liquid_TR

can I use antifreeze diluted with water in an ultrasonic cleaner apart from dish washer detergent?

The one I bought came with a "special" detergent which turned out to be very powerful but also very corossive to aluminum.

so now im trying to de-oxidise two 160 fx heads with hot water + dish washer detergent + vineger + lemon juice.. its coming on slow..

thats when the AF idea came to my mind.

Motorboy

I has not tried then i can not answer at this question..

It is worth to try a lot of difference stuff to use in the ultrasonic cleaner and see what you get good or bad results. No neccesary to add much stuff in the water to wash the engine parts, it is the ultrasonic waves who are cleaning the engine parts.

Never add flammable stuff in the ultrasonic bath, the gas in the bubbles can develop up to 5000 degree celsius/9032 F, possible enough to ignite the flammable stuff [sm=eek.gif] ... But the temperature in the bubble last in very very short time, not enough to warm up the water since the water has good cooling effect.

gkamysz

My Feedback: (19)

I was thinking about trying antifreeze too. It might not have the properties for ultrasonic cleaning. And I like to clean my machined parts so I'd be changing the bath often.

Patxipt

Bought an ultrasonic cleaner today. It has 50W max power and a 0.5L bowl.
I have tried the muffler from my Enya SS40BB and the results are posted on the last attached photo. The bath consisted of diluted dish washer (Fairy brand) and a nick of window cleaner. The parts were cleaned for 5 minutes at 50W.
Then I tried antifreeze - using the same time interval and power the result was nil. The ultrasonic bath using antifreeze did nothing to clean the parts.
I'm gonna try the crockpot method this night, the engine and muffler are already cooking on an old cooking pan and an electric heater plate.

Ram Jet

Ok, I'm sold. Where do I get an ultrasonic cleaner? eBay? Yep, eBay "Buy It Now" $17.99. I don't have any dirty engines right now but I'm always fiddleing and cleaning something. How about antifreeze IN the sonic cleaner? Hey now!

Thanks.

Bill

Motorboy

Did you read this in last post #29?: "Then I tried antifreeze - using the same time interval and power the result was nil. The ultrasonic bath using antifreeze did nothing to clean the parts."

liquid_TR

Well its been about a month now since I bought my ultrasonic cleaner, and Ive tried everything from all kinds of house detergents to all polisher liquids and antifreeze types I could find; to heavy solvent trichlorethylen and alcohol.. nothing works as the stuff I got yesterday from an industrial ultrasonic cleaning company - a magic white powder.

I have told them that I needed a ultrasonic bath solution that will wash the oils, oil burns, carbon deposits and other marks off of my delicate aluminum engine parts and at no cost cause any kind of oxidation to the aluminum and cause no harm to any o-rings, plastics and rubber parts.

you know what? It finally worked! I was on the verge of giving up ultrasonic cleaner.

I'll be getting the MSDS on monday so I can put it up here.

gkamysz

My Feedback: (19)

That's interesting. The chemicals are very specific. I look forward to seeing what's in it. I was going to end up buying the stuff I mentioned earlier, made for ultrasonics.

mike early

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=93035 Has stainless steel holding tank. Does not specify whether it has heat or not.



http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=95563 Does not specify stainless, but might be. Has a heater.



Has anyone tried either one of these items?

The best thing about Harbor Freight is buying stuff when it goes on sale. Just need to be patient sometimes. Since there is one local to me, I can take stuff back for replacement when/if it breaks.

mike early

How about a link?

Julian537

My Feedback: (9)

Here is the MSDS sheet for ALLOSIL the product motor boy used in the video.
http://my.nilfisk-advance.com/webfiles/225.pdf


From the chemical make up on the MSDS sheet, it looks like it is just a base. 9.5ph.

TSP or tri sodium phosphate is probably the white magic powder stuff??? it also is a base that dissolves well in water. It can also be purchased in a high strength liquid at the local BORG. Big orange retail Giant!

liquid_TR

mike, I bought the one in the second picture. Its got a 2.5lt stainless steel tank and very effective heater. But its transducer is most powerful where its located only - the middle. Its power seems to drop at the edges of the tank. I havent bought the powder online, so I cant give a link.

But It may very well be what Julian is talking about. It seems like a heavy detergent but wont foam much. Its gotta be a light base otherwise it will oxidize the aluminum which it didnt at all. Usually this stuff needs to be a strong base to clean well, but even this powder is a weak base, it cleaned the oils, dust, dirt and metal corrosion with a single bath.

NM2K

My Feedback: (14)

Like a dummy, I bought their more expensive $100 ultrasonic cleaning tub. What I got was a fancy timing chip that won't let the cleaner stay on for longer than five minutes at a time. I'm going to rewire it so it uses just a toggle switch. I hope the motor is up to running for twelve hours continuously. If not, it hits the trash can (or eBay) and I buy the $30 unit. <G>


Ed Cregger

NM2K

My Feedback: (14)

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Ethylene Glycol is a very commonly used chemical. The little bit that we modelers use will have a neglible impact upon the environment. Besides, you can use this stuff over and over and over again. The only real concern is the toxicity of the liquid and the vapor.

If you want to waste your time, use the environmentally safe antifreeze, or mistakenly by the 50/50 version of ethylene glycol. Neither will do a good job and will result in being discarded. That is environmentally careless.

Some of the new ultrasonic cleaners come with a heat function in addition to using soundwaves to clean. Now to get the manufacturers to install timer circuitry that provides more than five minutes of operation at a time. That would be the perfect solution for we modelers that wish to clean smaller engines (not gasoline sparkers - too large).


Ed Cregger

Motorboy

There are not necessary to run ultrasonic cleaner longer than 2-5 minutes, it is the cleaning stuff in water and temperature who make ultrasonic cleaner very effective to clean the gummed model engine in short time.

Disadvantages with long running ultrasonic cleaner: the ultrasonic cleaner can eat up the aluminium parts in case the ultrasonic cleaner has high watt per litre!
If in doubt the cleaner has hi watt per litre (mostly industry ultrasonic cleaner has hi watt per litre) , take a aluminium foil and add in ultrasonic cleaner to test the cleaner are suitable to clean the aluminium parts or not.

NM2K

My Feedback: (14)

Thanks, Jens. I hadn't thought about that aspect of the process.


Ed Cregger

krayzc-RCU

My Feedback: (31)

kewl

chashint

Seems like a ten dollar crock pot and a gallon of antifreeze is a lot easier and more reliable.
I have used it many times and it works perfectly.

proptop

My Feedback: (8)

And substantially cheaper in the long run...(I think )
(disclaimer: I don't have an ultra sonic cleaner though...not yet anyway been wanting to get one for years, but...)

For example, I put half a gal. of undiluted antifreeze in my 3 qt. slow cooker, and that will clean at least a couple dozen engines.

An old flyin' buddy gave me his collection of engines shortly before he passed away...3 shoe boxes heaping full of dusty, varnish covered engines that had been sitting un-covered in his basement machine / woodworking shop for a couple decades. I cleaned at least 2 dozen in the same batch of antifreeze before replacing it. Figure maybe 50 engines (or so ) per gallon...that aint bad...

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

A Ultra sonic cleaner is $40-$50 and on up

rainedave

My Feedback: (1)

You could call all the local jewelry stores and ask if they have an old one sitting around they'd be willing to sell cheap. If it's a good shop it will be a professional grade unit.

David

NM2K

My Feedback: (14)

Ultrasonic cleaners are cool beans, as the kids say, but I haven't found them to be as good as good old antifreeze (lukewarm) in an old crockpot at cleaning varnished glow engines.

Granted, I don't know what I'm doing with the ultrasonic cleaner. Undoubtedly, there are tricks to master, which I haven't as yet.


Ed Cregger

kenhiraihnl

just cooked an os1.60fx in antifreeze with a walmart $12.50 crock pot...works better than i expected...ken

Ram Jet

mrhp

My Feedback: (49)

i have some powdered chem that i put in hot water or ultrasonic that takes the caramel coating off in no time and will not harm alum. and leaves it bright alum color as new and works as good or better than alosil