Ultrasonic Cleaner
 

Hey folks. Lately there have been a few posts regarding cleaning an engine,( with baked on castor ) in a crock pot, with antifreeze. Just wondering how well an ultrasonic cleaner would work?

RE: Ultrasonic Cleaner
 

Great way to clean an engine. I had a cheep one for about 5 years, before it died. I got a
a quality one for free, because it was broken. I sent it off for repair, but it wasn't repairable. I've been looking for a good used one for several years. I've talked to several jewlers, but
they arn't very interested in parting with theirs. If you know of a good source of ultrasonic
cleaners, that arn't too expensive, I'd be very interested?

RE: Ultrasonic Cleaner
 

My wife never used her cleaner she bought for her jewelry And still hasn't missed it. It isn't big enough to soak a complete case though but I have seen bigger ones in department stores. I use it mainly for small parts and it works pretty well. If your doing a lot of engines it's still hard to beat the crock pot. Plus the pot is cheaper.

RE: Ultrasonic Cleaner
 

walmart sells the ultrasonic cleaners in the Jewlery dept. I don't have one but would like to know if they are good quality for cleaning engines. Batdog

RE: Ultrasonic Cleaner
 

Kevin,

Crock pot vs. ultra sonic cleaning? I use both, because they do two separate functions. The crock pot is chemically stripping varnish and other residues from running from engine parts. 12 to 24 hours in the pot at low temperature, pull them out and rinse in cold water get most of the gunk.

Then it is off to the ultra sonic cleaner that pulls junk from the pores of the metal. A little dish washing soap and cold water goes into the tank with the parts (cover them completely) and run until the system stops. The water in the tank will usually be gray, so often I dump the water, rinse the parts and run them again. When you end the cycle and the water is relatively clean, then the parts are as clean as you can get them.

Then all the parts are rinsed again with fresh water and tossed into the oven at 220 degrees and baked to drive off all water. This is of course only for the metal parts. Then all parts are oiled with after run oil while hot and put aside to cool before assembly.

I use this on all my racing engines and all my sport engines that will fit into the tank.

RE: Ultrasonic Cleaner
 

Or diesel fuel. It cleans and is also a lubricant. I have made up a number of witches brews too depending on what I want to clean. They really do remove a lot of the left over gunk.

RE: Ultrasonic Cleaner
 

Hey.  I love it when the reply's you get, actually answer the question you asked.  Great info guys.  Thank-you. Greg Doe, I don't know of any cheap sources for ultrasonic cleaners.  I have checked on Ebay, but most of the ones I've seen are quite expensive.  Also I do not know how large a unit would be needed.  Some of the smaller ones ( industrial type ) go for a couple hundred dollars, and go up from there.  I think I saw one in a pile of stuff in my brothers garage.  Maybe a late night visit is in order.

RE: Ultrasonic Cleaner
 

Harbor Freight tools............................................. ....

RE: Ultrasonic Cleaner
 

Harbor Freight? Good suggestion. I'm going to check. As they go up in size, they generally
go up in price! Small ones go for under $100.00, and the price goes up from there.
Size of course is dependent on the sizes of engines you run. When I rebuilt my '57 Chevy,
I wished I'd had a 2 quart! If I could find a cheap 1 quart I'd be very satisfied. Greg

RE: Ultrasonic Cleaner
 

All they are is a vibrator under a pan of some type to hold the liquid. When I was in school for dental lab we used a large vibrator with a large wooden plate on top. Wish I still had one. With one of those you could mount any size can or tray on top. Why not look for a big vibrator and make your own?

RE: Ultrasonic Cleaner
 

At about 40,000 htz or so

Ken

RE: Ultrasonic Cleaner
 

Ken,GOOD ANSWERE. Just the stainless steel tanks on the 2 quart ones run a $100.00, which
by the way, the tanks often fail with a hole on the bottom of the tank, after years of use.

RE: Ultrasonic Cleaner
 

Hey Gray Beard. What kind of vibrator are we talking about? Yes this is a serious question. I would have no idea where to look.

RE: Ultrasonic Cleaner
 

The one I'm thinking of was used for removing air bubbles when mixing stone. Look at a dental supply store. I'm sure it isn't cheap but it had a lot of power. When they closed the program they sold everything in the lab. Wish I would have taken one. I did scoop up one of the steam cleaners and a lot of high end equipment but I never thought of taking one of those.

RE: Ultrasonic Cleaner
 

I just found one on eBay, that is a decent price. The tank on it is approx. 10in X 6in X 3in. I am sure that would be large enough to do a lot of engines. The only thing is the depth at 3in. I guess you could always flip the case over a few times?

RE: Ultrasonic Cleaner
 

Or try the redneck method.  Get a metal tin that will hold your motor and favourite cleaner and bungee it onto the back of a buzz sander.  The better ones vibrate at quite a high freq.  Never tried it but saw it on youtube.

RE: Ultrasonic Cleaner
 

You can always set another container into the tank. A glass beaker for example, that is deaper
than the 3 inches of the tank. My first ultrasonic cleaner was so small that for mufflers I had to
immerse one end at a time. Greg

RE: Ultrasonic Cleaner
 

I have one from Harbor Freight and it does the job of cleaning engines and small parts just fine

RE: Ultrasonic Cleaner
 

This might sound a bit crude but I used to this years ago when rebuilding auto carbs
and I didn't have money for fancy equipment.

Get a metal tub large enough to fit your needs. Firmly mount a small AC motor to it.
Attach a collar to the motor shaft with a extra long set screw. (This will put the collar
out of balance) Set the tub on a layer of soft foam.

This contraption will vibrate and agitate the cleaning solution considerably and can be adjusted
by varying the set screw.

Like I said . It's crude but it works

Regards,
Roby