Advice on Ultrasonic Cleaners

An ultrasonic cleaner was mentioned in one of the "Favrorite Tools" threads and it got me curious.  I've never used one before.  Considering how carburetor-heavy my fleet is, and how many cans of carburetor cleaner I go through cleaning and rebuilding them, it might be a good tool for me.  My questions:

- Which one do I buy?  Obvious question, but in it entails a lot of sub questions- things like size, power, etc.  I will definitely need something big enough to put a pair of SU carburetors into, or a 4 barrel carb.  Bigger if there's other obvious stuff I might find myself wanting to use it for.  

- What else are they good for?  If all they do is clean carbs, that's sort of worth it, but what else do you all use them for?

- What fluid do you use?  Are they just water, or some sort of solvent, Purple Power, or some other magic fluid?  How often do you have to change it?

- Do they use heat, or just ultrasonic action?

Thanks for the insight!  

Some answers to some of your questions:

Heat and ultrasonic action.

I usually use a mix of water and Simple Green (I've also used Kyzen ultrasonic fluid)

You can clean any part with ease, just make sure you adjust the water temperature accordingly.

Buy the biggest you can afford, store.

On the household ones you change the water when it gets black, meaning often or with every use. Industrial ones have a pump and filters and you can filter the water.

I have this one in my Amazon cart, but have not bought yet:

Vevor 30L ultrasonic cleaner

In reply to Slippery :

Thanks, I think I ran across that one in my Amazon searches.  Do you have another one now, just smaller?  

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

I had an industrial one, Omegasonics ... but that's big bucks. I need one for my house and that Vevor is very similar to one that member Cousin_Eddie has and likes.

Some of the things I cleaned:

Mine came from a closed down dentist office. Every dentist office has one that they use to clean their tools of the trade. Dentists don't buy cheap stuff either. In my case, an outfit on eBay specializes in selling used dental equipment. I got it for about 10 percent of the new price. Mine is a big one, made in USA.

I use it for everything. Like I restored a Goldwing and I used it to clean all of the switch gear. All of the wiring harnesses. Those nappy electrical plugs on harnesses that you can never get clean, I got them spotless clean. Wheel bearings. Brake calipers. Lock cylinders. The intake manifold and valve cover on my Toyota.  The spindles on my commercial mowers. Nuts and bolts. Pistons. Greasy sockets and ratchets. Radio control car parts. The airtag holder from my dachshund's collar. The safety switch from the brake lever on my ZTR. If it fits, I uses it.

I even use it to clean my wife's engagement ring. It always hurts her feelings. She thinks she keeps it clean. Then I put it in the ultrasonic for ten minutes and she sees what clean really looks like. It's quite noticeable. 

Mostly I use Purple Power and water. Sometimes I use Simple Green and water. You got to be cool with the purple stuff though as it can get pretty aggressive even when diluted down. It will get stuff clean but it will darken the color of aluminum parts if you leave them in there too long. 

I always use the heater. When I know ahead of time, I turn it on early and get it good and hot. My cleaner is large and it takes a couple of hours to get it really hot. Stuff comes out sterling clean. Clean enough to even put in your mouth (reference to dentist office usage).

Cousin Eddie, do you have the name of the ebay store that sells the ultrasonic cleaner that you bought? Been wanting to get one for my shop.

I'd be interested in a dental refurb as well. My little kiln is one from a former dentist, and it turns out that it's really useful for heating small parts for a shrink fit. 

untchabl said:

Cousin Eddie, do you have the name of the ebay store that sells the ultrasonic cleaner that you bought? Been wanting to get one for my shop.

Let me go look. It's been a few years.

I can't find my eBay order for the ultrasonic cleaner. I'm sure I gave full details here on this board in the past. Can someone with the computer skills search my content ? I'm sure it's here. Probably about 3 years ago roughly.

We may need to ration them out, since there's clearly like 3 of us here at least that want one. 

I have the 10L Vevor cleaner, it'll fit a Rochester (my video on it), but I'd like something bigger.  Buy the biggest you can.

No complaints with the Vevor.

I recently did hydraulic lash adjusters in it, but used Mineral Spirits (and kept an eye on it!) - it worked a treat!

... and the odd lurker who's been considering one for a while for carbs 'n' stuff.

In reply to SkinnyG (Forum Supporter) :

I was wondering how it would work with flammable cleaners.  I like simple green and water, but on metal parts you need to get it oiled up quick after taking it out to avoid flash rust. 

I was in the Hammer Store yesterday and was amazed to see this.  6 liter, heated, stainless parts basket.  $179.99  Cleaner

Checked out the used cleaners on eBay, seems like the Vevor might be the best bet. Assuming it turns out to be a "good" Chinese tool, and not a paperweight. 

brandonsmash said:

I'd be interested in a dental refurb as well. My little kiln is one from a former dentist, and it turns out that it's really useful for heating small parts for a shrink fit. 

Off topic, but Mrs VCH picked up a jewelry kiln a decade ago to melt glass, and that sucker will get to 1300 degrees. IIRC she paid like $100 for it used.  I just use a $10 goodwill toaster oven in the garage for heating stuff for shrink fit. 

I have a Vevor from Amazon that I use for clock movements. It works very well. 

I also have a small Harbor Freight version full of carb cleaner that I use for carburetors and parts. 

Before:

After:

Get the biggest one you can justify buying. This is a case where bigger is usually better. 

Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) said:

I can't find my eBay order for the ultrasonic cleaner. I'm sure I gave full details here on this board in the past. Can someone with the computer skills search my content ? I'm sure it's here. Probably about 3 years ago roughly.

This is all I could find (High Speed Easy Chair thread). 

Do these things make any noise or do they do go about their work silently?

In reply to Woody (Forum Supportum) :

The ones I have are pretty ultrasonic but they do whine a little. 

They also only run for a few minutes at a time so it's not something you will have to listen to for hours. 

I like that Vevor ad.....

"VEVOR 30L Industrial Ultrasonic Cleaner with Digital Timer&Heater 40kHz Professional Large Ultrasonic Cleaner Total 1200W for Wrench Tools Industrial Parts Mental Instrument Apparatus Cleaning"

They mention that further down in the description too, so it must be what they meant? 

In reply to MiniDave :

I mean, the 'M' and the 'D' are right next to each other on the keyboard....

...oh...wait...

Woody (Forum Supportum) said:

Do these things make any noise or do they do go about their work silently?

They do make noise. Its not super annoying, unless the part is sitting just right for it to start a high pitch whistly sound that will force you to reposition quick. 

volvoclearinghouse said:

In reply to MiniDave :

I mean, the 'M' and the 'D' are right next to each other on the keyboard....

Depends what you're doing, I guess.  I keep saying that if I can reanimate dead things in my Mechanics class, the Biology teacher should reanimate dead things in his class.  Turns out he's just not into that the same way I am.

After spending an hour fastidiously cleaning the innards of a 1960's Jaguar power steering pump last night, and staring at the pile of SU carburetors sitting on my shelf awaiting an overhaul, I decided to go for one of the 30L Vevor units.  Should be here in a week or so.  

https://www.ebay.com/itm/266494102923

Ebay was a bit cheaper than Amazon.  I have a conspiracy theory about this...one of my credit cards is doing 5% cash back on Amazon thru December 31...mysteriously, everything on Amazon seems to be a bit more expensive than elsewhere this month...

Will update when I get a chance to try this thing out.  Will be interesting to see how well a 500W heater heats 7 gallons of water in my uninsulated shop this winter.  My guess is "not well", but I can always pre-boil it if needed.  

EDIT:  Today is Mrs. VCH's birthday.  Happy birthday honey, look what I bought for me!