Topic: sonic cleaner works?

[Greg]

what do you all think about these sonic jewelry cleaners? would they work for cleanng carb parts?
something like this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/T89-New-ULTRASONIC-CLEANER-Sonic-Wave_W0QQitemZ9519698347QQcategoryZ1277QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[SteveD CB500F]

There are places that advertise this servcie for carbs.  A clean and full rebuild runs to £50 per carb (ie £200 for a set)

$40 seems low enough to give it a punt!

We await your report...

[Green550F]

I use an ultrasonic cleaner for my carb work. mine is a unit made for cleaning air brushes. you do need t undersand that this isn't going to do the work for you. still count on needing a good set of brushes and wires. It will knock off a lot of crap though. and carb solvents commonly use acetone which is real hard on some plastics!

[Bob Wessner]

Greg,

Same unit (appears to be anyway) available on Amazon, might want to read the reviews, they are mixed particularly the reference to its ability to clean metals. Good luck, if you get it, let us know how it works.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/B0000BVGNJ/ref=cm_cr_dp_pt/002-5044056-0224846?%5Fencoding=UTF8&n=284507&s=kitchen

[Terry in Australia]

I "borrowed" a couple of superseded army dental hospital ultrasonic cleaners last christmas and tried them on various small bike parts, to be honest I didn't think they were that useful, but I suppose it depends on what you use for cleaning fluid.

I tried water with a srong detergent in one, and a "green" degreaser in the other, and the results were pretty similar. Good, but not brilliant. Also, that unit on Ebay looks pretty small, the ones with a tank large enough to hold a bank of four carbs are a lot more expensive. Cheers, Terry.

[Raul CB750K1]

There are no easy shortcuts. We are talking about fat these days. Does anybody believe that those electronic trainers that makes your muscle contract and expand will make you lose some weigh without any effort on your side? The tried-and-true method to lose weight is work out.

The same goes with cleaning. Somebody have to do the effort. If it's not you and your brushes, it must be the chemicals, or if not the sand or bead blasted. That grease and crud won't get out without a fight.


Raul

[Jonesy]

When used with the correct cleaning fluid and proper setup, I have achieved good results with an ultrasonic cleaner. First, I soaked the carbs in regular carb dip to get rid of the worst of the crud, then gave them an hour of ultrasonic cleaning. It's kind of cool to watch, as when you start the unit you can see a cloud of crud billow out from what you're cleaning.

[Bob Wessner]

Dan,

Just curious (the gadgeteer in me  ), what type of unit was it, industriail or something?

[gregk]

I used an old ultrasonic drafting pen cleaner with good results.  I guess it depends on the type of cleaner you use in the bath. 


Greg

[BobbyR]

Industrial ultrasonic units with the proper solvent will clean out your carbs. It will get into places you can't get too. The part is scrubbed via the high frquency vibrations. The vibrations are so intense, the fluid is heated to 140F. The jewlery cleaner is a toy.

[crazypj]

I bought the small unit from Harbour Freight Tools to experiment with  . Its really too small for most carbs but it does work to clean crud from the drillings you can't normally get too. You have to do 'normal' cleaning first and I tried several different 'solutions', mostly water based. It has a fixed timer so you have to switch it back on several times. Needs about 4~5 cycles minimum. Spray carb cleaner through the drillings after a couple of cycles ( over a white paper towel) and see just how much stuff comes out. The $180.00 unit looks like you could completely submerge a single carb, so you would have to split the bank. Full sized units for 4 cyl for professional use, run around $4000.00.  I have been told you can get almost the same sized unit from a tattoo supply much cheaper (or look up tattoo stuff on e-bay?)
Just my opinion (as usual )
PJ

[Jeff.Saunders]

If you do buy one, make sure when you put carbs in the tank that all moveable parts are removed.  If you leave good float needles in the seat, they will be worn out when you remove them from a cleaning - the vibration will damage them....