UltraSonic Cleaners & grit blasters.

richard carr

Western Thunderer
I tried it yesterday

Here's the Mk1 in the basket

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Thats about the limit of things but more than big enough for most items.


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The instructions say to use tap water or with a little added washing up liquid at a temperature between 40 and 60 degrees.

You can run for upto 1 hour maximum, then it may over heat.

I tried with the MOK Ivatt 4 mt body

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I gave it 5 minutes at 40 degrees, it did n't appear to be any cleaner to look at but there was a bit of dirt in the bottom of the cleaner. Only one little bit fell off.

I also tried on some JLTRT resin castings and it removed a few traces of mould release that was on one of them.

On the whole I'm very pleased with it I'm sure it will get well used over time.

Richard
 

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richard carr

Western Thunderer
Adrian

That is it after 5 minutes in the tank, there wasn't much point in doing it for any longer at this stage of the build, it certainly felt clean to the touch.

Fortunately only one little bit fell off !

Richard
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Finally got round to getting an ultrasonic cleaner.

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Thanks to the links previously I opted for a UK retailer, someone with a doorstep...I hope....as opposed to faceless Ebay or Amazon. It did raise the price significantly but I reasoned if they had a shop front then the service, reliability and quality might be a bit better, only time will tell.

It's slightly smaller than Richards in that it's the 22 litre version, couldn't see the need for the extra depth in the tank, other than that it's the same size with an internal tank of 500 x 300 mm or so, big enough for a O gauge coach or US engine I hope and possibly Gauge 1 engines too in the future.

It's quiet, well quieter than I expected and a quick test cleaned up the test item nicely, I.E. got rid of all the crud and fibre brush bristles in all the nooks and crannies. It didn't however get rid of grease stains and finger print smudges, possibly because the cleaning agent/solution is only 50% recommended....they only bundled 1 litre of it in the package :eek:, I need two ;).

I also only ran it for 20 minutes at 50°C which is the bottom end of the temperature they recommend.

I'll order some more next week and see if that helps.

Primarily though it's doing the main job I wanted it for, getting rid of crud and flux in nooks and crannies.
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
A cheap 600ml ultrasonic cleaner is a good complement to these big tanks, especially when you have a small job that requires an expensive solvent. It's particularly handy for airbrush cleaning.
Funnily enough, I worked that out about 2 minutes after the first test :))
 

DavidB

Western Thunderer
For smaller parts, I put them in a second container (the ultrasonics still get through) surrounded by plain water in the main tank. The second container has 'cleaner' in it, either a proprietary one or something like mild alkali. If you can remember as far back as school days, it was called a 'water bath' in the science labs. This is a more economical way of using the proprietary cleaners and if using alkali or a more aggressive cleaner, protects the main tank.
 

OzzyO

Western Thunderer
Hello all,

the wife and I went to Aldi today to get some more shopping. I had known about these for a while and thought well I have got two bigger ultrasonic cleaners them why should I get another one.
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Before I knew it it had jumped into the trolley and looked so at home, that it came home with us.
Then it was lets see what I have got, out of the box this is what you get.
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It will take a BR1 bogie in 7mm so that saves me having to get one of the big ones out.
It will also take the bogie in the plastic basket.
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For its first test it was my watches wrist band, a before photo.
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and after. Some bits of grot but on the whole OK.
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The water after cleaning, all I was using was hot tap water and 5 squirts of orange Clit Bang. This same water was used for all of the following tests.
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The first bogie before cleaning.
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After cleaning. This bogie was cleaned in the plastic basket for 280 seconds wheels down then for 280 seconds with wheels up. Then a quick rinse in hot clean water, not in the cleaner. God knows what it will do to the steel that Slater's use.
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The same bogie from above.
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The second bogie, this was done for 480 seconds on its wheels without the plastic basket.
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and from above
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When it came to empty the tank I put a sheet of kitchen roil in a funnel to catch any bits that may have come off. But all I got was this!
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At £20 it does the job on "small" parts in O gauge (if a bogie is small), the only down side is that it does not have a water heater but the ultrasonic effects will keep the water warm.

The bogies are a pair of JLTRT brass ones.

ATB

OzzyO.

PS copied from my build thread.
 

Richard Gawler

Western Thunderer
I went to Aldi last weekend but they didn't have their mini jewellery cleaner so I bought a 3 litre machine online instead. The basket is big enough to take a small tender loco or its tender, or most any Victorian wagon I am likely to want to build. I bought from a supplier in the UK and I chose a design with rotary controls because these are easier to use than push buttons if I am wearing gloves. This means the timer is a clockwork one.

Well, so far I have used only cold water with a drop of Fairy and I have cleaned my spectacles, all of the cutlery except the knives (too long to go in) and the drop-in plugs for the kitchen sink which are always covered in grime from vegetables and meat and fat. These are now like new - photo.

I have had a go with the superstructure of the loco I am building, I didn't really see any improvement but I have been quite diligent with the Viakal and a toothbrush so I think the ultrasonic machine is there to try when the model gains internal joins like on the boiler which I cannot see or reach.

The seller phoned me to ask if I needed any cleaning fluids to go with the machine. I bought a bottle of concentrated flux remover, one litre makes up 10 litres of solution. His main advice was to re-use it until I can't see the bottom of the tank, and decant it back into a bottle between operations. If I keep and use the machine in the kitchen I think this is practical, 3 litres is a manageable quantity to pour through a funnel indoors over the sink.

So - so far so good, though the cat absolutely detests it.
 

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OzzyO

Western Thunderer
The seller phoned me to ask if I needed any cleaning fluids to go with the machine. I bought a bottle of concentrated flux remover, one litre makes up 10 litres of solution. His main advice was to re-use it until I can't see the bottom of the tank, and decant it back into a bottle between operations. If I keep and use the machine in the kitchen I think this is practical, 3 litres is a manageable quantity to pour through a funnel indoors over the sink.

So - so far so good, though the cat absolutely detests it.

To get the best out of the cleaning fluid before or while you are poring it back into a bottle, run it through a filter of some sort.
I've used a few types,
1] I started with a water filter nice clean solution, but the filter would block up after about two usages. So costly.
2] A bit of kitchen roll folded in four and placed into the funnel, Good but not the best.
3] A bit of kitchen roll rolled up and fitted into the funnel, very good . But No 1 is the best.

HTH

OzzyO.
 

OzzyO

Western Thunderer
Hello all,

in a flash of inspiration (or lunacy) I thought how would the ultrasonic cleaner get on with cleaning my smaller files? The files in question, some are normal one but most are diamond files.
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I separated out the normal files and gave them a go.
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The liquid after the files had been cleaned.
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and the files.
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Then it was onto the diamond files, the liquid after the diamond files had been cleaned.
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and the files.
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The bottom of the tank after the liquid had been pored out and the paper towel after wiping the tank out.
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The papet towel from out of the funnel after the fluid had been pored through it.
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So it did clean the files, the normal files not so well but that could (probleby) be due to the files having a double cut face, unlike the diamond ones that are just irregular shaped bits of stone. Would I do it again yes but only with the diamond files.

ATB

OzzyO.
 

Lancastrian

Western Thunderer
I received an e-mail from Allendale Ultrasonics earlier this week regarding their new cleaning powders, to replace some of the fluids.

Might be worth trying out.

Ian
 
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