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!