Ultra sonic cleaners - Anyone have experience of them?

[sierra3dr]

I find that the industrial cleaners will be best. I bought one similar to this

it wasn't fantastic.
I suspect the Aldi offer won't be brilliant either. The same type are on ebay aswell

[89rallye]

Well me dad ended up buying an Aldi one, at £16 it was hard to pass up and worth a gamble.

Tanks big enough for nuts/bolts etc and a bit more.

It's been on all day but most of the stuff I was doing were brand new parts but I did experiment with some pushrods which were pretty bad.



Obviously they wouldn't fit in but good enough for an experiment,



Surprisingly good results





I think I might plumb for a bigger one now.

[kevin]

I put 4 old. crusty spark plugs in mine today, along with some warm water, soda crystals and fairy liquid (not very much tho) and they came up really clean. It does take quite a while though.
Did some gold and silver jewelry in it yesterday and that does come out really clean, esp the intricate charm type.
I do wonder what the best cleaning agent to use is though?


Kev

[sierra3dr]

Good result there Mark,that proves me wrong

[jimmyybob]

How long did the push rods take.??

It might be just me but i don't see the point of these things on everyday objects, the ONLY thing i know of that it benifits is on carbs.

[kevin]

How long did the push rods take.??

It might be just me but i don't see the point of these things on everyday objects, the ONLY thing i know of that it benifits is on carbs.

Very good for carbs, thats the reason ive bought mine.

Kev

[89rallye]

My main reason for wanting one is to just clean packing and manufacturing greases etc off new engine parts before measuring and assembling.

I'm building quite a lot of aircooled engines at the moment and it does make a difference to the quality of the engine, the beauty of the aircooled motor is that the cases are actually quite small once you strip them down bare and a U/S cleaner is ideal for cleaning all the oil galleries etc out.

So I'm thinking of getting a 15l tank to do heads/cranks/cases etc.

Oh the pushrods were in for 600 seconds, in a solution of water and TFR (traffic film remover, used in steam cleaners)

[Phil P]

One of the citrus based cleaners are very good. Some aqueous cleaning agents don't couple well with the ultrasonics and can reduce the effect.

[arceye]

I've found this thread quite late, but one thing I would like to add is that the cleaning solution used can make a massive difference so its well worth looking at what is available.

My experience is with small 5 ltr tanks which I use for cleaning clock parts, I normally use an ammonia based solution called horolene that you dilute with seven parts water to one part cleaning solution. That solution is good especially for brass and steel, and you'd be amazed at the results it will give on items coated with over a hundred years worth of oil, dust and grime in just a few minutes where a day in the tank with some homemade solutions will barely make a dent in the cleaning.

Anyway, these cleaning solutions are expensive and probably not generally suitable due to cost for basic cleaning, but for more serious cleaning well worth a look at.

One point of note, any parts such as springs that are under tension generally do not like the effects of ultrasonic baths and will suffer breakage not long after cleaning.

Anyway, here is a before and after of a 70 plus year old clock movement that was simply dunked in a proper solution in an ultrasonic tank for five minutes, not best practice as really you pull them down to individual parts for cleaning and repair to worn bushings, but this was done to show the effectiveness of ultrasonic cleaning with the correct fluids.

[kevin]

That is quite remarkable!

Kev