Ultrasonic cleaners: the ultimate WT cleaner?

[Phenix]

Does someone in this community use ultrasonic cleaners to clean water pieces?

I recently picked a large sized ultrasonic cleaner up (14l, 35x20x15cm) to use in my working area. Primary intent was using to clean switches, pcbs (use "sweep mode") and other parts of mechanical keyboards.

However I am using it more and more for my pieces and eventough I did not use it often enough to give a statement it seems like cleaning my pieces works out well in it.


TL;DR
Who else uses a ultrasonic cleaner for pieces and whats the result like?

 

[Baron23]

Does someone in this community use ultrasonic cleaners to clean water pieces?

I recently picked a large sized ultrasonic cleaner up (14l, 35x20x15cm) to use in my working area. Primary intent was using to clean switches, pcbs (use "sweep mode") and other parts of mechanical keyboards.

However I am using it more and more for my pieces and eventough I did not use it often enough to give a statement it seems like cleaning my pieces works out well in it.


TL;DR
Who else uses a ultrasonic cleaner for pieces and whats the result like?

I have one and use it for drop downs, stems, quartz bangers, bowls, etc. Full WP won't fit in my home size cleaner.

Now, I have been told to be careful with glass with welds...that the ultrasonic may cause the weld to fail (e.g. where stem meets can, for instance) but I have had no problem with that at all.

I also clean my Ti FP SH bowl and MV1 parts in there also.

I put them all in a zip lock w some ISO, then into the water of the cleaner, run for 10 minutes, comes out sparkling.

 

[Hackerman]

@Phenix are you using water or ISO?

 

[scalescliffs]

I used ultrasonic cleaning once but after that moved to PBW in a pot.

 

[Phenix]

right now I own 5 pieces.
If I used a piece 2-3 times I fill it up with ISO and let it sit for 1 day. After that I rinse it out a few times. Followed by ultrasonic cleaning of 10min.
Til now I only used soap water in there as I heard ISO might damage the cleaner in the longrun.

Is there something I should change?

 

[Baron23]

right now I own 5 pieces.
If I used a piece 2-3 times I fill it up with ISO and let it sit for 1 day. After that I rinse it out a few times. Followed by ultrasonic cleaning of 10min.
Til now I only used soap water in there as I heard ISO might damage the cleaner in the longrun.

Is there something I should change?

Put the parts and ISO I a ziplock. Put water in the units tank. Put zip lock in the water and turn it on.

 

[Hackerman]

@Baron23 That's a great idea. Yes, I have heard that straight solvent in the ultrasonic unit could damage it but I have used various solvents in mine and never destroyed it. I did some testing using various solvents in a heated ultrasonic unit for extraction. Not a ton of times but more than a few. Still going strong.

I am definitely going to try your idea. Definitely sounds like the best of both worlds.

 

[Baron23]

@Baron23 That's a great idea. Yes, I have heard that straight solvent in the ultrasonic unit could damage it but I have used various solvents in mine and never destroyed it. I did some testing using various solvents in a heated ultrasonic unit for extraction. Not a ton of times but more than a few. Still going strong.

I am definitely going to try your idea. Definitely sounds like the best of both worlds.

It’s not only what FC members have told me, but also what the units manual said.

Works well.

 

[Phenix]

How about silicon gaskets for the WT? sounds easier to me. Will have to look into where I can order them

 

[alltoreup]

Any non flame polished cuts in Percs will crack from a ultrasonic cleaner. I’ve lost two dh gate hydratubes this way so just be careful. My FC-710 and a banger hanger from there are polished and have survived a cleaning. But anymore I just soak the piece in my solution and the heat from the cleaner is enough to get it out without turning it on.
I do clean drop downs and bangers in it with zero issues. Will also get a vapcap tip back to shiny new.

I use Alconox and water in my ultrasonic cleaner. It’s made for lab glass and ultrasonic cleaners. $35 for a half gallon carton of it and I’ve had the same container for 2 years and it’s not even 1/4 empty yet.

I also float a baggie of ISO in mine to get the initial reclaim off. Works great like mentioned above.

 

[kazz]

I also use Alconox and water in my ultrasonic to clean drop downs and other small items w/o issue.

 

[Phenix]

Can someone confirm that ultrasonic cleaning might crack a perc?

Did not encountered it yet but don’t want it happen if avoidable.

 

[alltoreup]

@Phenix I can confirm it will crack non- annealed or non flame polished percs. I have successfully cleaned my gridded perc piece with no problem but it was properly made. Poorly made glass may not stand up to it. Examples include thin joints or raw edges cuts in percs. Several of my first HTs were made when they weee just starting to make them in China and they have broken because of the rough cuts but a couple of my later dab rigs are fine because they are properly made.

I wouldn’t put an expensive piece in one period. Because...what if...

 

[StormyPinkness]

I love my ultrasonic cleaner, mine does heating and cleaning. Like it's been mentioned for smaller pieces I put it in a ziploc bag with the cleaning solution and just have water in the tank. I tend run it once in a "dirty" bag and then again in a "clean" bag. The dirty bag get's DIRTY, then the next time my clean bag is the new dirty bag and I do a new clean bag if that makes sense. I've never cracked or broken anything, but I'm also careful to make sure glass isn't touching other glass while it's on. I worry about that.

If it's a big glass piece that doesn't fit like a bubbler I just fill it COMPLETELY with the cleaning solution, cork it, and then put it in and run it. The vibrations travel through all the liquid in the glass piece, even if it's outside the actual cleaner. I'm sure it's less effective than if the whole thing fit inside, but it absolutely works and works well.

Also I water rinse everything before, during, and after. I'm paranoid about cleaning solution residue though.

I used to fill my glass up, cork it, and leave it in the sun for the day. Sometimes I'd use warm iso and shake a lot or use a space heater to help warm it. Now it takes 5-10 minutes to get is looking nearly brand new with almost no effort from me.

I definitely don't think they're necessary, I do love mine though. If it broke I would absolutely buy another.

Spoiler: 6X speed time lapse video of cleaning a DO20-D

This was very, very dirty glass in a 3 minute cycle. A quick shake afterwards and a water rinse and it was spotless again.

 

[2 Cycle]

I use the harbor freight unit, great for bowls, some small pieces. Want to grab a 30 litre unit off eBay and submerge a full piece. These are dh gate pieces so if they shatter oh well lol