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Ultrasonic Cleaners

t-dub

Vapor Sloth
Since picking this up on ebay for $150 a while ago I have managed to collect a few random thoughts. So far I am very impressed with the cleaning capabilities, everything sparkles, in a relatively short period of time. :) The first thing to consider is the power you want. The lowest power units run at 42k cycles and are usually for cleaning eyeglasses and such. They may or may not have a heated tank. The next step up in power are units that run at 40K cycles like the one I purchased. These clean more aggressively and have more power and usually heated tanks and timers like you see pictured below. The 3rd level is 20k cycles, removes varnish and industrial finishes, and is too strong for our purposes.

Choosing your fluid: This is one of the most important things to consider when you operate these, never operate them dry or it will break and you will be sad. But the fluid is critical because not only should it be designed for the cleaning task and material at hand, but it also transmits the cleaning energy for cavitation, and a mixed fluid does this much better than just plain water. Beware of thermal burns. The liquid will be hot (duh) but when the unit runs it increases in temperature quickly. I keep a dilute solution of Simple Green in mine. Cleans a lot of stuff quickly and seems to exist well in the tank. I have separate solutions for cleaning things like silver or pistol parts. If you want to clean with something flammable, like ISO, you have to put it in a small glass container with the item and "float" it in your other solution in the tank making sure you have tons of ventilation because flammable vapors will be created and can explode.

I would assume this unit is not label safe. My PNWT was sandblasted so it comes out fine, but I think this thing would remove a lot of cheap labels fairly easily, depending on your cleaning fluid, but small glass parts are coming out immaculate.
  • When cleaning, consider your material carefully, especially jewelry. NEVER clean pearls or soft gemstones like emeralds or they will die and you will be sad :(
  • Watch for thermal burns, things are already hot, and can get hotter quickly after you begin :mad:
  • Avoid putting skin in the unit while in operation it can cause cavitation injuries :o
  • Always use the least amount of cleaning time to achieve desired results.
  • Never put flammable solvents in the main tank . . . :rip:
  • Don't run the unit dry or it will break and you will be sad :(
  • Always consider how the fluid AND the cavitation energy AND the heat will affect the item BEFORE you begin cleaning or you could ruin something and you will be be sad :(
  • These can be noisy while operating.
  • Choose the shape of the tank for what you wish to clean. I need to find a longer one of these that can do full size glass diffusers.
  • Always exercise common sense and best safety practices. Clean is no accident . . . :peace:

ultrasonic.jpg
 
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Puffers

Micro-Climate Mastermind
Good stuff as always T-dub, I always enjoy seeing your lab gear :tup: . I wonder how effective it would be to use ultrasonic cavitation for dry sieving trichome's, or purging solvents from oil.... :science:

I seem to remember reading about using ultra sonic cavitation for canna-oil and soy lechitin binding. Lots of possibilities here I may need to invest in one of these when I have less projects on the burners :lol:
 

t-dub

Vapor Sloth
@Puffers - lots of possibilities exist, my only regret is i didn't get one that would fit an entire HydraTube.
Have you done it with PBW solution?
I have used PBW in a floating container, not the main tank. One thing to remember, the cavitation will make your cleaning fluids "off gas" in a way, which will mess with the oxyclean portion of PBW a little, but I had great results cleaning ELBs this way. But all cleaning fluids get "de gassed" by the cavitation to a degree.
 
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Enchantre

Oil Painter
Hubby just got a "Chicago Electric Power Tools" brand Digital ultrasonic cleaner (2.6 qt tank capacity) from Harbor Freight Tools. He'd been wanting one, too.

Is it gonna be a problem to run it with just plain water, and just use containers to hold items/cleaning solutions?
 
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wolfJflywheel

Well-Known Member
Nice cleaner t-dub!

I've been using a large consumer-grade ultrasonic cleaner for a few years now. It manages to clean even my largest items easily, generally with just plain water, though I occasionally mix in ISO, and plan to wash my collection with PBW soon since it's been a little while since I've cleaned things. My largest piece these days is just over a foot and a half, so I have to lay it on its side and pull water into it then plug the joint, but it always gets the job done. Plugs in the joints also allow me to keep the majority of the ISO/PBW inside the piece, so I can get away with using far less when I do use it.

How large is the chamber on your cleaner t-dub? $150 seems like an amazing deal on an industrial grade ultrasonic cleaner. I think my cleaner maxes at 80C, might even be as low as 60C. Though I don't know if I'd want to run the water too hot anyway, I'm always paranoid about too much heat on my glass. Still, I like these large no-frills machines and the higher temps might be nice for stubborn stuff. If I could find one of these (for a reasonable price) that the FC-1000 could lay in comfortably I'd be on it in a second.

Also, I'm very tempted to experiment with making bubble hash in 1 gallon bubble bags and a small bucket inside of one of these to agitate things better than I can just by stirring. Someone should try it and report back. :lol:
 
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t-dub

Vapor Sloth
How large is the chamber on your cleaner t-dub?
Its about half the size of a shoe box I guess. If I had it to do over I would get a bigger one with more length. Its good for lab equipment, pistol parts, and hydratubes though.
 
t-dub,

wolfJflywheel

Well-Known Member
Cool. Yeah, I feel you man. My old housemate got a little ultrasonic cleaner for a pendant he had and we gave it a go on a bowl. Realized how well it worked, so we got the largest size we could find/afford on amazon. He left me the big one when he moved to Co, but I might mail it out to him someday to use on his stuff. When I do I'll probably order a 30L model with a 20" wide chamber, so I can fit any piece I'd want (not investing in any more 2.5 footers, haha) with less risk of breakage, and would probably be able to knock out half my collection in one load. That's probably a long way off though, since a 30L is gonna run me $550+ and take up even more space.
 
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StormyPinkness

Rhymenocerous ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ
Great thread. I definitely don't need to to do this, but it totally appeals to the nerd and ocd it me.
 
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ReeferChiefer

Well-Known Member
I've been thinking about getting something like this specifically for cleaning nails and other accessories. Is it safe to use with titanium/ceramic/quartz/sapphire?
 
ReeferChiefer,

t-dub

Vapor Sloth
Be careful with soft gemstones like emeralds or pearls. Not sure if sapphire is safe or not. A jeweler would know or possibly the instructions with the device. Ti is no problem.
 

subway13029

Well-Known Member
Can u put ISO directly in the machine? Or does it have to float? I have the harbor freight version..
 
subway13029,

t-dub

Vapor Sloth
The manufacturer, and anyone else with legal skin in the game, will tell you no to cover their asses. If you do this, and I am not recommending that you do, make sure you have good ventilation and a container of water nearby so if there is a fire you can dilute the alcohol below its flash point. 80 proof or higher burns. Some folks put the ISO and parts in a plastic bag and float that in the cleaner.
 
t-dub,

subway13029

Well-Known Member
awesome guys..i really appreciate the responses..i ran my mighty cu and few screens and adapters in the cleaner with 1 scoop of pbw and ddidnt have very good results..maybe i expected too much with how gooey and sticky everything was. i wanna try a better cleaning agent inside of the ultrasonic cleaner.
 
subway13029,

Tranquility

Well-Known Member
Be careful with soft gemstones like emeralds or pearls. Not sure if sapphire is safe or not. A jeweler would know or possibly the instructions with the device. Ti is no problem.
Sapphire/Ruby is about as hard as you can get in a stone other than diamonds. But, I don't think it is the hardness that is the problem, even with emerald. While "softer", emeralds tend to have a lot of inclusions and other fissures. I suspect that if there is a breakdown with emeralds it would be more of an effect upon the weaknesses already in the crystal structure and not because of inherent properties of the stone material.
 
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waxdab23

Well-Known Member
awesome guys..i really appreciate the responses..i ran my mighty cu and few screens and adapters in the cleaner with 1 scoop of pbw and ddidnt have very good results..maybe i expected too much with how gooey and sticky everything was. i wanna try a better cleaning agent inside of the ultrasonic cleaner.

Try submerging cu, screen and adapters in a ziploc bag loaded with 99% ISO. Fill the ultrasonic cleaner with hot water, submerge the baggie in there and run a few cycles.
 
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Jill NYC

Portable Hoarder
I am resurrecting this thread as Ultrasonic cleaners have been popping up in several threads - would be nice to hear from more owners to give their experiences. (Thanks @t-dub for lots of helpful info!)
I got the itch and finally got one and wanted to share my impressions.
@Djsleepy - I believe you just got one as well, hope you will share your impressions here as well.

Anyhow, I got this guy: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WTTL7CG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
(I used the 10% coupon and got it for about $40.)


It’s a good looking unit - looks just like the images on Amazon. It can be adjusted on timing, I have used the 180 second and 360 seconds - probably will continue using the 360 sec cycle.
It is kind of loud - sounds like a bug zapper continuously zapping bugs. But it isn’t painful - I am sensitive to high frequency sounds, and this didn’t aggravate me much, just walked into another room. My dog didn’t even flinch - so it couldn’t be that bad.
I filled it with water, then put the stuff I wanted to clean in a ziplock bag with 91% ISO - enough to cover everything and then got rid of excess air and placed in machine.

Here is a before of Ghost crucibles & lids, crafty concentrate pads, Fury screens, Fury stem:



And here is after, and with a quick rinse in water:


I was expecting the ghost crucibles to be a little whiter, but they still look good and the lids were completely clean; the fury stuff came out as clean as can be - not a drop of honey left in the stem!!
The crafty pads were not as clean as I hoped - I thought they would look like new - so I ended up putting them through another cycle along with other stuff.


So then I went again with same ISO as before - this time adding in crafty cu, pax 3 screens and mouthpieces plus the Miqro pearl and air path tube.


The crafty cu and pax mouthpieces are covered in resin - the crafty screen looks like it has holes in it, it is so dirty:


The crafty cu was much cleaner but when I was rinsing with water, I could feel a little residue, so I put it through for one more 360 session along with the pax screens:




The crafty CU and the pax mouthpieces were sparkling. Not a drop of resin left anywhere, as you can see, the crafty screen had no holes - looks awesome!!
The pax screens still have discoloring- a little bummed, but maybe if I put them in on their own it will come off. Will have to try later. The Miqro tube was also completely clean (impossible to see from image).

So, bottom line - very happy with my $40 purchase. Would love to hear any tips/tricks that would help make some of the stuff even cleaner, etc.
Happy clean vape accessories for all in 2020.
 
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Shrike

Flower Potted, Maxed, & Rio'd.
Love ultrasonic cleaners...they save us from having to do heavy or time consuming scrubbing.:tup:

Hey @Jill NYC
I found for stubborn staining, you might want to heat the water you put in the cleaner first. I've even used water that was near boiling. Add your bag of iso with parts and once the iso warms up, it will clean a bit better.
Not usually needed, but I've gotten into the habit of adding hot water from the sink every time I run a bath. Everything usually comes out spotless.
Ceramic however, usually will not ever go back to the spotless look it had when brand new...nature of the beast. You can get it "clean", but the discoloration hangs around.
 

Jill NYC

Portable Hoarder
Thanks @Shrike - I will definitely use hot water next round.
Yeah, it is really nice not having to scrub and soak for hours. I can’t believe how clean it gets without getting any ISO or resin on my hands!

Question - do I need to bother with the basket if I am using a plastic bag anyway?
I feel like it may work better without it - but maybe it doesn’t make a difference. Just curious.
 
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