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ultrasonic cleaner?

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scoobydoo2u

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After seeing and hearing so much of these ultrasonic cleaners I have been reading a bit about them and they seem like a VERY handy thing to have in RC..

But are they?
What do you use as the liquid in them?
Do you change the liquid often?
They will clean grease/oil out of diffs and shock bodies if I disassemble correct?
Will it damage metal? plastic?
Will they clean bearings?

And lastly are they pricey? if not whats the cheapest one that still works good?
THANKS!
 
They work great.
The sound waves get into places and remove micro particles.
Being that its a small amount of fluid its best to pre clean any large chunks or visible grease first. Otherwise it takes longer and contaminates the fluid. I change my fluid after each use. I find that clean fluid works the best.

The secret is hot fluid or a tank that will heat the fluid, and a strong transducer. With this being said thats why the good ones cost more. I have seen a unit at Harbor freight that is reasonable in price.

For me, I find that water and a drop or two of dish soap works wonders on RC Parts. Cuts grease and separates the contamination. There are reports that there is a new dish soap advertised on TV that does great on greasy pots that should work even better. I haven't tried it yet. I also use Simple Green on non greasy parts and it makes the plastic / CF / Graphite look like new. Bearings come out like new if they arent damaged before you put them in. If they are damaged you will be able to tell when they come out due to the fact that they are so clean. Remember, you must re-oil or grease them after they are cleaned.

Make sure its large enough to fit your parts.

TIP:
Justification.....
When it comes in the mail its in your best interest to clean ALL your wife's / GF jewelry FIRST.
How can she bitch if you tell her that you got it to clean her stuff.
You may get "The Look" when it migrates to the RC Bench but hay.......

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=91957
 
Hey Ed,

Did you have to make a basket to set the parts/bearing in, or did it come with something?

Also... what type of oil do you use to oil your bearings and how much is too much?
 
FastEddy said:
TIP:
Justification.....
When it comes in the mail its in your best interest to clean ALL your wife's / GF jewelry FIRST.
How can she bitch if you tell her that you got it to clean her stuff.
You may get "The Look" when it migrates to the RC Bench but hay.......

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=91957
Click to expand...

Lol! thats was great:) thanks for the info and for the link

Wow 150$ a lot more then the cheapos I seen but I guess you get what you pay for.. I think you talked me into getting one though should help things a ton!

Thanks again!
 
my advice is spend the cash and get a better unit I had one of the cheap plastic units and Yes it did work right up until it fried due to haveing to run so many cycles to get the parts clean. I picked up an industrial unit from ebay several months ago it does in 3 min what took the cheap one 20+min to do. It cost me around 80$ but was well worth it.

For small parts I use a glass baby food jar to hold the parts in cleaning agent (simple green, dish soap, denatured alcohol, lacquer thinner etc etc.) and fill the tub partially with hot water place the jar in the tub of water and run a cycle thru usually 6 min and take the jar out and fish out whatever parts are in it and blow dry with the compressor.

for larger parts just add cleaning agent and hot water directly to tub place parts and run 2 - 3 6 min cycles.

for bearings I use a small glass jar half full of marvel mystery oil place bearings in jar then put jar in tub partially filled with water and run for 6 min and allow to soak until I'm ready to install them, drain excess oil on paper towel and enjoy the smooth running.
 
evilgrin said:
that's the exact unit I currently have, works great. only down side is It will not heat the liquid but that's what microwaves are for :)

yes standerd household current
Click to expand...

Oooo Great thanks:) I think I'm going to have to get me one of these..

I really like the idea of being able to clean every thing from bearings to diffs to
coins and jewelry .

Kinda makes me wonder If any one has ever been tempted to stick their
finger in one of them?

Did I read right that you aren't supposed to set stuff right on the bottom?
 
yes you read correctly you run the risk of denting the unit and I think mainly you block the ultrasonic waves from dispersing everyone I've seen comes with a basket that fits in the tub to hold your parts suspended off the bottom of the tank.
 

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