I forgot how well stuff dries when it's cleaned at 140 degrees!!! Minutes to dry instead of dripping all over. Some of the harnesses you get must be fugly.....

Thanks Graham.

Anyone figure out where to get one of these?

They are all over eBay.

Actually, the deal that Jcslocum found is gone. They still offer a 3.4 gallon version for just over $300, but I searched around the net for a while and the cheapest 5 gallon ultrasonic cleaner I could find was over $800. If you found a cheaper alternative currently available, please post a link.

Yeah that one on ebay was a good deal and I think a lot of people recognized that. Shipped from Florida with free shipping. Box is pretty big and weighs 34 lbs so it's not an inconsequential shipping cost. When I bought mine a few weeks ago, they had sold 45 and counting. $380 is a big chunk of coin but I think it pays for itself pretty quickly in the time saved from scrubbing stuff by hand in a slop sink like I do as DIY guy in my home garage. I'm real happy with mine.

That said, don't go thinking you just throw a filthy caked-on oil & dirt part into the sonic beer cooler and it will come out sparkling clean like magic. You're wise to clean off the easy crud before dunking it in the cooler. Because whatever crud you don't remove prior to sonic cleaning is going to reduce the strength of your cleaning solution = more changing of your solution.

As far as hard to clean parts go? This thing rocks for cam housings. They are a complete PITA to clean by hand.

I got mine...put it to work straight away on my current 3.0 rebuild. Works very well and absolutely worth the price of admission IMO. Thanks for the tip...

http://asbury.smugmug.com/By-Land/Ra...08060300-L.jpg

I would contact the seller. Their ID is salonsupplystore and they have a huge eBay biz with 186k sales.

I'm still using mine and love it. Cam towers are soooo easy. Heads too with all the little fins. The water get filthy immediately but I have yet to see much degrading in the ability to clean stuff. But refilling is cheap and easy with water and Dawn dish soap. I'm not even adding simple green anymore.

Not worried about hurting the aluminum? The standard test for ultrasonics is to put in a piece of a aluminum foil and time how long it takes the cleaner to perforate it.

Nope, not at all. I'm not cleaning alum foil.

Just a word of caution, ultrasonics can destroy parts.

When I was in aviation, we had to only run jet engine parts no longer than X number of minutes. If someone did, we'd have to do non-destructive testing to see if the part was compromised.

I'm not an engineer nor metallurgist, but was told that if the part starts "singing" at the same frequency as the ultrasonic's transducer puts out, there will no longer be a part.

Not trying to be a Debbie-downer, just throwing out there what I was told by some ME's. :)

Wouldn't happen to know of/have some type of material worksheet or data sheet on that would you?

Ultrasonic cleaning can indeed destroy parts especially aluminum at certain frequencies. Google it or check out zenith's ultrasonic page.

Excellent Part Cleaner
 

Which metrial use to Part Cleaner

could putting in a simple rotating grid/plate solve this problem?

Mike

I have also heard that some of the firearm people will not use it for cleaning , believing it will make the small casting cracks larger.

does anyone have other references about this from a source who is not trying to sell you their machine ?

What about cylinders? Has anyone tried cylinders?

Yup, it works a charm...

The only thing I have not done yet is rods.

I work with ultrasonic cleaners. They indeed can damage parts but it takes some time in perfectly clean solution with thinner parts. We used to test the cleaner with aluminum foil, it puts holes in it if it's working well but all you have to do to test it is put your hand in there and if you feel like the thing is shoving needles through you it's working well. If the solution is dirty it has diminished effect and thus less worry about the part getting damaged. As long as it's not in there too long it should be fine. But I think leave in 5 minutes and inspect the part for damage. Keep an eye on it.
BTW that's a great price on a cleaner and amazing for one that large. We used to pay thousands for smaller than that. We paid $22000 for one only double the size!

I cleaned a really grungy engine oil cooler tonight. This engine had lots of leaks in the past and the cooler was disgusting and some of the cooling channels had grime plugging the holes. I did a few other parts first so the water was up to temp,. I plugged the inlet and outlet so no cleaner went inside the cooler and ran it for 15 minutes and the flipped it for another 15. It cam out clean and shiny. All grime and grunge removed. Perfect!

what kind of cleaning solution are you guys using? i hear simple green isn't so good for aluminum. i hear some are using 50/50 CLR (calcium,lime,rust) with good results. also heard lemon juice and water works well too.

anyone else try this compared to SG/dawn dishwashing detergent?

I'm just using Dawn and Tap Water. No complaints.

We use a mixture of Dawn, ammonia and water in the ultra-sonic cleaner at
911 Vintage Parts Home.
The new machine is large enough for an entire case if anyone needs piece of mind for their rebuild.
We have all the case plugs in stock so a thorough cleaning becomes pretty easy.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1431013304.jpg

I bought a smaller one and a 5 gallon one from SharperTec for Weber cleaning. Both died after about a year and I didn't use them all that much. I now have a commercial quality, Branson 5-gallon unit. BIG difference in quality and durability! I still use the SharperTec 1220 cleaning solution but have been using Simple Green with good results also.

I have a three liter model sold by Hornady. It's basically identical to the ones on eBay (which I unfortunately didn't know about until much later).

It's small, but I've used the hell out of it. I've cleaned all manner of car, gun, and machine parts in it. It works fantastically, it's amazing how well it cleans. A larger model would be extremely nice to have...

Looks like there are more for sale again!

Pro Stainless Steel 22 L Liters 1080W Digital Ultrasonic Cleaner Heater Timer | eBay

Got mine! thanks

Is it that one? any good?

This would fit my VW mk4 turbo head perfect!

I just bought it today because you posted that link! HAHA! I hope it's good. I read the specs and they show a powerful machine. It's big. I will be using it for jewelry as I already have them for jewelry but I bought this for the size and price. Can't go wrong with that price. Most my cleaners have cost me more than that and they're only 1/2 gallon size. I'll let you know how it compares to professional quality.

Still lovin mine. That one looks about the same.

Dumb question number 3...
Can you wash mag parts in it, or not advised?
What cleaners are safe for mag?
thanks,
dug

Mag will be safe. I'm now not even using simple green. Just tap water and Dawn dish soap. The original dawn that is blue. Not the newer fancy smelling stuff.

After cleaning is it advisable to apply some protection to the AL or other metals to prevent corrosion or oxidation (ah but I repeat myself)?

For example, I have read threads on cleaning cooling fans where the Al/mag is oiled after cleaning.

Experience and comments?

These cleaners can eat through thin(very thin) foil. It will literally make holes in it. But if you clean quickly or clean heavy thick items it's fine.
I've never heard of reoiling a part though.
Check this out:http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1439339280.jpg

Cleaner on the right is my regular 3/4 gallon. Overkill for my purposes but I'll be using it for some car parts as well I'm sure.

You got yours already? Some cleaners I use are so strong, some parts, mostly mag parts will get shot with some gibbs

So is this the test you did to see if it was working ok?

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YR5PgwEDFzs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

What's a gibb?
No I didn't do the foil test but I did do the hand dip test. It hurt so I guess it works. All around too. It's a pretty nice machine. Now I hope it lasts.

Gibbs, great stuff

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/08...e615ee659a.jpg


Sent from me

Adding my experience to the pot . . .

I bought one of the 5G models when they came back up for sale a few weeks back. Its the same as that shown on the "left" in post #75.

Over the course of 2-3 days I put a couple of hours on it cleaning fasteners and other small parts. When I went to start the next load and pushed the "Start" button for the ultrasonic system, nothing happened. I then noticed that the temperature wasn't rising either. The panel still worked, gave a seemingly accurate temp reading and the ultrasonic timer would count down - it just wasn't doing anything.

I contacted the seller about the problem. To their credit, they were responsive and apologetic and seemed genuinely interested in helping me solve the issue. They did ask me to do a couple of rounds of testing including supplying them with a video illustrating the problem and partially disassembling the unit to take/send sending additional photos.

Ultimately they diagnosed the problem as a "bad mother board" and said they would send me a new one that I would have in ~10 days.

A board did arrive on time and included a bag full of electronic parts (transistors, small fuses, resistors, etc.) but there was no explanation, schematics or any other documentation supplied. I felt a little better after finding that the board appeared to be completely assembled.

The board was one of four inside the unit and at first it wasn't readily apparent (to me at least) which one it was meant to replace. Swapping the boards was a little bit of a chore, mainly because of other, poorly soldered and/or crimped connectors that came apart during the process.

With the board replaced the cleaner has functioned normally so far but that's maybe 45 minutes total run time. Assuming that I don't have other problems I would still say that I'm happy with the machine overall. While I wasn't thrilled with all the hoop-jumping to diagnose and repair, I acknowledge that my experience could have been much worse.

The failure actually bothered me less than the somewhat shoddy assembly work. That said, it seems like a very useful tool and quite a good value for a light-duty environment considering the alternatives - assuming of course that it doesn't crap-out on me again.

Also, +1 on the Gibbs. I cleaned my grungy front torsion bar adjusters in the ultrasonic and then gave them a good coat of Gibbs and they look almost like new.