Ins and outs on ultrasonic cleaner

A

austin37

Gold Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2019
Messages
283
Afternoon,

Been considering getting an ultrasonic cleaner… I usually wash my Buck folders and or Benchmade knives with soap water and or possibly bleach depending upon what I’ve used them for.
If I got an ultrasonic cleaner… would warm water with Dawn dish soap be adequate for most cleaning times.
What else would an ultrasonic cleaner be good for… example if I found a rusty tool in yard or something that fits in machine woild it restore the orignal under rust color coating ect.
Are there any other uses for ultrasonic?
Are they expensive to use?
Thank you
 
I've got a cheap one. It won't get off rust. Think of it as a high frequency, touchless vibration, which will loosen gunk and junk on the service. Works well for cleaning delicate stuff (glasses, jewelry) and in cavities. I'd think you'd want a tumbler for refinishing and removing rust.

I use dish soap and warm water as you said.
 
Make sure you remove all moisture after using an ultrasonic- or even soap and water.
WD 40 works very well for displacing water, and leaves a light lube.
 
Any recommendations as to quality not break the bank ultrasonic cleaner should get?
Can I place wood scaled knife such as Buck 110’in there?
 
austin37 said:
Can I place wood scaled knife such as Buck 110’in there?
Click to expand...
Unstabilized wood will swell when soaked. The ebony scales on my 110 swelled and were proud of the bolsters, for a few days, after I went for an unplanned swim, while canoeing a couple summers back. DymaLux scale that were stabilized might have fared better. Whether repeated soaking/swelling, and then drying/shrinking would cause any long term problems, I don't know.

O.B.
 
Ultrasonic cleaners will foam like hell if you put regular soap in them. A small sprinkle of dishwasher detergent powder is good, if you use anything at all, as it's formulated to be low-foam. They're great for dislodging gunk and grime out of tight spaces but will not remove rust. Fortunately they do their work in a matter of a few minutes, typically, but materials like wood or bone are probably not the best to put in them if you can avoid it. Exhaust other options first, basically.
 
I have never had an ultrasonic cleaner foam when using Dawn dishwashing detergent.
I generally use Simple Green in mine now.
 
Have been using one of these rather cheap ultrasonic cleaners originally meant for jewellery, and for what i use it for (cleaning various small parts and certain folding knives) it works just fine.
For me it's an intermediate step in a series of cleaning processes (if need be); after cleaning by hand with WD-40, wooden toothpicks, fine steel wool, etc, but before electrolytic cleaning (which works way better for rust removal / turning red rust into black rust)
I only use warm water with a drop of dishwashing liquid in it.

BTW: ultrasonic cleaners and aluminium don't go together real well (the cavitation process can damage it), but you can also use this knowledge to test the power of your cleaner.
To do this fill your machine with warm water & a drop of detergent, and then put a small piece of aluminium foil in the water.
When you then turn on the machine and if it's powerful enough it will make that piece of aluminium foil look like it was shot with buckshot: after one or two minutes there will be a pattern of small to less small holes in the foil.
The more powerful your machine is the more damage there will be to the foil.
 
kwackster said:
Have been using one of these rather cheap ultrasonic cleaners originally meant for jewellery, and for what i use it for (cleaning various small parts and certain folding knives) it works just fine.
For me it's an intermediate step in a series of cleaning processes (if need be); after cleaning by hand with WD-40, wooden toothpicks, fine steel wool, etc, but before electrolytic cleaning (which works way better for rust removal / turning red rust into black rust)
I only use warm water with a drop of dishwashing liquid in it.

BTW: ultrasonic cleaners and aluminium don't go together real well (the cavitation process can damage it), but you can also use this knowledge to test the power of your cleaner.
To do this fill your machine with warm water & a drop of detergent, and then put a small piece of aluminium foil in the water.
When you then turn on the machine and if it's powerful enough it will make that piece of aluminium foil look like it was shot with buckshot: after one or two minutes there will be a pattern of small to less small holes in the foil.
The more powerful your machine is the more damage there will be to the foil.
Click to expand...
Do you have a link or model of an ultrasonic machine you’d recommend?
 
I don't know enough about ultrasonic cleaners to give any meaningful recommendation.
A friend of mine uses one of those powerful industrial-looking all stainless steel models, plus he uses special liquids in it.
Mine was just a cheapie from a gadget store that i bought to learn more about how these machines actually work, but after about 8-10 years the unit still functions

This is the exact unit that i have:



Maybe later i will buy an all stainless steel (semi-) professional unit, but that may never materialize as long as my current unit keeps working.
 
kwackster said:
I don't know enough about ultrasonic cleaners to give any meaningful recommendation.
A friend of mine uses one of those powerful industrial-looking all stainless steel models, plus he uses special liquids in it.
Mine was just a cheapie from a gadget store that i bought to learn more about how these machines actually work, but after about 8-10 years the unit still functions

This is the exact unit that i have:



Maybe later i will buy an all stainless steel (semi-) professional unit, but that may never materialize as long as my current unit keeps working.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the advice. It's definitely something I would like to get........👍:)
 
Bill DeShivs said:
I have never had an ultrasonic cleaner foam when using Dawn dishwashing detergent.
I generally use Simple Green in mine now.
Click to expand...
I suppose it'll depend on the strength of your cleaner. Mine is strong enough it got mixed reviews back when I got it because people using it for jewelry experienced stones being shaken loose from their settings, but people loved it for deep-cleaning gun parts. I use it for removing loosened rust from small parts after running them through electrolysis since it gets to the interior of small apertures easier than using a wire brush. The Hz rating will affect the size of the cavitation bubbles/their aggression.
 
I have two large industrial ultrasonics.
Ultrasonics can remove stones that are already loose.
 
I use a mixture of Dawn blue, ammonia, and water in mine for most things. Do a google search for the mixture.

Don’t use for “soft” items like opals or pearls, so consider some scales that could be damaged using ultrasonic cleaners.
 
I have the harbor freight version, I use it for lots of stuff. Recently I used to to clean a batch of old oil sharping stones. It did an excellent job. I always run a few cycles on my oil stones before I resurface them. I use purple power or mean green as a solvent.
 
Fastleo151 said:
I have the harbor freight version, I use it for lots of stuff. Recently I used to to clean a batch of old oil sharping stones. It did an excellent job. I always run a few cycles on my oil stones before I resurface them. I use purple power or mean green as a solvent.
Click to expand...
Is the ultrasonic cleaner expensive to run? As in uses a lot of power? Does it only take one cycle to generally clean stuff?
 
austin37 said:
Is the ultrasonic cleaner expensive to run? As in uses a lot of power? Does it only take one cycle to generally clean stuff?
Click to expand...
They're not expensive to run. You can just look at the wattage of the unit you're looking at and use that to calculate run time cost if you're especially concerned but they're generally not too power hungry. It's not like you're arc welding with it.
 
austin37 said:
Is the ultrasonic cleaner expensive to run? As in uses a lot of power? Does it only take one cycle to generally clean stuff?
Click to expand...
I normally run mine multiple cycles, the max time I can run mine is 8 min I think. Your needs are going to depend on the strength of your detergent and how dirty the item your cleaning is.

Not to further complicate your tool purchases but another cleaning tool I frequently use is a hand steamer. It will clean a folder in a hurry, especially blood and grease from cleaning game. I use it on a lot of stuff.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top