Ultrasonic cleaning?

[JTGS850GL]

only if you leave it in too long. it should be covered in tiny little "dimples".

Actually, that's one way to test a sonic cleaner. You place a sheet of aluminum foil in the bath either framed by wire or in a V shape. The foil should show hole penetrations within 1 minute. Dimples alone are not a good sign of sufficient energy. The hole density will tell you how effective the cleaner is and where there are standing waves. Just because you see bubbles and hear a sizzle sound does not mean your sonic cleaner is working properly. It's not just the sound that does the cleaning. It's the generation of cavitation bubbles and their subsequent collapse is what dissipates the energy and does the cleaning.

[Agemax]

1 minute is too long, the proper test requires the foil to be left in for 20 - 30 seconds.
Thats the test i have always used anyway. if you leave the foil in there too long it wil destroy it. you should be looking for the uniformity of the dimples across the sheet.

[JTGS850GL]

Actually I prefer to have the foil perforated during the test process. The hole density and perforation pattern makes it easier to see where you have highest cavitation and where, if any, you have standing waves. Depending on the ultrasonic cleaner power level, frequency and fluid density it may take up to 10 minutes to see visible destruction. On some machines with high power levels it may take only a few seconds.

In the case of this thread I'd say he has a defective cleaner. Return it and put a dispute in with ebay. Move on with it and get another sonic cleaner.

[Agemax]

well, you stick to your test and i will stick to mine. either ways, it is irrelevant in this thread is the OP's cleaner is obviously not working at all.

[Chancho196]

I bought a Chinese one too, but not digital. 1.3L sounded massive and the photos made it look big enough to get a complete carb in, but no such luck. The bath itself is tiny and the machine useless. I basically got most of the money returned and still have the cleaner sat in the garage. I must try the tin foil test though, it's about the only item that'll fit in the ba$74rd thing!

[londonboards]

Yup 6 litres is about the minimum working size for motorbike related stuff.

Greetings

[mikerophone]

I have the larger Harbor Freight model which will -barely- fit 2 carb bodies and it works fairly well with some Simple Green HD in it, especially when preheated:

[Agemax]

Yup 6 litres is about the minimum working size for motorbike related stuff.

Greetings

mine is a 3 litre capacity. big enough for 2 carbs at a time and all the brass bits.

[JTGS850GL]

I have the larger Harbor Freight model which will -barely- fit 2 carb bodies and it works fairly well with some Simple Green HD in it, especially when preheated:

Just a note for those that may not consider this. The carbs really need to be completely submerged in order to clean them properly. Any exposed areas above the solution line do not get cleaned at all. I've found that it's not the volume of the sonic cleaner that critical as is the depth. A 6L tank that's only 3" deep will be of no use for carb cleaning. I built my last sonic cleaner around a 6" deep 1/4 size steamer pan. Perfect size for me.

Also you need to consider that mass of what you're cleaning. The higher the mass of the object and the higher the fluid density, the more power is needed to produce proper cavitation. If you're out of spec, you may hear a sizzle but nothing is really being cleaned. No cavitation= no cleaning.

[mikerophone]

I'd love a deeper one, but I use it like once a year... So I just rotate the bodies 4 times, 90 degrees at a time.

Granted my bike doesn't have that many miles on it, but look at those carb bodies shine!

[JTGS850GL]

Must take forever to clean them.

[Devon bloke]

Just an update on this guys. I contacted the seller and he sent me instructions on how to remove the base and wanted pics which I did. Didnt take long for me to see the problem. The transducer had burnt out for some reason


They gave me a full refund and said to keep the old one so might repair it if I can find a source of a transducer.

[JTGS850GL]

From the picture, that's a pretty crappy soldering job on those transducers.

Do you know if you have a 40khz or 28khz cleaner. Might be on the model label. Most cleaners use the 40khz transducers. The transducers are pretty easy to find and are pretty inexpensive. You can pick them up on ebay all day long. Here's an ebay sample: 60W 40khz transducer

Seems strange that the transducer burnt out like that. Very possible that the drive board is bad. Did the cleaner only come with one transducer? Of so it's a piece of junk with very insufficient power to clean anything but jewelry. It's possible that the unit you received had the wrong voltage setting or the wrong driver board since you're in the UK.

You can pick up a combination of transducer and driver board for pretty cheap as well. Just do an ebay search for 40khz transducer driver and a number of them will pop up. Just make sure you're buying one with at least 100W of power, two transducers and for the correct voltage (220V-240V) for your area.

[Grimly]

Been thinking of building my own, along the lines of this...

http://www.instructables.com/id/Home-Made-Ultrasonic-Cleaning-Tank/

Cheap transducers, compared to the prices in the instructable, but who knows how long they'll last...
http://tinyurl.com/us-transducer

And plenty of cheap driver boards, but again, who knows...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_sacat=0&_nkw=ultrasonic+driver&_frs=1

[Devon bloke]

From the picture, that's a pretty crappy soldering job on those transducers.

Do you know if you have a 40khz or 28khz cleaner. Might be on the model label. Most cleaners use the 40khz transducers. The transducers are pretty easy to find and are pretty inexpensive. You can pick them up on ebay all day long. Here's an ebay sample: 60W 40khz transducer

Seems strange that the transducer burnt out like that. Very possible that the drive board is bad. Did the cleaner only come with one transducer? Of so it's a piece of junk with very insufficient power to clean anything but jewelry. It's possible that the unit you received had the wrong voltage setting or the wrong driver board since you're in the UK.

You can pick up a combination of transducer and driver board for pretty cheap as well. Just do an ebay search for 40khz transducer driver and a number of them will pop up. Just make sure you're buying one with at least 100W of power, two transducers and for the correct voltage (220V-240V) for your area.

Its a single transducer 50w 40khz. Yeah first think i saw when I took the base off was the poor solder. Been looking for replacements and found a couple on ebay but again from china. Got another cleaner coming that Im gonna try. Only want it for carb cleaning so wont use it much anyway.