New Ultrasonic Cleaner

[ReSTored]

Just got a new toy.........

CREWORKS 6L Professional Ultrasonic Cleaner with Digital Timer&Heater for Cleaning Glasses Watch Dentures Parts Circuit Board Dental Instrument, Commercial Electric Ultrasound Clean Machine : Amazon.ca: Industrial & Scientific

CREWORKS 6L Professional Ultrasonic Cleaner with Digital Timer&Heater for Cleaning Glasses Watch Dentures Parts Circuit Board Dental Instrument, Commercial Electric Ultrasound Clean Machine : Amazon.ca: Industrial & Scientific

www.amazon.ca

I usually just use brake cleaner, a rag and old toothbrush and this has always worked fine. Any reason why cleaning brake pads in an ultrasonic cleaner might damage them, cause the bond between the pad material and the backing plate to separate? Something else?

No reason I can't continue to clean pads the old way, but just want to know.

 

[ST1100Y]

Nice, got a similar kit...
I'd be careful with the temperature setting on painted parts like brake calipers, I settle for 60°C...
I'd also opt for distilled water and a designated cleaning detergent...
Aluminum, like carb bowls and housing can suffer discoloration...

 

[mello dude]

Dunno if I would do that....pads are generally assembled under high pressure fixures under heat & different resins hold it all together.....
For pads I think I would stick to a shot of brake cleaner and the toothbrush....YRMV

 

[diferg]

i think brake pads see a lot higher than 60C. i would use the ultrasound cleaner on them with distilled water and simple green. great for rebuilding carburetors!

 

[NTausch]

Nice kit. Nice price too. Last ultrasonic cleaner I bought for the optical lab was $400 and it was defective. Turn around and bought two for $160 at Harbor. We only use to clean the face cheese off patients frames.

 

[RaYzerman]

I've never put brake pads in my Ultrasonic cleaner, however, you're giving me ideas... I use Simple Green, water and Dawn dish soap in mine. With brake pads, I'd keep the temperature down and rinse the pads off with isopropanol before reinstalling them (as well as the rotors).

 

[SMSW]

Just got a new toy.........

I'm very distrustful of Amazon because I've been burned a couple of times. There were a number of dunning reviews of this u-sonic cleaner. Evidently their volume measurements are optimistic, the unit is quite noisy, and the heater sounds like it is designed to maintain temp and not heat the cleaning liquid up to a hot temp. A number of folks said it took hours to get up to 60ºC. As for the noise, I liked what this reviewer said: "Con#1: Very noisy. I would compare it to having a girlfriend with one of those high-pitch voices that never shuts up. Thankfully, this unit has an on/off switch.. girlfriends do not. So if you do have such a girlfriend (poor you), you can run this thing at 2:00am to give her a taste of her own medicine."

Fortunately, Amazon has a good return policy. Test this out soon and let us know how it works.

 

[kerbside]

Used an ultra sonic cleaner first some 40 years ago. Made in Switzerland, 10 gallon capacity, heater etc and it cleaned everything, superb machine until it fell over. Found it had 6 transducers inside and repair cost was around 4k 20 years ago!
Then bought my own. After a couple of duds ended up with a 2 1/2 gallon German Elma which ran at 40 mhz. Best of the 3 I have had in the last 20 years, but no where near as good as the old Swiss one.
Tried a variety of chemicals but now use a few commercial chemicals, in my case Sharpertek, for different materials.
Points to note: frequency, heat and cleaning solution chemicals are all important to get the best out of the machine.

 

[Igofar]

Just got a new toy.........

CREWORKS 6L Professional Ultrasonic Cleaner with Digital Timer&Heater for Cleaning Glasses Watch Dentures Parts Circuit Board Dental Instrument, Commercial Electric Ultrasound Clean Machine : Amazon.ca: Industrial & Scientific

CREWORKS 6L Professional Ultrasonic Cleaner with Digital Timer&Heater for Cleaning Glasses Watch Dentures Parts Circuit Board Dental Instrument, Commercial Electric Ultrasound Clean Machine : Amazon.ca: Industrial & Scientific

www.amazon.ca

I usually just use brake cleaner, a rag and old toothbrush and this has always worked fine. Any reason why cleaning brake pads in an ultrasonic cleaner might damage them, cause the bond between the pad material and the backing plate to separate? Something else?

No reason I can't continue to clean pads the old way, but just want to know.

I've got the same unit, and I have been using it for the past 4 years with no issues what so ever.
I've used it to clean carbs, tools, gun parts, pistol brass, coins, scuba regulators, etc.
I use distilled water and simple green, or 409.
As stated, HEAT will damage the finish on some aluminum, and zinc plated parts on carbs.

 

[ST1100Y]

A number of folks said it took hours to get up to 60ºC...

You start by filling it with already heated water/solution...
The onboard heaters are only designed to maintain the set temperature during cleaning time...

 

[ReSTored]

Fortunately, Amazon has a good return policy. Test this out soon and let us know how it works.

Over the years I've purchased a few dozen commercial / healthcare U/S systems, similar to link, for operating room instrumentation processing. Very different price point.

Precision Cleaning Systems | Optimum Console

Crest Ultrasonics Optimum Console — Aqueous and semi-aqueous precision cleaning applications, manual, automated and custom models available. Call today.

crest-ultrasonics.com

I read the same reviews, including the GF one (haha), This is a <$200 consumer unit and I reset my expectations accordingly. Yes it is loud, it does take a while to reach the set temperature, but once it does it works properly. Can't speak to longevity, but Igofar says he's had the same one for 4 years.

Ran ran a few cycles with some very old, dirty and encrusted costume jewelry we've had kicking around for too long. The unit works well.

I'll be experimenting with various solutions / temperatures to see what works best.

i think brake pads see a lot higher than 60C. i would use the ultrasound cleaner on them with distilled water and simple green. great for rebuilding carburetors!

It isn't the temperature so much as the U/ S action that I'm concerned about. It would be a pain to end up with perfectly clean pads that have somehow become detached from the backing plate. If I had some old ones kicking around I'd experiment with them.

 

[Andrew Shadow]

I have been thinking about getting an ultrasonic cleaner, so please do report back on your experience.

Unless there was a brake fluid/fork seal leak, or some other foreign contamination, I'm curious why there would be a need to do this with brake pads. Pads from a normally function brake system will usually only have brake dust on them. I just brush or hose them off and wipe them down.

 

[GGely]

I use a smaller unit (similar to the HF unit) for all sorts of bits and bobs and as long as I pick the correct cleaning agent, so for no issues. Carbs, calipers, miscellaneous parts, all come out gleaming.

Now, I also don’t know why you’d would want to put pads in an ultrasonic cleaner but what do I know?!

 

[RaYzerman]

Some reading material, there's more if you do a search on contaminated brake pads.... mostly to do with oil-soaked pads, which IMHO I would replace. That said, I use isopropyl alcohol to clean and final rinse/wipe lots of stuff after cleaning it.

Disc Pads Contaminated? No Problem!

by Daniel Naftali A can of oil sprayed incorrectly, an oil leak from the brake system or the fork: there are lots of reasons that can bring brake pads in contact with oil or other lubricants. . When this happens, the pads absorb the lubricant with disastrous results; instead of braking, the pads...

www.mtb-mag.com

 

[Beeflips]

Just got a new toy.........

I have the same one for four or five years, it's been working great, used it on many carbs amongst other things. Personally it find it easier to start with a hot water than to wait for it to heat up. You can heat your water on the stove first, works much faster. or hot tap water depending on how you like to work.
Degas it for five minutes before you put your parts in. For really tiny parts, I'll use some small plastic dishes with some small holes or slits to allow water to pass through.

 

[ChriSTian_64]

This thread decided me to finally buy an ultrasonic cleaner. I was thinking about it since a while...

What I found, reading a bit on the subject, is that they have different heating capacity (in watts), ultrasonic cleaning power (in watts) and different tank sizes ( What ? In Liters ?).
For example, here are four example.
2 Liters reservoir, with NO Heating power, and 60 W of ultrasonic Power, for $110 canadian dollars.
3 Liters reservoir, with 100 W of Heating power, and 120 W of ultrasonic Power, for $111
3 Liters reservoir, with 200 W of Heating power, and 120 W of ultrasonic Power, for $129. ( <--- That's the one I took ).
6 Liters reservoir, with 300 W of Heating power, and 180 W of ultrasonic Power, for $179.

What we can see, and it also make sense, is that, the bigger the reservoir, the more you need power to heat that quantity of cleaning solution, and the more power you need to make it vibrate.

Now, how big do we need ? Depends of the size of the parts you are cleaning.

Say you want to clean a carburetor... it makes a better cleaning job, I'm sure, if you disassemble them apart for cleaning.

Another point, is they say to never run your ultrasonic cleaner with an empty reservoir. A bit like we should never run an empty microwave, I guess.
So, if I have a 6L reservoir, but only a few little parts to clean, I still have to fill the reservoir.
And those ultrasonic cleaning solutions are not cheap. $60 a gallon. Of course, you have to dilute it, and you can reuse it a couple times.

Anyway. I figured the 3rd example was offering the best power for the size of the reservoir.
Hope it will be big enough for my needs. It should.

Here is the link, on Amazon.ca

https://www.amazon.ca/-/fr/gp/product/B07ZNNXMZR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?th=1&language=en_CA

 

[RaYzerman]

No need to completely fill the reservoir, only need enough to cover your items..... and no need to empty it unless your solution is really dirty, although you can save your "used" solution into a container for re-use. No need to buy expensive cleaners.... buy a 1 gallon jug of Simple Green and some Dawn dishwashing detergent. My approximate mix is 1/2 SG, 1/2 water, 1/2 cup Dawn.

 

[STRider]

No need to completely fill the reservoir, only need enough to cover your items..... and no need to empty it unless your solution is really dirty, although you can save your "used" solution into a container for re-use. No need to buy expensive cleaners.... buy a 1 gallon jug of Simple Green and some Dawn dishwashing detergent. My approximate mix is 1/2 SG, 1/2 water, 1/2 cup Dawn.

Simple Green will etch aluminum. Not recommended, though the effect is directly proportional to its exposure to the solution and its concentration. A brief immersion to remove some grease and road grime is probably fine. Long sessions like I needed to de-crud the float bowls on my CB400F should be avoided.

I used this stuff. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B012GQOBM8/

Currently $50USD / gal on Amazon





With this ultrasonic cleaner. Currently $89 USD on Amazon.



I scoured dozens of listings and their reviews before selecting it. I went with the mechanical timer and temperature controls based on poor durability reported on units with the smooth membrane switch control panels.

It's worked quite well for me.

Before and after. Or, after and before?

Heated ultrasonic only. No scrubbing. Only the slightest amount of rubbing with a toothbrush to dislodge some stubborn varnish about the size of a grain of rice in the deepest region of the drain sump at the bottom of the bowl.

 

[Igofar]

Do NOT wear hearing aids while standing close to your cleaner....