Ultrasonic cleaners

Off-the-wall thought.....does anyone have and/or use an ultrasonic cleaner?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrasonic_cleaning

I play a lot with small carbs and think that this might be a more thorough way of cleaning them. Well carbs and other pieces with small crevices.

I've seen a variety of jewelery class devices and was wondering they might work. or does anyone have a working DIY option?

I have a small one that I use on my watch whenever I remember. I need to do that. My goal is to clean it once a month, but I forget.

I use one most days. I use a Branson 5510. There are a number of solutions available to fit your needs.

The only solution I use is MC-3 which is a metal cleaner.

I can degrease an entire bicycle of components covered in a years worth of grime in about 30 minutes. The heat feature is really nice too.

http://www.bransonic.com/model_5510.asp

I put super agitene in mine (I have a couple come to think of it), and it works great when I rebuild / clean out Miata HLA's.

I'll check out the MC-3 solution though. My cleaner is heated & it worries me to heat up Agitene (or other petroleum cleaners).

Note, I've purchased mine @ industrial auctions (from medical companies). I dont think I paid more than $50 for them, but they can sell higher.

Kendal

Kendall

Here's a list and description of all of the Branson cleaners:

http://www.proequip.com/productlist.asp?pcid=2

We use ours for cleaning firearms and I have on occassion used them to clean carbs and cylinder heads. They do a fantastic job in cleaning them down to bare metal and I mean bare metal because it bleeds out all of the oil in the metal. They are almost too efficient in what they do. As a matter of fact the manufacturer recommends that you soak them in an oil bath to replenish the oil. The only problem I have encountered is once I cleaned a set of carbs and it changed the color of the metal to a copper/orange color. Other than that I don't think it hurt anything.

I have read (here?) that an old Crockpot with Simple Green works really well as a low-buck parts cleaner.

Years ago I was doing alarm work at a jewelry shop and the owner was cleaning some stuff with one. I was curious, and asked him how they work. He told me to stick my finger in the solution. DO NOT DO THAT!!! It felt like a thousand needles stuck in my finger at the same time. He thought he was funny. I did not do what I wanted to, but did express my unhappyness.

where would one find this MC-3 solution?

weve had an older ultrasonic cleaner in our garage for a number of years. have not verified it works yet though. would putting water in it for a test run hurt it? or what should i use?

thanks

In reply to monsterbronco:

http://www.proequip.com/productlist.asp?pcid=2

I always order direct from that site and I order it by the case.

thanks!

In reply to monsterbronco:

Water should work fine. Even with solution, there is 90% water in there anyway.

good to know, i really should pull it out of the corner of the garage and see if it functions.

don;t the ultrasonic humidifiers do more of less the same thing?

I use a tank one every day. Works well to clean watch cases and bracelets. I have an ultrasonic machine to clean watch movements also. At home I have an ultrasonic tank with Dawn and water in it that I use to clean nuts, bolts, carbs, valves what have you in. To check the function fill it with water then toss in a lightly wadded up piece of foil. A realy strong one will break up the foil wad. My father used one that held about 500 gallons at an FBO (aircraft shop) back in the 70's to clean jet engine parts.

procainestart wrote: I have read (here?) that an old Crockpot with Simple Green works really well as a low-buck parts cleaner.

Works very well but eats aluminum if left in for a long time.

-edit- I just checked out the Bransonic page.

I don't have a use for an "Ultrasonic Cell Disruptor" but damn it sounds like something cool to have.

Shawn

Would a grassroots solution be one of those 20 or so massaging foot baths? Anyone tried that?

M2Pilot wrote: Would a grassroots solution be one of those 20 or so massaging foot baths? Anyone tried that?

The foot bath is air jets. A reasonable substitute might be a 5 gallon bucket and a 4 year old with a spoon drinking red bull. 4 year old is more expensive, but you can use them for slave labour later.

I just happen to know where a 4 year old is here locally, dunno if his dad will allow me to feed him red bull though.

My wife wont let me feed red bull to the 4 year old creature that lives in my house. Of course some days she doesnt need it.

I have a HF model that works well. I have also used a heated model when I used to work at a machine shop, we used it to clean holes in metal that was .0003-.0005 in dia. worked every time...

Andrew

4 year olds? I've got two. will it work better if they both do it?

In reply to rsandor:

Will they clean a canoe?

Shawn

hmmmmm I've got an old cb200 that really needs the carbs cleaned and I've been putting it off for way to long, ( I really don't like carbs) might have to try the crockpot/simple green trick, they're easy enough to find at yard sales around here. Just put it on high or what?