&psc=1


An ultrasonic cleaner is similar to other cleaners and even blasting cabinets. The more crud that is removed before putting into it, the longer the cleaning solution/media is going to last and the less cleaning, of the cleaner is required.

That's a big pet peeve of mine when working in a shop; the people who just toss grease covered parts into the parts washer without getting the big chunks off first. Same goes for the blasting cabinets and crud covered parts, especially when there's a commercial hot water pressure washer in the same building.

[Billy Golightly]

Do you feel like its a lack of a harsh enough solution, or not enough oomph to break up and release the grime? Perhaps I have too high of expectations of these things, but the videos I've watched and the reports from people make it sound like they literally zap the crap off of anything you throw in them which sounds completely awesome...lol


Mine is an SS digital eBay unit, it cleans stuff of, but I probably need to experiment with chemicals. The results so far don’t put this thing on my “must have” tool list.

So far all I’ve used is carb cleaner (the instructions say not to) and its loosened up some pretty nasty stuff, but I still seem to have to do some manual labor to get a few areas clean. Things like nasty carbon covered power valves seem impervious, at least to the carb cleaner.

If you don’t want to clean it too often, try to power wash the greasy parts first. I had it on a bench, it gets warm and buzzes, but nothing too annoying. If I had a wood shop I’d probably be leery of leaving it alone for long.

Warning! They aren’t very big. Look at the advertised dimensions closely. Mine is a 10 liter and it’s cramped.

266249

[El Camexican]

Tell ya what Billy, I’m going to fire it up this week and post the process and results. I think I have some YTM carbs that have never been cleaned and probably something else that needs love we can test.

[DAM shop]

We have a small recently purchased one for carbs only. I do t want to get into the habit of putting just anything in there to clean. I think the benefits to ultra sonic is to get into the small crevices and passages. Like AtcKing said you have the ability to put smallish parts in a bag with say carb cleaner and just fill the unit with water. I used HD simple green the purple stuff and was pleasantly surprised at what it did and I was able to clean 6 carbs with the one tank of a very small dilution ratio. My next try will be a handful of slow jets in a baggie of carb cleaner and see what that does.
I agree with AtcKing and also believe that the sonic cleaner has its place in the shop just like the parts cleaner and blasting cabinet. We bought ours for one purpose only (carbs)

[keister]

Well, I have had mine for 5-6 years and it is starting to fall apart. But it was a cheapo (under $100 Amazon unit). Still more than got my money's worth out of it. You can get a Harbor Freight on (~2.5 liters) for $80 which would last at least a few years until you learn the function and limitations of these things.

Most will have a built in heater. Of course the UT process itself generates heat too. Mine has never been hot enough that it would burn my hand, but it would release some steam.

I use LA's Totally Awesome in mine. I buy it at the dollar store and don't really worry about reusing it since it is literally a dollar. You can get a gallon jug for ~$4. After use, I dump the dirty Awesome, wipe it out and it is ready for next time. You could use water and some Dawn dish soap and probably do just fine too.

A toothbrush works wonders for the really grimy stuff once the UT loosens and heats it up. For the most part, you put stuff in (carb), hit the start button and it comes out clean.

There is a disadvantage to a very large one, and that is using more cleaner and / or making it deep enough to cover your part. Think about your small saucepan vs your large spaghetti pot in your kitchen. When you dump the water out of your half full small one to the larger pan, it barely covers the bottom and isn't deep enough.

Honestly, I don't know how I lived without one. Started off with a very small one designed to clean jewelry.

Ideally you could find one from an old dentist or doctors office. If you could get ahold of an old professional grade one, it would maybe outlast you.

This one would probably suit your purpose:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Pro-160-Watts-2-5-Liters-Digital-Heated-Ultrasonic-Cleaner-Dental-Gun-Tattoo/140333938761?hash=item20ac8df849:g:fYoAAOSwtfhYqbg 4

Don't buy the little $34 one, it is too small.

[Scootertrash]

I'll check on the size of mine when I get home tonight.

[El Camexican]

I'll check on the size of mine when I get home tonight.

Centimeters are always more impressive than inches ;)

[Arky-X]

Centimeters are always more impressive than inches ;)

I only use the metric system for two measurements;
Gram of coke and a 9mm

[Billy Golightly]

Well I bought that one Keister. I may start with small pew pew parts and some old gunky drill bits that haven't been cleaned in a long time and work my way through some nuts and bolts and see how it goes.


Well, I have had mine for 5-6 years and it is starting to fall apart. But it was a cheapo (under $100 Amazon unit). Still more than got my money's worth out of it. You can get a Harbor Freight on (~2.5 liters) for $80 which would last at least a few years until you learn the function and limitations of these things.

Most will have a built in heater. Of course the UT process itself generates heat too. Mine has never been hot enough that it would burn my hand, but it would release some steam.

I use LA's Totally Awesome in mine. I buy it at the dollar store and don't really worry about reusing it since it is literally a dollar. You can get a gallon jug for ~$4. After use, I dump the dirty Awesome, wipe it out and it is ready for next time. You could use water and some Dawn dish soap and probably do just fine too.

A toothbrush works wonders for the really grimy stuff once the UT loosens and heats it up. For the most part, you put stuff in (carb), hit the start button and it comes out clean.

There is a disadvantage to a very large one, and that is using more cleaner and / or making it deep enough to cover your part. Think about your small saucepan vs your large spaghetti pot in your kitchen. When you dump the water out of your half full small one to the larger pan, it barely covers the bottom and isn't deep enough.

Honestly, I don't know how I lived without one. Started off with a very small one designed to clean jewelry.

Ideally you could find one from an old dentist or doctors office. If you could get ahold of an old professional grade one, it would maybe outlast you.

This one would probably suit your purpose:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Pro-160-Watts-2-5-Liters-Digital-Heated-Ultrasonic-Cleaner-Dental-Gun-Tattoo/140333938761?hash=item20ac8df849:g:fYoAAOSwtfhYqbg 4 (http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?campid=5336526073&toolid=10001&mpre=https://www.ebay.com/itm/Pro-160-Watts-2-5-Liters-Digital-Heated-Ultrasonic-Cleaner-Dental-Gun-Tattoo/140333938761?hash=item20ac8df849:g:fYoAAOSwtfhYqbg 4)

Don't buy the little $34 one, it is too small.

[90nut]

I've got a horrible freight one, works pretty good for small carbs, that is what I bought it for. It is useless without the heating function however. I use simple green d with distilled water. Each batch lasts for a half dozen to a dozen cycles. Just depends how nasty of stuff I put in it. Its obviously a cheapo, it's got a small capacity but for now it's about all I need. If I need to do big stuff like a truck cylinder head I take it to my buddies shop and throw them in his big steam cleaner thing.

[keister]

I only use the metric system for two measurements;
Gram of coke and a 9mm

ORLY? Do you refer to your trike engine sizes in cubic inches? Do you have an ATC15.3R or a 21.4X?

[Billy Golightly]

Looks like mine will be here tomorrow.

Solvents:

Heard of things like simple green, pinesol diluted, water and dawn dish soap, ? Any reason I can't use something like mineral spirits also if I've got something really greasy or am I going to start a fire?

[keister]

I have heard of people using mineral spirits. Never have myself.
Start with Dawn and water, you may be surprised.
I always advocate LA's Totally Awesome. I've turned so many people onto this stuff that they should send me royalty checks.

There is one thing that ruins aluminum - makes it very dark. I think maybe Purple Power or Simple Green. Hopefully someone else chimes in on this one.

[Arky-X]

ORLY? Do you refer to your trike engine sizes in cubic inches? Do you have an ATC15.3R or a 21.4X?

Good one.....add those to my list

[sledcrazyinCT]

I have heard of people using mineral spirits. Never have myself.


There is one thing that ruins aluminum - makes it very dark. I think maybe Purple Power or Simple Green. Hopefully someone else chimes in on this one.

Purple power will discolor carbs, if left in a solution a couple weeks it will dissolve a carb.

A fifteen liter unit is a good size, not wasting too much if you have to fil it up to the top to clean something.
The unit I bought looks just like Nico's as far as the controls, but mine also has a dial that change the frequency range it operates in.

One other cleaning solution I heard works well, but I haven't tried is diluted antifreeze. The person who told me this swears by it because it won't destroy aluminum.

[El Camexican]

Ditto on the Purple stuff. It has some sort of mild acid I can't spell or pronounce.

Probably doesn't hurt to wash any delicate parts with a mixture of baking soda and water to neutralize any acids, but I don't know if baking soda will discolor aluminum. probably not, but test a piece to be sure.

I don't know how well anti-freeze cleans, but I've seen first hand why it's critical to look for one that claims to be safe for aluminum, so be sure to use an aluminum approved liquid if that's the way you plan to go.

[Billy Golightly]

Very good. I hope to get this thing setup and running on a few pieces in the next day or two.

I recently reorganized and cleaned up dads 100 year old drill bit collection. At least a hundred were so greasy and rusty you could barely tell what they were. That ought to be small enough and steel to throw a handful in and see how they come out as the first attempt at least.

[kb0nly]

Purple power has a weak solution of muriatic acid in it, it attacks the aluminum, makes it look a dark gray with short exposure, etches it with longer exposure, and ultimately dissolves it over time. I have used it to clean and lightly etch aluminum panels before painting.

What i really like for cleaning carbs and engine parts is a cleaner called Mean Green, its formulated differently then these other cleaners, its more of a degreaser then general purpose cleaner. I know guys that use this stuff in a 50/50 mix with distilled water in their parts washers, and i have soaked carbs in it full strength and it didn't discolor the aluminum and made everything just fall of it. I soaked a jug in it that came off a motor with a bad oil leak at the head, the jug was black with layers of oil and dirt caked on, after a hour soak a brush across it just wiped everything right off.

[Scootertrash]

I use the Simple Green Pro HD cleaner, the purple stuff.

I dumped a gallon into the cleaner tank then added water to finish filling.

I have left parts sitting in the cleaner for hours, up to overnight, and the only drawback I've seen is brass parts like jets and the like get a bronzeish hue to them. I've never noticed any damage to carbs or aluminum parts. YMMV

Here's a pic of the tag on my cleaner:

266529

[ATC King]

I learned not to use Purple Power years ago. Not that I ever used it, but I knew one guy who swore by it and I seen it destroy the finish on a lot of things. Using it on clear coated aluminum wheels because people let the brake dust build up and are too lazy to hand wash, is a sure fire way to ruin the wheel's finish and make them miserable to keep clean.

The weakest chemical used with the most elbow grease is typically what leaves the best finish. The ultrasonic cleaner is providing the elbow grease.

People even destroy their home toilets and showers with that 'no scrub' mess, which just makes the surface coarser and needing cleaning more frequently.

[ditchmud]

I used distilled water and a heavy squirt of dawn dish soap to clean a carb in mine. It worked very well and I’m happy that I purchased the unit.

[Billy Golightly]

So far I like mine other than the longest programmable time is only 8 minutes which does not seem like very long.

[El Camexican]

So far I like mine other than the longest programmable time is only 8 minutes which does not seem like very long.

That doesn’t sound right. Does it state that in the manual?

[Billy Golightly]

From what I've saw so far... Yeah

[keister]

Yep, 480 seconds.
Cycle that through 3-4 times with the heat on and prepare to be amazed.

[Billy Golightly]

I cycled through some old greasy drill bits and it has worked pretty good. Just wished I could turn it to a constant cycle mode and walk off and leave it, but so far it's working pretty well.

Will try it on some old crusty pew parts next.

[Thorpe]

I'll check on the size of mine when I get home tonight.

Who is Q? (In your signature) *wink*

[Thorpe]

I run a Hornaday one on my reloading bench, but its been known to clean a carb or two. I'll use some case cleaner if the carb is a matte finish. If it's a bit more polished, like my old '87 cr125 carb, a couple drops of dish soap, and I'll run it for 90-120 minutes on heat. (Mine will run 30 minutes at a crack) I find it works the best with more time. Definitely not the quickest method, but squeaky clean when I am done

[Scootertrash]

Who is Q? (In your signature) *wink*


Haven't figgered that out yet. :wondering

Good to see you're still around, how's life treating ya?

[LBZDirtyMaxx]

Haven't figgered that out yet. :wondering

Good to see you're still around, how's life treating ya?I don't know how I lived without mine! Worth every penny! I've had mine for a couple months and I'm about ready to buy a bigger onehttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210303/803dbe8d8c61f5bde1e6d38c98e64e71.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210303/94a144de0e43b2d6ca02c042fa6e9231.jpg

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[Thorpe]

Haven't figgered that out yet. :wondering

Good to see you're still around, how's life treating ya?
I went MIA for awhile... Stupid 4 wheeler tried to kill me. But I'm like a cat... (I don't land on my feet) But at one point I had 9 lives... Otherwise, old, ugly and sarcastic, so pretty much ssdd. You?

[Scootertrash]

I went MIA for awhile... Stupid 4 wheeler tried to kill me. But I'm like a cat... (I don't land on my feet) But at one point I had 9 lives... Otherwise, old, ugly and sarcastic, so pretty much ssdd. You?

Pretty much the same. No wheelers have tried to kill me tho. At least not yet. :shiftyeyes:

Been sitting home for the last 3 weeks or so, work is slow, jobs delayed or cancelled, lumber prices are insane, but I'm sure you know that. High prices put my 40 x 80 stick frame building on hold this year, at least so far. Heard from a drywall supplier they expect a price jump in April. I'm going to call my concrete salesman next week and see what concrete prices are doing, may try to get the foundation in this summer.

Rumor has it the project I was on will be ready for us again on 3/16, we'll see......

Wife says I should just retire. I was going to wait until next April, maybe longer depending on work. If I do decide to pull the pin I may pick up a courier job with Elite or Priority. The money isn't bad and you can set your own schedule. I keep hearing that these type of places are hard up for drivers and by the amount of time it takes to get some of my deliveries to my house it seems to be true.

I have enough skills that if I did retire I could find enough work to cover the difference.

Old, ugly, and sarcastic is the best way to go thru life........:naughty::D:beer

[Billy Golightly]

So I've cycled mine through a few handfuls of rusty/greasy/grimey drill bits I had and so far have been fairly happy with its performance but it definitely does take a few cycles. A cursory wire brushing between cycles makes abig difference also.

Have some surplus pew pew parts with some deep grime I'm gonna try out next.

[LBZDirtyMaxx]

Use pinesol and crank the heat up

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[czac]

i have the harbor freight one... i put my snub nosed Smith and Wesson .38 Special in it for ten minutes... took it out and every bit of oil had been removed from it to the point the trigger would hardly move...that said, i still had to run a few patches through the barrel to get the soot out. lol but my wife had an old necklace that was nasty with dirt and dust from sitting out for years, i put it in and ran it through two ten minute cycles, took it out and just ran an old tooth brush over it and put it back in for another ten minutes...it came out looking brand new. I use Simple Green mixed with a little water in mine... never tried any cleaning solutions made for Hydrosonic cleaners!it also does a good job on cleaning air brushes so long as the paint isnt dried in them.

[Billy Golightly]

Little update - i have been using that little one with the warmer and the timer now and have used on quite a few little gun parts on various projects and I've been really impressed with it. Hitting the surface and crud with a wire brush or bristle tooth brush and then throwing it in when the water is hot does wonders.

[kiser]

My dad used one a lot where he worked 30 years ago for tractor carbs. They were cast iron carbs from the 30s-40s so the gunk was really built up on them. It would run until you turned it off so he would put one in at night and go home. The next day, he would flip the carb over and do it again. It normally took 3 to 4 nights to get one clean but it worked great! I have been saying for a long time that I should buy one but just haven't, I really need to though!

[Rick1956]

Have you guys noticed how they all seem to look alike? I did a lot of online research before buying, and it's like the same factory in China makes them for everybody...

I bought a Vevor brand, 10-liter, and I always use it next to the kitchen sink (with wifey's approval even!) so I'm able to fill the tank with hot water from the tap (we have a big sink). The tap water ends up being even hotter than the heater settings on the unit will go, according to the thermometer. Funny thing--when it arrived the unit was DOA. After going back and forth with the seller via email, they volunteered to credit the cost of the unit if I ate the shipping. I said of course, thinking I'd be able to fix it easily enough. Wouldn't you know it--it was the included power cord! Haha, all I did was find a nice, heavy duty computer power cord (same 3-prong setup at both ends) and plugged it in. Good as new for only 25 bucks! Well, actually it was new...

I find the best results to be like many of you do: just using a general cleaner, or sometimes nothing at all. I usually use Simple Green on most of the stuff, and I also learned to put parts in a ziplock bag full of the cleaning solution and float the bag in plain water. I got really tired of cleaning out the bathtub ring every time, and that put a stop to that.

Pretty cool little units. I also second buying one that is one notch up from your first choice. I'm happy with my 10-liter, but 110 engine cases won't fit unless I de-stud them first, so I just use solvent on those to bring back old times.