Other Uses for UltraSonic Cleaners

[michaelnel]

I bought an Ultrasonic cleaner to clean my brass. It cleaned it too well for my taste, removing all carbon from the inside of the neck, for instance.

But I have found it really useful for other cleaning tasks that are normally somewhat tedious. I clean the muzzle brake from my 6 Dasher in there. It's amazing, you put it in there in a water / Citranox solution, turn it on and you can literally watch a cloud of carbon shoot out of the brake in the first second. I also toss my cleaning brushes and jags in there, and I disassemble my bolt and put the parts in there. They all come out spanking clean in 5-10 minutes.

Have you folks found other uses for your ultrasonic cleaner?

 

[nosualc]

Works wonders on carburetor bodies and jets.

-nosualc

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Works wonders on carburetor bodies and jets.

-nosualc

The absolute most impressive use is this. Makes them look new after the communist ethanol goes thru em.

 

[jonbearman]

Not to hijack but what cleaner do you use with the carburetor parts.

 

[Macropod]

I use kerosene in mine to clean mountain bike chains. Best thing ever. My kids are into the sport so chains cop a beating.

 

[mshelton]

I wish I had thought about the carb parts, rebuilt a couple motorcycle ones recently, the sonic cleaner would have saved me some elbow grease.

 

[normmatzen]

I have the best of all alternate uses for an ultrasonic cleaner. I, too, stopped using it to clean cases as they came out too clean and stuck to the bullets as well as cold welding to the mandrel of a collet die!

Some guy is selling an ultrasonic based gadget that you put a wine bottle in it and push either the "white" or "red" button (15 min and 20 min) and the bottle is ultrasonically treated and "aged" equivalent of 20 years in 20 minutes.
A friend and I tried it New Years Eve with two identical bottles of inexpensive Sangiovese. One bottle went into my ultrasonic cleaner for 20 min and one didn't. Only my wife knew which was which as she marked them.
Bottom line, both bottles were equally mediocre! So, don't bother!

 

[michaelnel]

Works wonders on carburetor bodies and jets.

-nosualc

For a while during the dot com crash I got laid off and had trouble finding high tech work. Out of desperation I took a job as a motorcycle technician in a small shop that specialized in reviving junkers that had sat around for years. They always had gummed up carbs and brake systems, and the commercial ultrasound unit we had did a terrific job of cleaning all the tiny passageways that get varnished up in old carbs.

 

[Nodak7mm]

Other uses besides cleaning gun parts... I really gotta chuckle. 20+ yrs ago when I was involved with turbine engines, we had several sonic cleaners for cleaning fuel nozzles, oil passage screens, etc... And I thought hey I wonder if this will work for cleaning my brass. So up to the day I left the industry I was sneaking brass and other gun parts into the shop and using the sonic cleaners for "other uses".


NoSlack is spot on, no better way to clean little 2 stroke carbs.


Rod

 

[Dusty Stevens]

I use simple green and water but most use dishwashing liquid. Any surfactant will work real well. I have a very large branson and it gets very hot so that helps too.

 

[CJ6]

I do the wifes jewelry (rings/earrings/necklasses).

 

[Minesweeper3433]

Anything that will fit into the sonic cleaner when I am cleaning goes in. Mountain bike parts during the winter break go in there and the frame goes in the dishwasher to wash dirt out. Really excited right now as my landlord wants to get rid of the crappy electric oven in the kitchen and said I can keep the oven for cerekoting parts. And I love using it for my colt navy after some shooting. Black Powder is fun but dirty as can be.

 

[mshelton]

What mix are you guys using in the cleaner if you want to clean blued parts?

 

[hogpatrol]

AR BCG and charging handle.

 

[carlsbad]

Any advice on which Ultrasonic Cleaner to buy?

I'm justifying it to clean brass but I'll probably clean a lot of other things just like you guys. There are some SS models on ebay for a few hundred $ that look powerful, have a large capacity, but I'd hate to have a problem with reliability. The $84 one at Harbor Freight is cheap and they provide some level of customer support. The RCBS one had a drain and good reviews.

If you buy a large one can you do small jobs by just placing a small glass bowl of solution in it with the small job in it? Maybe I should buy 2, one large one and a small one.

Any advice would be appreciated.

--Jerry

 

[22DASHER]

Ultrasonic cleaners work great for heavy calculus deposit removal and for subgingival cleanings....