Ultrasonic cleaner

[firko]

I recently saw the before and after results of a  Linkert carburettor off a vintage Harley that had been cleaned up in an ultrasonic cleaner. 90 years of baked on carby grunge disappeared after a couple of sessions in the cleaner so that prompted me to purchase one. Can any of you genius's tell me which is the best and what size I need to treat a carby and other small parts? I looked at a 1.3 litre one on eBay and was wondering if it was what I need or should I go up to a 2 litre version? http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-1-3L-Stainless-Steel-Ultrasonic-Cleaner-Power-60W-Commercial-Grade-/140882829013?pt=AU_Business_Industrial_Medical_Scientific_Equipment2&hash=item20cd455ed5

[oldfart]

Firko ..... I think lozza can answer this question for you.

[sa63]

id like one big enough to drop a 500 husky barrel into..hate sandblasting them!

[brucey]

Hmmm

I have had some experience in evaluating one for purchase at work, bigger is better and what is not commonly known you need to centre the part via a rack and wire its not the best if left to sit on the walls

we went from Vic up to the mid north coast to visit the Ozzy made supplier and the cleaner had a hint of lemontine about it ie pinesol / orange power in the soap the unit did need conditioning and heating for the solution to work well.

The ozzy unit was made to clean cylinder heads / auto transmission rebuilders and yes they are bloody good and cleaning but a brass carb will clean up well in it alloy yes but a blast as Wasp suggests is still the best on alloy

Wasp are you happy with your purchase ?

All the best Bruce

[Stan S]

Mark, I bought a 900w 20ltre unit so that I could specifically fit 4 cylinder carburettor sets in. So far I am not impressed with it but to be fair I need to experiment with different types of solvent solutions before I throw it in the bin. I initially started with their recommended water and detergent mix at 40 degrees but this was useless. Next I tried a non flammable parts washer solvent at 60 degrees, this was slightly better but still not good enough compared to what I had heard about these cleaners. I haven't given up but not happy so far. My hot water pressure wash cabinet does a much better job.

Stan.

This is what I bought:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/900-Watts-20Liter-5-5-Gallon-HEATED-DIGITAL-ULTRASONIC-CLEANER-WITH-TIMER-/271274243822?pt=AU_Business_Industrial_Medical_Scientific_Equipment2&hash=item3f293476ee

[Tim754]

I used large (80lt) and small u/sonic cleaners (2lt) for a decade up till three years ago ,in an industrial job I had Mark. My experiences with them was just so so . Distilled water and detergents ,no good. Cheap quality solvents ,not much better and dangerously  flammable fumes. High flash point, heavy duty solvents worked OK but     high cost for them. Tim

[firko]

Thanks fellas.....I spoke to the bloke who had his carby done and he had it professionally ultrasonic cleaned. The general concensus seems to be that the small home machines are pretty useless on anything more than jewellery. I've bought a new Quickshade instead     on special at Torpedo7 http://www.torpedo7.com.au/products/T7RTPN0TA/title/torpedo7-3-x-3-folding-tent

[luigi37]

Wasp, is the HYDRO blasting you,ve had success with , the same thing people advertise as SODA BLASTING ?

[brucey]

Luigi no they are totally different animals

Bicarbonate of Soda is the media it is simply blasted at the surface in a cabinet or open area the media could be many things Soda, Ground up stone fruit pips ( got to love the apricot stone for not taking the edges of tools (Moulding etc) Sand now banned thank god silicoses is not a fun way to die, Garnet, Glass Bead all the way up to chilled cast iron and my favourite steel shot yep for the best finish for bonding agents etc is known as white finished.

The machine that Wasp and i discuss is a Hydro blaster is a different animal altogether it pumps a solution of typically Glass bead and water and into a mixer head and is blown at the part via air pressure the action traps the dust and nasties in the Water and the action peens the pores of materials like aluminium you can vary the amount of media in the water pressure of the air etc and use some brighteners in the water it does give you a gentle cleaning action

As wasp says when you have access to one it makes jobs so easy to clean and refinish and the results speak for themselves

Hope my waffle helped

Oh by the way the major difference in the cheap ultrasonics is the amount of piezoelectric transducers  and the quality of the ultrasonic driver for the big ones i have investigated there where upwards of 200 to 400 transducers compared to 4 to 6 in the bench top units

Dont forget the water does need to be hot we run the trials at 60 to 70 deg and conditioned the solution ( run the machine empty ) for an hour at least (gets the oxygen level in the water down)  the whole point of ultrasonics is to actually cause cavitation on the surface of the part ie micro explosions and the less oxygen in the water the more violent the blast

Bruce