Ultrasonic Cleaner use for parts

[Brewz]

Hi Folks.

Now that I am rebuilding a large number of old worn out saws, the worst part of the job has to be cleaning up the greasy, oily, much encrusted parts.

I started spraying with degreaser and brushing to loosen up the muck, then hose off but it was time consuming.

I went and bought a cheap pressure cleaner, and this sped things up but I may as well have one of my kids hose me and throw mud and oil on me while I do the job.
I end up soaking wet and dirtier than the saws were to start with.

I have been considering getting a parts cleaner but for a bit more money, I could get a larger 15L ultrasinice cleaner with built in heating function.

I have 2 questions.

1. how well do they work if I just drop in a filthy case half with 15 years worth of crud on it?
2. What is best to use in them for best results?

Below is the one I am looking at:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/15L-Mech...485810?hash=item33a7cbd632:g:T1YAAOSwoudW~G5u

I am also interested to know of good brands/deals remembering I am in Australia

Cheers

 

[Brewz]

Id be interested to know if y9u need to fill them with parts cleaner or if they clean all the gunk off with just water

 

[Brewz]

Does anyone use one?

 

[Sty57]

I have a cheap Harbor Freight one.
I have found that for really dirty parts, you need some kinda cleaner.

 

[Brewz]

What if I used cleaner in the ultrasonic cleaner?

I am looking at a 15 liter one big enough to hold a case half and other parts.

 

[Sty57]

I've been using straight Mineral Spirits for the really funky stuff.
It does clean them up good.

I've also used dish soap and water, for some of the plastic and rubber bits.
That seems to cut the grime if there not to bad.

 

[Brewz]

I was thinking that if I filled it with water soluble degreasing part cleaner solution, it would smash anything that went in there.

I am hoping someone who has a larger one..... perhaps @Mastermind or @jmssaws maybe?

 

[SOS Ridgerider]

Hi Folks.

Now that I am rebuilding a large number of old worn out saws, the worst part of the job has to be cleaning up the greasy, oily, much encrusted parts.

I started spraying with degreaser and brushing to loosen up the muck, then hose off but it was time consuming.

I went and bought a cheap pressure cleaner, and this sped things up but I may as well have one of my kids hose me and throw mud and oil on me while I do the job.
I end up soaking wet and dirtier than the saws were to start with.

I have been considering getting a parts cleaner but for a bit more money, I could get a larger 15L ultrasinice cleaner with built in heating function.

I have 2 questions.

1. how well do they work if I just drop in a filthy case half with 15 years worth of crud on it?
2. What is best to use in them for best results?

Below is the one I am looking at:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/15L-Mech...485810?hash=item33a7cbd632:g:T1YAAOSwoudW~G5u

I am also interested to know of good brands/deals remembering I am in Australia

Cheers

Hi Brewz.
I've used ultra sonic cleaners as a mechanic in the bicycle industry. They do require quite a bit of pre cleaning, in my experience, which adds time. We were early to get one, at least for our industry, about 9 years ago. It's great for the small parts that are hard to clean, but I prefer the old fashion brush and rinse method for the bigger stuff. We thought the ultra sonic cleaner would be a magical machine that cleaned off even the worst gunk, leaving parts spotless, but were disappointed.
Our cleaner had a large cleaning tank that held water with detergent added to it. We also had a lube tank attached to our machine, so we could get lube into all the hard to reach areas. I'm not sure if a lube tank would be necessary for saw work, though.
We primarily use a regular parts cleaner with warm water/detergent, and a brush, for cleaning parts at this point. Having the mechanics physically cleaning the parts, and seeing and assessing as they go along, is worth a lot to us. I trust the judgment of a good mechanic more than I ever will a machine.
This is my experience, but others might have had better luck using them. The newer machines might be better than our old one as well, and maybe some of the other guys here can shed some more light on this for you.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Brewz]

Thanks for the the insight!

As a one man band and being time poor, I have found that the most time consuming part of rebuilding a saw is cleaning the bits.

If I can drop them in a tank of liquid, press a button and go do something else, and came back to find them fairly clean without having to stand outside either scrubbing parts or getting drenched by a pressure cleaner spray, its a win

 

[Canadian farm boy]

As @SOS Ridgerider said getting a parts cleaner that uses mineral spirits (or a citrus base cleaner) may be one of your best option for cleaning up the heavy crud.
For extremely crusty dirty parts you can also fill up a small tub of some sort and let the parts soak for a while to help loosen the baked on grime before scrubbing.
I like parts cleaners. As your scrubbing the parts your also handling the parts and inspecting them.

 

[PA Dan]

An Ultrasonic does an incredible job on saw parts. I have used a small Harbor Freight one and a much larger one. The larger is Glock37's and we did 880 case halves in it. You still have to pick at stuff that's built up in the hard to reach places. I have used a couple different detergents in my water. Regular Dawn dish soap, Mean Green degreaser, Simple Green, laundry soap...

 

[Brewz]

I cant say I am checking parts as I crub oil and dirt from them.
Its usually hard to see anything for the muck.

I do however check everything once clean.

 

[Brewz]

I am wondering how well these ultrasonic cleaners would go if heated and filled with parts cleaner solution?

 

[Onan18]

I use mine and love it, I have a Kendal heated model, cannot remember how many liters but just barely big enough for a 70cc case half to fit in. Personally I blow off all the loose stuff with air, run it for a cycle in the USC, blow it off again, another USC cycle and even the worst parts are usually spotless. I use mostly water in mine with just enough concentrated simple green to turn the fluid a medium green.

Joe

 

[jmssaws]

I still use a steam cleaner, in 5 min I have a spotless saw. I get covered but that's part of it,I hate dirty saws.

 

[Redfin]

I still use a steam cleaner, in 5 min I have a spotless saw. I get covered but that's part of it,I hate dirty saws.

Which one do you have J?

 

[jmssaws]

Which one do you have J?

Hotsy. I highly recommend

 

[dall]

i use pine sol in my usc

 

[idiotwithasaw]

I alway preclean mine, get as much of the thick stuff off as I can, then use the usc to get the hard to reach spots and the layer of grime. I don't like parts cleaners because they leave an oily residue.

 

[drf256]

A word of advice, don't immerse any metal badge covers in them if you wanna keep the badge. I've made that mistake.

I use purple power in mine, but I hear pine-sol works great.

Purple power will grey aluminum at over a certain temp. I think it's 150*, but don't quote me on that.