supersonic parts washer advice

[walth]

wow. thanks for the tips. I did some reading on ultrasonic cleaning and about the cavitation and explosions or whatever against the surface and I could see it happening last night. I did mine for 480s (8min) over and over, the longest I can set it for. probably 10 times? I just hope I can get the filter out...they look pretty gnarly and brown with old dry gas. Some of the bigger ones, from what I read, have an evaporation system that separates the old nasty gunk from the chemicals or whatever and the good stuff will rise and fall back into the tank and save in the long run. Don't have a clue about yours. very interesting stuff.

[zoom zoom]

You think I could clean pistons/rods/oil squirters in one of the harbor freight ones? I'd really like to see what dawn dish liquid would do to a part after 20 minutes in one of those.


I went thru 3 bottles of it cleaning the oil pan/pickup tube/mbsp/oil pan pan thing, they're all shiny now.

[Movin]

I took the ultrasonic out of the big cabinetry and use it for rinsing
and drying. I use the ultrasonic just like you are except I have an
off-on switch and no timer. If you obstruct the timer in some way
so not to void your warranty keep an eye on softer metals like the
tin over brass of little electrical connectors..

[walth]

I did my pistons and rods, head, valvetrain, and a bunch of other stuff with power dissolver, hot water, and then CLR (Calcium Lime Rust) and then more hot water and a soft composite brush and then 2000 grit polish on all the journals etc with very good results.

you could totally try this thing for all of that but it isn't very big. I bought a 6-8 dollar storage tote for my dirty work and then a really big one for the block but seemed a little too big. the CLR did NOT do well with the exhaust manifold. lol but oh well. I'll take care of that later

[Movin]

A cabinate sandblaster for exhaust manifolds..bare heads
but every bolt hole , nook and cranny has to be carefully
cleaned. Also it should be in a separate room from your
repair, clean and assemble area just in case something
goes wrong and you dust everything.

The strength and frequency of the ultrasonic needs to
match the bulk of what you put in. Some things will take
longer or not clean at all because of mass mismatch.

What area of the store do you find this dawn power dissolver??
I couldn't it . I would be glad to throw a piston and rod in with
a before and after shot. I have been using pressure washer
detergent from the 55 gal drum mixed with water.

[zoom zoom]

It's in Walmart (only place I've seen it) right with the dawn soap, they recently moved mine down a couple slots in between some other stuff, but it's always in the same area/shelf section as the regular dawn. Blue bottle with a white label!

I'm stopping by harbor freight tonite..if they have one in stock ill clean everything down to the bolts lol..and my fiance could use it for her jewelry! Guess who's getting a sonic cleaner as an extra late Vday present.

[Pu241]

Been following the application of UltraSonic energy for decades.

Dr. K. Suslick has done some serious work with it.

Don't let all the tech stuff bog you down some important information is in the doc below.

http://www.unc.edu/depts/mtcgroup/litmeetings/sonochemistry.pdf

Based on above doc it make me wonder about:

Movin, have you ever used ethylene glycol or propylene glycol as the cleaning fluid?
Thinking might work well.
High boiler (per above doc, is a good thing) with hydrogen bonding between the compound.
Should solvate more crud.

What about K1 kerosene?

Walt, it appears that once you have particles in the cleaning solution the sonocation is less effective in cleaning. So might want to swap out dirty solution for clean and have another go at it. Old solution can let set and decant off the clean solution without solids in it and use it again.

There was talk years ago of using US to cause fusion reactions in deuterated water (heavy water). That never seemed to work out, or at least no one ever verified that it did occur.

[Movin]

Nice read.. wonder what water wetter would do,
or synthetic transmission fluid, and no I haven't
tried ethylene glycol or propylene glycol as the cleaning fluid
but will shortly!

[zoom zoom]

You guys are getting me a little too excited about this with all these big words.

[Pu241]

Movin, any experience with Biodiesel?
It being an ester and already having the ability to dissolve at lot of stuff plus having a relatively high boiling point, might also be worth exploring.
Also cheap as compaired to some cleaning agents go.
Just a thought.

[Movin]

The biodiesel itself makes sludge..I scrape carmalized peanut butter
out of the bottom of fuel tanks now and then. I could try that too.

Here are the first victims, a piston and rod out of a truck that tried
to cross a river and didn't pick the shallow spot and a rusted
really old linoleum knife.
They are going in 2 gallons of ethylene glycol and water at a 50%
mix. It is also supposed to contain boiling point inhibitors and a rust,
corrosion prevention package for aluminum and steel.

[walth]

daaang ^^ this thread is turning good.

I'd buy a sandblasting cabinet, etc but I'm only working with a 23 x 10 ish garage and I have a festiva, b3 and e-series, b6 on the stand and everything else in there too. lol

[DriverOne]

Sounds like it may be time for more storage!

[walth]

nah, not that worried about it. student loans take priority for the next 3.5 years

[zoom zoom]

ah.. well, harbor freight was sold out of the sonic cleaners.. they had the small one for jewelry, but I doubt I could use it for much. I'll keep checking in until they get restocked.