Ultra sonic cleaner?

I'll ask my dentist if I can borrow his ultra-sonic to clean my engines.

HA!

@Dave:
LOL!

They work pretty well for some light to moderate grime and gunk, but you really need an industrial one to do the heavy stuff.

Also, being careful with aluminum parts is important when dealing with an ultrasonic cleaner, as it can tarnish them depending upon the type of cleaner. It can also hurt glow head life due to the filament being vibrated so much.

Matt

Is plastic safe?

Yes, indeed. The people at the place i go to get my glasses fixed use a
very powerful ultrasonic, and mine are made of hardened polycarbonate,
or some other high grade plastic. as long as you dont use glycol as your fluid, you're A-OK!

This should work well. I just buy 90% isopropyl alchol and let them soak for a day. I don't buy burnt up or trashy engines. Clean makes them mean.

Pics of my homebrew ultrasonic cleaner on this thread:
http://coxengineforum.forumakers.com/t435p40-remove-tarnish-and-other-real-baked-on-dirt

I use this one and swear by it.

http://www.harborfreight.com/ultrasonic-cleaner-3305.html

Usually I put small parts like cyinders, cases, tanks, backplates etc

in a small jar with some Hoppes #9 gun solvent, and put the

jar in the water bath. I'm a little leery of putting solvents

directly into the cleaner. One thing I don't care for is the 3 minute

cycle time. Have to keep hitting the start button. I clean parts one at

a time so they don't vibrate against each other.

Works for me. Sorry 'bout the big blurry photo.

Bob

I've been using one to clean engines for many years now (we have one at work, and I'm the only person who ever uses it!). I put the parts in a container of 99% isopropyl and float the container in water in the ultrasonic tank. It does a pretty good job but really baked-on crud can still be a problem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBw1LeJUhAg&feature=youtu.be

Wow, it worked I think. Converted cell phone vid. Was using Surgical tubing at first, before I used the thru bolt. With 1 motor in the can and a bit of 30% fuel in the bottom, it was almost touching the floor with the tubing. There is more agitation there than shown, it will acctually spit little bits of fuel out of the can if I crank it up any further. Another reason why I thru bolted it, so I could stick the lid on it.

Let me know if that vid works, Had a heck of a time coverting vid from my cell phone, but I have stumbled upon the combination.

Mr impatient here..
Couldn't wait for one to turn up from eBay, I thought about what
I use to wipe my YS (very oily) powered models down with after
a flying session. Panel wipe. My pals think I'm a bit of an animal
Using the stuff but it's the only thing I've ever used that Cuts right
through the gloop and leaves no residue, so I put some
In a small aerosol can cap immersed the engine in it and left it
For 24 hours. The amount of crud that came off was quite something
But still nada so into a cap full of Plusgas WD40 type for another
24 hours. Again loads of crap off this time, a small tap with a toffee
Hammer (absolutely no end float on crank) and BINGO rotation.
I wiped it down, blew it out, reassembled it, followed starting instructions
To the letter and it started first flip without the spring.
These engines are incredible, the guy said it was seized in about 1975
And had been in his wood shed ever since. Perhaps panelwipe is.another
Weapon in our arsenal.
Now just got free up the bellcrank on this Acrocub...

John,

Panel wipe? Never heard of it. What is it normally used for? (besides the obvious)

Edit: nevermind you clean the oil off the model wih it! Had a daft moment.........

It's an enviromental disaster in a can Ron.
It's a solvent the body shops use for preping bodywork prior to spraying.

John Goddard wrote:It's an enviromental disaster in a can Ron.
It's a solvent the body shops use for preping bodywork prior to spraying.

Must be some high powered UK legal prep solvent. I use the PPG DX-330 prep solvent (grease and wax remover) before painting. Basically laquer thinner.

Your above post lit a bulb above my bean tho'. Here is a wipe down mix that I use for removing the oil gunk and stuff off of the wings after flight. Works very well and leaves the surfaces sqeaky clean. I dont know how well it would work in a parts cleaner, I imagine not to good for that. It would probably turn into a Lawrence Welk bubble factory with the dawn soap in there.

•5 cups water
•1/2 cup of ammonia
•1 cup rubbing alcohol
•1 oz. of DAWN dish detergent (I used the dawn concentrate)
Mix all ingredients in a clean milk jug, pour enough in a small spray bottle for field use. This solution cuts thru the oil buildup on the underside of your plane.

I'll have to give that a whirl Keith but doesn't the ammonia wiff a bit?

John Goddard wrote:I'll have to give that a whirl Keith but doesn't the ammonia wiff a bit?

Just a touch John,,but it is dilluted down pretty far with all the other ingredients.

I would try the sonic cleaner first with just water and dish detergent. Use the more harsh stuff if the detergent does not work. I have lost some of my sense of smell so I need to be careful about some things otherwise I might damage my lungs.

BTW, I know I can hear some of these things run. Am I hearing sub-harmonics or are some of them really sonic cleaners vs. ultrasonic?

As for the "panel wipe", it sounds a lot like "Prepsol" that many here use between sanding and painting a model.

George

They are sonic for sure