Technical Ultrasonic Parts Washer; has anyone tried this???

This sounds "too good to be true."

Is it?

Anyone use/used this in a tub for parts washing?

What liquid did you use?

 

Simple green

 

Thanx Wanderlust.

Anyone used one of these gizmos?

 

NO, but it wreaks of ....but wait there's more!

 

We use one in our transmission rebuild shop, and quite frankly I wouldn’t be without one now. The combination of the hot water + soap + the vibration do wonders on the transmission parts. I finally settled on using whatever degreaser soap was cheapest…..usually Simple Green. I mix it 50/50 with clean tap water. You can extend the life of the soapy water solution by giving the greasy parts a wipe down with a rag to remove what you can. We clean transmission gears and shafts and you just can’t beat how clean they come out. The solution gets to all the nooks and crannies in the gears. I set the temperature to “pretty damn hot “ since the heat is needed to help the cleaning action. I put the parts in the basket and run the unit for about 7-9 minutes. I usually lift the basket out and give the items a quick brush off with a handy old kitchen brush, then back in it goes for another 7 minutes or so. When the time is done, we lift the basket out and each part is rinsed off in a nearby pail of clean water. From there we use the air gun to blow the water off. I usually pretty up the parts on the wire wheel and they are ready for the rebuild. The big advantage is the terrific job it does cleaning the parts. The secondary advantage is that we can be working on other things in the shop while the parts are undergoing the process.

The downside is that the solution naturally becomes dirty from the parts and eventually has to be drained and replaced with fresh water and soap. So be prepared to deal with disposing the waste water. We use the unit twice a week (for hours at a time) so I try to get a couple two or maybe three weeks of use before replacing the solution. Obviously, the more parts that are cleaned each hour, and how dirty they are going in, your usable time will vary.

We are on our fourth unit…..the first one was a small one to experiment with and that was promptly replaced with a bigger model when we realized how nice it was. That one finally broke down and the third one was the same size. I recently bought the fourth unit just to get the longer tank (for some of the longer shafts). Save yourself some money and buy the larger size up front. Be aware that the larger the tank, the longer it takes to get fully heated up. We flick the power on first thing each shop day. And for safety reasons, it’s on the short check list of things we power off at the end of the day.

 

Used to have one at a place I worked for cleaning parts we made prior to painting. They work good. Cleaned up a few carbs really nice.

 

They do a wonderful job of cleaning. Cleaning but not polishing. aluminum parts may come out dull and ferrous items will rust quickly. I usually follow up with buffing out aluminum and cleaning flash rust with Evapo-Rust after the Ultrasonic session.

 

Mike my friend has an ultrasonic cleaner he cleans carburetors in. I had the nozzles from my Hilborn cleaned in one at the jewelry store and they came out like new. I don't know what one you are looking at but I do know they work great.

Pat

 

I plan on buying one at some point.... I watch a lot of Mustie 1 videos and that guy is always rebuilding lawn mower carbs...

 

Friend of mine cleaned up the 4 Mikuni carbs on my off-topic motorcycle that had been sitting for over 30 years. Look like brand new.

 

The lab I worked at before retiring has a large unit. We used Alconox in it. It's for cleaning lab equipment of all types. Does a great job on car parts as well. Especially bearings, but like mentioned above, oil immediately after taking stuff out of the bath, otherwise you get flash rust.

 

I think most have missed the one he is asking about. You have to click on "This" in his post.

I would be surprised if it worked as well as advertised. The claims appear to be greatly exaggerated. One claim said gentle agitation, but the video didn't look gentle at all.

 

I missed the “this “ link in the original post. Having looked at the device they sell for about $30 I would suggest that he keep looking…….for something a bit more industrial.

 

I realize it’s not very large, but has anyone tried the Harbor Freight ultrasonic cleaner?

 

Use a normal one (not the one in the link) all the time for carbs, dismatle carb, put jets etc in small mesh bags, big parts straight into the basic. One of the best tools in my shed.

 

I too did not check out the link previously, looks pretty gimmicky to me. I’ve used ultra Sonics for the past 20 years working in the jewelry industry, my experience is you get what you pay for most of the time (but not always), buy the best you can afford if you plan to use it often , drains while handy especially with the large ones they will eventually leak and more often than not the electronic board is under the tank, because the heat sinks provide the heating, other ones use a stick on element like an oil pan heater. When your unit starts to get weak ( no viagra jokes) its usually the transponders are delaminating from the tank, sometimes they can be re-glued successfully. As I already mentioned, I find simple green best for carb cleaning ( when fresh) it won’t discolor the metal,once it’s contaminated it will. To clean the wife’s jewelry a small amount of laundry detergent and a splash of ammonia works wonders, do not use a flammable liquid as the adgitation atomizes the product, nothing like a fire to put some excitement in your day.

 

G'day Laroke,

I bought an ultrasonic cleaner a while back. It makes the right zzzzzt noises, but doesn't clean at all. I tried all the tricks - hot water, isolate the parts from the basket, Simple Green, parts in ziplock bags of solvent into the water bath.... nothing. Figured I either bought a dead unit, or just a machine made to make zzzzzt noises. Dumb-ass me should have asked this question first:

Do you have the make and model of your machine please?

It looks about the size I want (big enough to clean a 4-barrel), and a recommendation from a happy user would be pretty useful.

Cheers, and thanks,
Harv

 

Yup, I have one like the one @LAROKE showed above. About the best thing for removing sediment and other junk from blind passages inside carburetors and such.

I bought a smaller one, the trick is to get a plastic container that fits into the machine, fill the outside with clean water then put the solvent and item in the plastic container. It can also be quite a bit taller than the actual bath and the sound waves travel through the plastic container really quite well. Means you can make the bath bigger and never have to scrub the thing out.

I took a look on Ama**n just now and they had the one I bought under a different random name "Varwaneo 3 liter"- bear in mind the 3L one actually only holds about 2L and I could just about get a 2BBL Carter to fit in it.

Phil

 

So apparently the answer to my original question is that no; no one has actually used one of the ones in this link.

Or at least no one who has read this post so far. Thanx to everyone who took the time to answer.

Still hoping to hear from an actual user.

And as for buying a more expensive one I'll probably not be doing that. The odds of me actually needing one are really slim; but for dirt cheap I'd try one of these if anyone said that they actually work.

I have a commercially made parts washer (about the size of an old time horizontal Coke cooler like the ones folks make street rod trailers out of) with pump/flexible pipe-hose/etc./filled with Stoddard solvent. It's worked fine for me for the last 20 years but I'm not opposed to trying something new. I won't be spending $100 - $500 (or WAY more for the really good ones) to experiment though.

 

DIY cleaner

Nick

 

If I were to decide to buy one are there any out there large enough to do valve covers, intake manifolds, etc., without breaking the bank?

 

There are REAL ultrasonic cleaners, which have high-frequency transducers attached to the bottom of a tank, and are a lot more than $30, and they work. The $30 variety are NOT ultrasonic, even though they are advertised as such. They usually have a small DC motor with an unbalanced rotor glued to the bottom of a small tank, thus giving you the "vibes" that you can feel. Just a bit of a toy really. There is one way of testing if your cleaner is a real ultrasonic cleaner, is by turning it on high, and then leave your hand in there. If your cartilage has dissolved, it is a real one. Or put in a piece of aluminium foil, a proper ultrasonic cleaner will punch tiny holes through it. (Probably the safest way).

 

This guy has a great idea.. .

 

Sorry @atch I didn't see the link in your original post. That thing is for cleaning your boxers in a motel sink.
Real ultrasonic cleaners do a great job but something big enough to do larger stuff like intakes are going to be pricey.

 

I have a Harbor Freight cleaner and for the price and what I use it for it works great. I use water and Dawn dish washing liquid. I use it for small engine carbs. Might have to run it a couple of times as the timer is only for 5 minutes.
Len

 

I also have the harbor freight one. I use Castrol super clean in it and it works great. Cleaning greasy bolts and nuts, some come out looking new. Does a great job cleaning grime from threads

 

did small engine work-harbour freight one worked great-used 50/50 simple green and water-mostly because my boss hated the smell of simple green-LOL

 

also if you held your fingers in it while it was running,you could feel your teeth vibrate-never a dull moment at work

 

You can also feel all the soft tissue separating from your bones.. marrow, tendons, cartilage... Brain.. don't do it.

I did just buy one to use cleaning carburetors and small parts, did a couple test runs today.
Threw some used spark plugs in the basket with soap and water, let it run for a half hour twice, worked ok, might work better with something more aggressive than dish soap but..
Anyway, last picture is a typical before and after, some were better, some not so much

 

I use an old crock pot with 50/50 simple green . Doesn’t vibrate much , I raise and lower the basket every so often . It cleans my carbs , and injection pump parts , really nicely . I may invest in an ultra sound cleaner , the vibes have to work much better . Aluminum castings go into the reloading brass cleaner . This works super super nice also . Not good for polished parts , they will no longer be polished .