A Harbor Freight tool surprised me today.

I've been eyeballing the cheapo ultrasonic cleaner for years.  Today it got the better of me and I grabbed one to run an old set of carbs through.

Results after a 4 minute cycle using Dollar Tree degreaser.

They really are great. Leave the carb body in there for about an hour with hot water and the simple green mix and then blow out all of the air channels and lines with a compressed air and it will work as good as new.

Cool. I'm planning to rebuild my Webers this spring - this might be a good first step.

I guess this answers the question I've had about the Harbor Freight one: "Is it big enough for carbs?"

Is it just me or does it seem like harbor freight stuff is/has gotten better?

I bought a hammer from Harbor Freight today. I figured I'd cut out the middleman, and go straight to the real deal.

Truth is, I really needed a 4lb engineer's hammer and the big box stores sell them for 25% more. I can break them just as easily.

Ave was pretty impressed with the latest Earthquake stubby air impact. 

enginenerd said:

I guess this answers the question I've had about the Harbor Freight one: "Is it big enough for carbs?"

Just Barely.     But for $64 (I always have a 20% off coupon) it works way faster and better than a half dozen cans of carb cleaner.

But, does it work as good as this?

I have a pail of this in my garage, had it for about 10 years and it still works great.  Don't touch it without rubber gloves on, don't smell it, and keep the lid on it if you're not actively putting something in or taking it out.  

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

Take your pail of that, dump in it a HF ultrasonic cleaner and the results are amazing. I don't store it in the pail anymore. I just leave it in the machine. 

Here's a before and after of SanFord's carb.

I've used the carb cleaner pail in the past. The biggest problem I have had are issues with plastics and rubbers. Obviously it's not a problem if rebuild kits are available but some of the carbs I've worked on have polymer fittings and seals permanently installed or they're no longer in production. I see the advantage of the ultrasonic being that you're not relying on purely chemical cleaning so you can use something a little less harsh that's safe for all materials. 

MazdaFace said:

Is it just me or does it seem like harbor freight stuff is/has gotten better?

It had been getting better, which is a problem for me because it's getting expensive as well. 

It's nice to have middle of the road options for price and quality, but it's getting harder to get out of there under $200, which was a big draw for a long time.

Still nice not giving my money to home depot or Lowe's though, at least at my Local store, if I need something electrical the person wandering electrical knows a bit about it, unlike at the big box stores. 

I don't mind gambling on a $10 tool, I do mind gambling on a $60 tool that still has similar odds of being a hammer in disguise. Of course, with the exception of my cordless drill and impact, all my big power tools are harbor freight. And you know the only thing that has turned into a hammer? My Rigid cordless drill from depot.