Ultrasonic cleaner recommendations

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Charles Morgan

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Mercedes 250CE W114, Alfa Romeo GT Coupe 3.2 V6
I am going to start cleaning up all the small bits from my car (nuts, bolts, washers etc) to re-plate them afterwards. An ultrasonic cleaner has been recommended - does anyone have any experience and recommendation for a suitable one (hobby rather than professional quality).

I am going to try electrolysis for the larger parts.
 
Morning Charles,

Maplins have a fair range of these things. I have THIS one and, though it's only used for jewellery, watch bracelets and the like, it's a good bit of kit. They do bigger ones which may be better for your needs, though the one I have is fine for what I use it for.

Also excellent for cleaning spectacles. :D
 
Maplins tend to be quite expensive for most things. I got mine from Lakeland, who had them reduced by 50% in their sale. Works well for small parts.
 
Get one that has a heater in it. You can get detergents that are supposed to work miracles but I just use a fair amount of washing up liquid.

If things are really greasy adding some meths to the water helps
 
I got one from Amazon, it's OK for watches and jewellery - would an ultrasonic toothbrush be better for really small stuff?

S
 
Smallest stuff are little screws for the chrome trim, most are nuts and bolts.
 
Don't get one of the fancy digital ones - an analogue timer will be fine. If you want heating you will pay more remembering that you can always preheat your cleaning fluid elsewhere. When sizing remember that the bath has to be filled to a certain level to achieve the best effective liquid resonant frequency. You can get round this of course by putting your small object in small container suspended in the resonant liquid. Grant was the manufacturer that got a good name. They were the make that every lab had at one time-- usually more than 10 years old! They and other professional quality baths can be found in the catalogues of many Scientific instrument suppliers. If you have one local [ yellow pages ] it might be worth a quick look in their showroom /sales counter. they might have some ex-demo/trade in stock
http://www.grantinstruments.com/media/240499/7._ultrasonic_baths_data_sheet_1.7.pdf
 
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I have the same model as daveenty at work, mostly used for cleaning small gears etc. on instruments that have come back for service. Normally I put some clean water in the tank and then put the parts in a smaller tray filled with IPA (isopropyl alcohol) - the ultrasonic waves transmit through the water to the secondary tank. IPA is a solvent, combined with the ultrasound it really does remove the cack - you can see it "boiling" off the parts. Once the parts are cleaned the IPA can be disposed of and the tank in the cleaner doesn't get clartied up.

The cleaner is cheaper on amazon than Maplins if you go that route, BTW.

Cheers,

Gaz
 
A larger JPL machine ordered on the basis of the favourable recs for JPL here, but I need a bit more space for some awkward parts than the small one suggested. A Zinc plating kit also on its way. What fun!
 

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