New Ultrasonic Cleaner

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As @seabee stated as what can go wrong with the Ultrasonic Cleaners, the Transducers can come unattached from the tank bottom so it no longer giving the cutting action you need with the wash solution.

I was aware that this can be a problem with these units when I bought mine, but figured I would give if a try for 125 dollars. Has been working excellent so far and don't anticipate it failing anytime soon.

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I'll open it up and look. But I'm FAR from an electronics guy, so when I don't see anything, it'll go in the trash pile. lol
 
I'll open it up and look. But I'm FAR from an electronics guy, so when I don't see anything, it'll go in the trash pile. lol

Try that brass clean up test before you open it up, if that don't work then you have my permission to trash it.

But I am thinking it's going to work. Just got to get the right combination going.
 
Try that brass clean up test before you open it up, if that don't work then you have my permission to trash it.

But I am thinking it's going to work. Just got to get the right combination going.

I've had the thing about three years. I've tried everything you can think of from plain distilled water......which "they say" is supposed to work all by itself, to simple green, purple stuff, specific ultra sonic cleaning solution, baking soda water, vinegar, and on and on and on. I think if it was a solution issue, I would have hit on it by now. I'm open for another try or two. I wouldn't mind if it worked. There certainly isn't a damned bit of the dip style carburetor cleaner that's worth two craps anymore.
 
I've had the thing about three years. I've tried everything you can think of from plain distilled water......which "they say" is supposed to work all by itself, to simple green, purple stuff, specific ultra sonic cleaning solution, baking soda water, vinegar, and on and on and on. I think if it was a solution issue, I would have hit on it by now. I'm open for another try or two. I wouldn't mind if it worked. There certainly isn't a damned bit of the dip style carburetor cleaner that's worth two craps anymore.

That is one thing I like about the Ultrasonics, the gum and varnish problems are a thing of the past, cause they are gone when they come out of the Ultrasonic tank.

Here is a before on one of the newer shiny Edelbrocks:

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And here is the After:

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Pretty satisfying to have a good condition carb come out that clean when you pull it out of the tank.

The brass plated linkage and brackets all come out so nice too.

☆☆☆☆☆
 
That is one thing I like about the Ultrasonics, the gum and varnish problems are a thing of the past, cause they are gone when they come out of the Ultrasonic tank.
George, what is ur solution? Kim
Here is a before on one of the newer shiny Edelbrocks:

View attachment 1715741518

And here is the After:

View attachment 1715741519

Pretty satisfying to have a good condition carb come out that clean when you pull it out of the tank.

The brass plated linkage and brackets all come out so nice too.

☆☆☆☆☆
 
Experience with both boats and Ultrasonic cleaning machines.

Cavitation happens on the low pressure side of boat propellers when they are under power.

Cavitation:
Cavitation is a phenomenon .

You missed my point. I know what cavitation is

My point is that "I'm not sure" that the ultrasound agitation will reach inside tiny bleed and idle ports. I'm asking "how do you know that?" ---meaning are you positively absolutely certain it will or won't clean tiny internal passages
 
You missed my point. I know what cavitation is

My point is that "I'm not sure" that the ultrasound agitation will reach inside tiny bleed and idle ports. I'm asking "how do you know that?" ---meaning are you positively absolutely certain it will or won't clean tiny internal passages

The final test is when they run beautiful, then you know they are clean. Quick starts, run great under load. That's it . .

Here is one that was plugged sitting for 8 years. Ultrasonic Cleaned the carb, flushed the tank, working great now.

My buddies JD front deck mower just toasted the plactic cam gear on the V2 water cooled Kawasaki. This Craftsman 18 hp Kohler with the cleaned carb is doing the work for him now till he gets his new cam put in.

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Borrowed it out to a friend in need as long as I had it on hand. Back in service.

☆☆☆☆☆
 

Solution is 1 ounce Pinesol to 2 gallons distilled water. Keep an eye on it while it is cooking.

There is enough action with the Ultrasonics that they will take the plating off of a spark plug. Just keep an eye on things and take them out as soon as they come clean. Leaving them cook too long is not a good thing.
 
I've never had problems cleaning carbs the old school way. Mine may not look all pretty and shiny, but they perform great. Sorry but I'm just not sold on this gizmo!
 
What solution would you use?
I think GeorgeJets has you covered but here's some more.

Cleaning Solution

ultrasonic cleaning fluid?

Any do's or don'ts?
Caution To Users Of Harbor Freight Ultrasonic Cleaner …

Something that might appeal to your electronics background is they are used to clean circuit boards and electronics with special solutions. I haven't tried that though
Yep! We had 55 gal drums of freon.
Under lock and key.
Every drop pumped out was measured and signed for. We only used small quantities but the (pre)production line used alot hence the quantity on hand.

from NASA
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Ultrasonic cleaning: Fundamental theory and application

Bag technique
Technique for ultrasonic cleaning with volatile solvents eliminates need for hoods or condensers
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19950025362/downloads/19950025362.pdf?attachment=true
 
Figured I would try Pinesol as it's been consistently recommended. On sale lol:thumbsup:. 2 cap fulls mixed with approx 2.5 litres of water.
Heres my setup. Too small for carbs unfortunately. It's been a pain doing a couple of them. Only get one half submerged at a time. Made a basket outta wire to hold parts and using a block of wood to suspend the basket.
My heater wont "heat" at best it helps maintain the temp for awhile. Timer has a 20 min max on it.
I picked out 2 brass pieces from a toolbox.
Well see how well it works??

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And after 20 min run. Gave the brass pieces somewhat shine in very few spots. If this was an infomercial I'd invest in a Chia pet instead.:(
I'll run it another 20 minutes tomorrow. The 2 caps of Pinesol was mixed with municipal treated water, NOT distilled. I'll try distilled on 2nd attempt.
Whether it's the solution mix OR the pos unit, who knows?? It made a noise like its working:rolleyes: and you could see some of the bubbles.

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Right along with you there @4spdragtop, here is pretty much the same test I did today with some brass and copper fittings.

Granted the brass is a whole different material as compared to the aluminum carbs I have cooked out.

Before and after pics, Ultrasonic Cleaner with Pinesol, 1 hour cook time. Distilled Water Rinse.

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For the fun of it, I am going to drop these into a tub of 5% Vinegar to see if I can bring them out a little finer now that they are clean. I would never put a carburetor into a tub of vinegar though.

Fun Fact:
This is the same Pinesol and Distilled Water Soultion that I have Ultrasonic Cleaned 10 carbs with so far. Let it settle out over night, then strain the solids out of it with a paint filter. Then It's good to use again. Saves product and material and helps to eliminate gallons of solution to dispose of if you dump it out after every use.

Kind of like saving and reusing Vinegar after doing the Vinegar Dunks to crankshafts to clean them up. It discolors a little, but still works just fine yet instead of having to just throw it out.
 
By the looks of it the improvement on yours was good!(better unit)?
Can you post specs of your cleaner? When you can.
Thanks
Right along with you there @4spdragtop, here is pretty much the same test I did today with some brass and copper fittings.

Granted the brass is a whole different material as compared to the aluminum carbs I have cooked out.

Before and after pics, Ultrasonic Cleaner with Pinesol, 1 hour cook time. Distilled Water Rinse.

View attachment 1715743019

View attachment 1715743020

For the fun of it, I am going to drop these into a tub of 5% Vinegar to see if I can bring them out a little finer now that they are clean. I would never put a carburetor into a tub of vinegar though.

Fun Fact:
This is the same Pinesol and Distilled Water Soultion that I have Ultrasonic Cleaned 10 carbs with so far. Let it settle out over night, then strain the solids out of it with a paint filter. Then It's good to use again. Saves product and material and helps to eliminate gallons of solution to dispose of if you dump it out after every use.

Kind of like saving and reusing Vinegar after doing the Vinegar Dunks to crankshafts to clean them up. It discolors a little, but still works just fine yet instead of having to just throw it out.
 
As stated above, here is my follow up experiment running the same parts in the Ultrasonic Cleaner with 5% Vinegar to see if they will clean up and or polish up more.

The Vinegar gets pretty aggressive when used with the Ultrasonic. Left a bit of a black powder film on the parts after distilled water rinse. Polished up the Brass by hand with paper towels. Turned the steel section of the parts black too, wired wheeled most of that off.

Vinegar Cleaned Same Parts:
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Final polish up by hand:
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Like to experiment to see how far you can go to clean things up without destroying the parts.

Somtimes you can cook things too long or use too aggressive cleaning solution and turn things black, that you can't reverse. Especially with Aluminum.

Good to take some time and experiment with these Ultrasonics to see what you can do and what you cannot do, and the cook times needed for the desired results.

Then when you have that nice carb that you just want to clean out, you will have a good feel in how to go about it, without ill effects.

Can also hand polish up the carbs and or parts when you are done to give things a little more of a finished look.

Good Luck

☆☆☆☆☆
 
If you use a glass jar/vase with solution and parts inside, are you suspending the parts, and/or vase somehow?
I have a medical grade one I got off of Ebay as "Parts only" but it just needed a knob. I run all kinds of stuff through it. A great tip to keep things organized and clean is to use glass jars and vases. The frequencies go through the glass and it is easier to clean out the jars than the unit. You can also put those tall glass vases in it to do long items. As long as the bottom is in the water it will travel all the way up.
 
If you use a glass jar/vase with solution and parts inside, are you suspending the parts, and/or vase somehow?

No
I either put the small parts in the cage, or larger parts directly in sitting on the bottom, like the 4 bbl carb bases.
No need to suspend them.

I do suspend my parts with a wire when I am doing the Zinc Plating Process, because the parts need to attract the Zinc from 360° for even coverage. Not needed in the Ultrasonic Cleaning process because the whole solution is vibrating all the same, up down, left and right.

___________

Someone was talking about putting parts in a vase or container. I tried this thinking with the Vinegar in the smaller container so I would not have to use so much vinegar and waste it just for the small parts.

Then I set the vinegar container into my tank with the Pinesol Solution, then I did not need to change that out either. It all vibrates the same as one.

Time to finally change out my Pinsol Distilled water mix now, after many various materials and experiments, getting pretty dirty time to start fresh again.

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**** that's a lotta trouble. I'mma just blast my parts and be did wif all dat, yo.
 
I had a friend get one with the same results. To test them you can submerge a straight sheet of aluminum foil and it should start eating holes in the foil. His changed the appearance of the foil but no holes.


OK @seabee did your tin foil test here on my 10 liter unit. Ran for 15 minutes in the Ultrasonic with the 1 ounce Pinesol to 2 gallons water solution.

Good size holes in the Aluminum Foil sheet, looks like this unit is mechanically working very well.

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This would be a very simple test ^^^^ for @RustyRatRod to see if his machine is working properly, up to the task ???

Hope others can pick up some operating and test tips, as we are all working and learing more about these machines along the way.

Here are my machine specs again:
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10 Liter
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OK @seabee did your tin foil test here on my 10 liter unit. Ran for 15 minutes in the Ultrasonic with the 1 ounce Pinesol to 2 gallons water solution.

Good size holes in the Aluminum Foil sheet, looks like this unit is mechanically working very well.

View attachment 1715743202

View attachment 1715743203
This would be a very simple test ^^^^ for @RustyRatRod to see if his machine is working properly, up to the task ???

Hope others can pick up some operating and test tips, as we are all working and learing more about these machines along the way.

Here are my machine specs again:
View attachment 1715743201

10 Liter
View attachment 1715743204

I'll give it a try. But I already know the results. LOL
 
So tried same 2 brass pieces again. This time 2 caps of Pinesol and DISTILLED water for 20 minutes. Water was room temp. No drastic changes. Then I tried a small piece of tinfoil for 15 min. Hey it put holes in tinfoil. If I ever get too tired to poke holes in tinfoil I can always use this lol.
@George Jets machine has 4 times the heating power and double the ultrasonic power. I bought this one used from a Kung Fu Jedi that I think cleaned jewellery and made holes in tinfoil lol.

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