anybody own an ultrasonic carb cleaner?

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abdywgn

abdywgn

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A friend recommended doing this next time I rebuild a carb. And since most I have have been sitting 20 plus years it seems reasonable. Might also help with the one snowblower carb that has a rusty fuel bowl. Anyway, what brand and size do you have? What cleaning solution do you use? Do you like it or wish it had...? Thanks! Bob
 
I have a 2.5 gal Branson unit and it works great but you have to be careful it will strip the plating off of parts and if you leave something like a Holley part made of zinc it will take the coating off and if you leave the part in to long it will disappear.
 
brian6pac said:
I have a 2.5 gal Branson unit and it works great but you have to be careful it will strip the plating off of parts and if you leave something like a Holley part made of zinc it will take the coating off and if you leave the part in to long it will disappear.
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What solution do you use in it Brian? I have used Simple Green for cleaning tools (long story) but haven't done carbs.
 
I have used about everything but simple green that's the the next thing I use, I have a gal of concentrate.
 
I have what's supposed to be a nice one, but I am ready to use it for target practice. I've used you name it in it and it does not clean well at all.
 
There is a lot of variation in the strength of the import ones that have flooded in over the last few years. It can be a bit of trick to balance how much fluid you have in it for best cleaning action. Also, the parts should never contact the sides or bottom. That sucks the energy out of the transducers that should be agitating the fluid.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I have what's supposed to be a nice one, but I am ready to use it for target practice. I've used you name it in it and it does not clean well at all.
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Does it have heat ? If I heat mine to 160F it cleans 10 times better. Brass 30 sec and done!
 
brian6pac said:
Does it have heat ? If I heat mine to 160F it cleans 10 times better. Brass 30 sec and done!
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Oh yeah. It's supposedly a nice one. It's big enough to hold a Holley dominator. I always heat it up first and then clean. I've tried everything from plain water to 100% purple stuff and everything in between.
 
toolmanmike said:
What solution do you use in it Brian? I have used Simple Green for cleaning tools (long story) but haven't done carbs.
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Do not use simple green on holley castings. At least don't expose the castings to Simple Green for very long. It will mess he finish up. I made that mistake before.
 
I have a harbor freight one. Stuff always comes out dirty but there is always dirt in the tank. I used the purple stuff.
 
I saw a guy on you tube duct tape 2 orbital sanders to a 5 gallon pail,fill it with water and detergent, throw parts in and plug them in.
 
ch1ll said:
I saw a guy on you tube duct tape 2 orbital sanders to a 5 gallon pail,fill it with water and detergent, throw parts in and plug them in.
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I actually tried that. Burnt my sander up. lol
 
RustyRatRod said:
Oh I ju$$$$t bet it is. lol I bookmarked it for a sunnier day. I'll give it a try. If it doesn't work, I'll send the rest to you.
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If it doesn't work, your ultrasonic is NFG! I can take rusty bolts and put them in the basket and they come out looking brand new bare metal. It will take the black off of the throttle plates in no time so I always take it completely apart.
 
brian6pac said:
If it doesn't work, your ultrasonic is NFG! I can take rusty bolts and put them in the basket and they come out looking brand new bare metal. It will take the black off of the throttle plates in no time so I always take it completely apart.
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I have read where they can be adjusted but I have no clue. Let me ask you, can you hear yours run? I've read also that their frequency cannot be heard by the human ear. I can hear the hell outta mine. It hurts my ears. It makes bubbles though so it appears to work in that respect.
 
2.5 gal, (10 liter) get them on ebay out of California. Heater and basket and lid.

Use 10% Pinesol and Distilled Water solution. Get solution up to temperature, ultrasonic it for 15 minutes. Check part, rinse with distilled water. If needs more cleaning do again, multiple times if need be.

Kind of goes without saying you want your part degreased and big chuncks scraped off. Can kind of help things along with a small wire brush and small screw driver to clean out the tougher corners between cooking batches.

Got to be careful with the Pinsol as it will turn aluminum black if you leave it in the solution too long or over night.

That's why I clean in 15 minute increments until clean, checking the part as you go. Do outside or it will stink up your garage.

Works nice. Do not put bare hands or gloved hands into ultrasonic when it is on. The high frequency vibration is nasty for human bones, turn it off first or reach in with wood tongs.
 
I have a 30 liter unit, was about 900 bucks. Works very good and like said, it will remove cad playing. I use LA’s Totally Awesome cleaner from the dollar tree.
 
Thanks for all the discussion and insight. I especially like the thought about distilled water. Don't need to be heating unknown chemicals and trying to clean parts. Thanks again and I'm still listening.
 
Mine's a small bench top Bendix brand ultrasonic. About 50 to 60 years old and works really well. I use cheap Gunk Carb cleaner in it from the local parts store, it also works very well.

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Would hate to know how much this stuff actually costs, but a friend let me use one of the air powered rotary basket cleaners with this stuff in it to clean a Q-Jet in. Cleaned it so good that I had to re-stake the emulsion tubes back in place in the air horn. Water based cleaners | Aqueous parts cleaning | Armakleen.com
 
I'm still waitin to hear if anybody else can hear theirs working. I can and I'm not sure that's normal. Also are they adjustable?
 
RustyRatRod said:
I have read where they can be adjusted but I have no clue. Let me ask you, can you hear yours run? I've read also that their frequency cannot be heard by the human ear. I can hear the hell outta mine. It hurts my ears. It makes bubbles though so it appears to work in that respect.
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I can hear mine (which isn't adjustable) It's a high pitched buzzing noise. Not annoying though. Mine looks a lot like this one. A couple old customers that work on small engines use theirs daily. 30L Ultrasonic Cleaner Cleaning Equipment Liter Industry Heated W/ Timer Heater | eBay
 
toolmanmike said:
I can hear mine (which isn't adjustable) It's a high pitched buzzing noise. Not annoying though. Mine looks a lot like this one. A couple old customers that work on small engines use theirs daily. 30L Ultrasonic Cleaner Cleaning Equipment Liter Industry Heated W/ Timer Heater | eBay
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That looks like a really high tech little device for only $107.00! Then I start reading the Engrish on the labels and I'm not so sure. Can you get decent size parts in this?? TIA, Lefty71
 
I can hear mine but more I can see the waves coming off the transducers
 
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