Ultrasonic cleaner for small parts questions

[dschwandt]

Anyone have/use one?
Are they any good?
What is used for the cleaning solution in them?
Can anyone steer me onto a good one?
Cleaning up the gears and parts for my lathe.
Cannot believe how gummed up everything is, l;ike a carb full of gas that has been sitting for years.
Have had to take a pick to each tooth of the gears and use brake parts cleaner and fibre tooth brushes to get them clean so far.

 

[wh cc guy]

You can take them to a parts house that builds engines and have then cleaned in a hot tank. That works good.
I have used one for jewelry on really small parts and it works ok.

 

[mgonitzke]

I'm considering getting this one. I plan on getting the simple green aircraft cleaner to use with it. I have heard that works really good. I have a much smaller one I have used on some small parts, but it is too small for even a whole K-series carburetor.

 

[Shaggy77]

I have used them for years at work cleaning carbs. We have a Omega Sonics and they work well. However they are pretty pricey I think the last one they bought at work was about $2000 for a 5 gallonish model. One thing you have to make sure of is that if you stick aluminum carbs in you don't use the wrong cleaner. Or use to much heat or let them sit in it to long. Not sure how simple green would work I used it at home in a pinch in my little Horrible Freight one. Seemed to work ok for the little I needed it. The solution basically needs to form tiny bubbles that do the cleaning without eating away at the surface. Years ago I threw a intake manifold off of a Vortec V6 and my little 2.2L Chevy at the time. In the one at work. Both were really carboned up with sticky nasty carbon. Came out after a few cycles looking like brand new. Although the solution was trashed. But it certainly is a time saver and I highly recommend anyone who thinks they need one buy one. Saved a few K-Series carbs that were just trashed that came out looking like new. And the one you have listed will be pretty small because the basket takes up some room and you NEVER use them without a basket. That is probably just big enough for a couple of carbs if that.

 

[dschwandt]

Ben looking at this one in a 15 liter capacity for $195

https://www.ebay.com/itm/30L-Capaci...BBEV2bDemotion&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851
Neighbor brought over his small, one.
Holds about 3 qts is all.
Used it on a few gears for the lathye I am restoring along w/som Ajax liquid cleaner.
Worked OK once the water got hot enough. I thoink iot would be a good Idea to preheat the water on the stove to save some time, too forever to get6 up to 150*
I hate fooling around with carb and parts cleaner spray cans, wire brushes and mineral spirits.

 

[mgwin]

Back in time when smoking was allowed, they used a tank with water and a cleaning solution to clean the "smoke eaters." The tank had a valve in the bottom where a small amount of air was pumped in to make the water appear to boil. Kind of like a parts cleaner tank. It worked well.

 

[eweiss]

Ben looking at this one in a 15 liter capacity for $195

https://www.ebay.com/itm/30L-Capaci...BBEV2bDemotion&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851
Neighbor brought over his small, one.
Holds about 3 qts is all.
Used it on a few gears for the lathye I am restoring along w/som Ajax liquid cleaner.
Worked OK once the water got hot enough. I thoink iot would be a good Idea to preheat the water on the stove to save some time, too forever to get6 up to 150*
I hate fooling around with carb and parts cleaner spray cans, wire brushes and mineral spirits.

Been using this one for sometime now, works good. Don't leave your nice shinny carbs, in it over night though. It will turn them black

 

[dschwandt]

Do you have the big one, 30L?
15L is the biggest they have at present according to their ad.

Found this 30l this morning.
It ships from Memphis and I could have it by weeks end.
Tank is 20 x 12 x 8 and holds about twice the volume that of the other one.
compared to 13.11" x 11.8" x 5.9"
About $80 more

https://www.ebay.com/itm/30L-Ultras...=15303122580362fad0cdc73c490a8eb1788625ad3a9d

 

[mgonitzke]

Been using this one for sometime now, works good. Don't leave your nice shinny carbs, in it over night though. It will turn them black

Sounds like you are using a cleaning solvent that is not compatible with aluminum.

 

[djkelley]

look at
a comment about using the solvent appropriate to the project. Makes sense to me

 

[mgonitzke]

Well, I ended up buying the 15L one David linked to, as well as a jug of the "aircraft" simple green. I tried it out on a couple of driveshaft parts for my loader tractor, and a K161/K181 carb I had laying around.

That tip in the video djkelley posted is great...fill the tank with distilled water, and put cleaning solvent and parts in a separate container so you don't have to keep cleaning the machine, or waste tons of cleaner on small parts. I mixed up some of the simple green at 1 part simple green and 4 parts water (bottle says 1:3 is maximum recommended ratio for this sort of thing), dropped the parts in without doing much of any cleaning beforehand, ran the parts through at 10 minutes twice, and they came out looking like this after a rinse:

Color me impressed. The carburetor in particular is nearly spotless after cleaning, with basically zero effort expended. The heater made a HUGE difference. I used that on the second run (50°C = ~122°F) and it worked much better. I thoroughly rinsed the items with water afterwards, as the bottle of simple green says the mixture is still mildly corrosive above a 1:13 mix ratio.

 

[dschwandt]

The 30 L I ordered on Monday showed up on Thursday and was waiting on me when I got home last night after a short trip.
Have not had time to do much more than open the box yet and will be mowing most of the day today after being gone most of the week.
Film at eleven or when I get a chance to use it.
Really hopeful it will clean a head well.

 

[dschwandt]

This is why I wanted the large capacity 30 liter cleaner.
Happy Fathers Day to me!!
Shown is the quick change gearbox from my 9A South Bend lathe I am restoring.
It should also be big enough for a WCFB or AFB carb as well.
I will get back to that project as soon as I get the 126 I am currently working on off the table.

 

[Shaggy77]

If you get the actual cleaner that is supposed to be used it will work even better.

 

[mgonitzke]

If you get the actual cleaner that is supposed to be used it will work even better.

And that would be what, in your opinion?

 

[Shaggy77]

And that would be what, in your opinion?

We use this at work and it works in my opinion better than the omegasonics branded stuff we used to use. Gets carbs clean and a bit easier on aluminum. Doesn't leave it stained as easily as long as you watch the heat but if you get busy and forget about it and leave it overnight its pretty forgiving.
K&L Supply Co.
However if you head over to this link it will give you a idea on which type of cleaner to use for which job.
Why Our Ultrasonic Soap is Better | Omegasonics

 

[mgonitzke]

$61 for a gallon? I think I'll stick with Simple Green...

 

[tromaniecki]

$61 for a gallon? I think I'll stick with Simple Green...

Hmmm, Gasoline is only about $2/Gal, guy in the video seems to like it???

I might put some inside another jar floating inside machine filled with H2O, but I'm not dumping Gasoline into the hopper! Kerosene...Ahhhhhh....Maybe?

Keep this going, I'm thinking about buying one of theses too!
So far it looks like everyone seems to like theirs'.
I want the big one like David bought, wonder if they clean the same, different size hoppers?

 

[Shaggy77]

You dilute it and a gallon would last a long long time. A gallon haa lasted us at work approx a year or so. And we use the machine daily.

 

[John Will]

I have been told by tech reps from Echo, Briggs, and Kawasaki not to go stronger that 1 part Simple Green to 10 parts water or you may turn some of the aluminum carbs black. Not sure, haven't check it myself, but what I have been told.