Ultrasonic cleaner experience

[Chevboy0167]

My old maintenance supervisor on 2nd shift use to buy large broken ones off of eBay and rebuild them. Many were gallons plus large. Controllers and elements were the usual culprits. Buy low and re-sell high!

 

[Chevboy0167]

Mine.... from the usual scumbags.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1958581705...VZBrdKncgxMBB/1Jfhcg6bEg==|tkp:Bk9SR-Kr2I6GYw

 

[djg james]

Mine.... from the usual scumbags.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1958581705...VZBrdKncgxMBB/1Jfhcg6bEg==|tkp:Bk9SR-Kr2I6GYw

I was going to try to get by with just a 0.8L or a 2L sized one. Am I thinking too small?

 

[singinwoodwackr]

I'll ask a stupid questions now because I have some carbs I want to clean and am in the process of buying an UC.

You remove the diaphragm and gasket before immersing in the UC? Take out carb screws? Or completely dismantle?

I dismantle the carb. Only metal and plastic parts get tanked but I use Berrymans carb cleaner rather than degreasers. I filter and recycle the Berrymans. After the initial bath to get the major crud I re-tank in clean carb cleaner as a rinse.
carb cleaner destroys the rubber gaskets, o-rings. The plastic ones are fine.
I have killed a few carbs with compressed air before knowing about the check valves

 

[Chevboy0167]

I say get the biggest you can afford. I find myself trying to fit bigger items in it all the time. Most times when doing that I can not have the lid on it to keep in the heat = wasted energy = less efficient at cleaning.

Matter of fact, I'm looking at a 15L or 22L version for next year.

 

[Lightning Performance]

I say get the biggest you can afford. I find myself trying to fit bigger items in it all the time. Most times when doing that I can not have the lid on it to keep in the heat = wasted energy = less efficient at cleaning.

Matter of fact, I'm looking at a 15L or 22L version for next year.

15L minimum for saw cases and bigger ope parts.
Even the USC won't remove plugged circuits in the main body many times once oil has polemorized. Sometimes they need to be stripped, acid dipped, heated and blown out. Try it sometime over a clean paper towel or box. Beyond that replacing the needle seat and popoff barrel valve for the H circuit you have covered everything. Getting fuel pumps is usually the tough part on discontinued or oddball carbs.

 

[nedsim]

Whatever you do with acetone, make sure you handle it with latex gloves on. Acetone can and will impact your liver adversely. You get it on your hands or skin and it heads right for your liver... Bad stuff, good solvent. I use it all the time to clean TIG rod but always with latex gloves in.

I'll preface this by saying my intention is not to discourage folks from taking whatever precautions they feel prudent when using solvents, and doing their own research, but...

I looked into this pretty thoroughly several years ago trying to get a sense of the hazards of the solvents I use. I was surprised to learn that acetone is relatively benign. The most serious exposure hazard is the vapors, and even then the exposure limits are relatively high. The risk from casual skin contact is low. Acetone occurs naturally in your body, produced by your liver in the metabolism of fats.

So my common solvents of choice, from "good" to "bad" are: water; isopropyl alcohol; acetone; xylene/xylol; methanol. I keep the first 3 in the shop, the last 2 live in the storage shed and come out only for special occasions. I was especially surprised to learn how bad methanol is, both as a vapor and thru skin contact.

I do have one anecdote about an acute reaction to contact with acetone. A guy at a local boatyard was handling a drum of acetone and somehow managed to rupture it and doused all his clothes. He ended up in the hospital with hypothermia.

 

[WearTheChaps]

The carb cleaner I use says safe for rubber and plastics. Nitrile is a no no. So if check valves may have nitrile was there some year they became popular or are replacement check valve available without it. I saw the guy replacing existing ones with rubber, bit of a chore.

 

[Chevboy0167]

Boy.... it sure does cost a lot to save the planet these days!

 

[benz66]

All I use is ultra dawn and a teaspoon of laundry soap enhancer..oxi clean or the like. Hot water in the UC. Run through as many times as needed. Never an issue.

I use dawn, water, and maybe a half cup or cup of vinegar for steel parts. I agree with Water, Dawn, and oxi for light metal or zinc/potmetal parts. (carbs) No vinegar for brass also, unless it is only for 1 or 2 cycles.

 

[Chevboy0167]

 

[Chevboy0167]

Ya know.... I have used this on auto radiators and condensers to remove dirt, grease and oil. Works very well with hot water using the foam gun for application. Let it sit for a few minutes then rinse well.

It is in liquid form and mixes with water. I wonder how well in would work in an UC for carbs and such?

Aluminum safe..... it claims. I may give it go next spring on a freebee saw I got.

https://www.amazon.com/Refrigeratio...ps=1&sprefix=viper+venom+pack,aps,117&sr=8-35

 

[Philbert]

I had a work friend with some reclaimed acetone he scored from a workplace. Used it for cleaning at his home shop.

Somehow, a spark occurred (static electricity?), and he was very badly burned.

We get complacent with flammable liquids. I avoid open containers.

Philbert

 

[bwalker]

I find it highly unlikely that acetone used in an ultrasonic damaged your carb.
It's true that acetone is hard on rubber and plastic, but it takes a long time to do any damage and alot of the modern synthetic rubbers used in carbs tolerate it ok.
I've even used acetone to make hom brewed race full but at low percentages.

 

[WearTheChaps]

Are these check valve only on a certain brand carbs? I have just looked at the breakdown of a WT-170 and Bing 48 for two of my saws and apart from the fuel pump, I can't see anything else/

 

[Sidecarflip]

Only thing I use acetone for is the final cleaning of TIG filler rod after it gets Scotchbrite treatment to remove oxidation and final wipe down of stainless steel and aluminum parts I'm going to TIG weld. I don't bother doing hot rolled other than removing the mill scale with a flap wheel. Mild steel TIG filler rod tends to oxidize when sitting unused. Aluminum and stainless filler rod, not so much but I still wipe them down with acetone and a clean disposable shop towel anyway, simply because any impurities on the filler rod will cause weld inclusions. I wipe my tungsten electrodes as well. You can also use rubbing alcohol bit the issue with it is store bought rubbing alcohol can contain other undesirable ingredients.

I have a couple bottles of Carbon Tet on the shelf if anyone wants them. Had a deceased friend who succumbed to lung failure after using Carbon Tet and inhaling the fumes. Nasty stuff but the best cleaner ever invented.

 

[Joseph Acquisto]

Only day dreaming about an ultrasonic, but can say that I see no need to use specialized carb cleaners or acetone, etc.
I found just soaking in a bucket of diluted, per their instructions, Simple Green "HD PRO", dissolved a well varnished Briggs 4 stroke carb from a old Baker wood chipper.

Just soaked it over night, rinsed it and dried it with GENTLE air on the outside. Also used it to degunk/devarnish the plastic gas tank that gas had evaporated
from. It had all been sitting idle and ignored for at least 2 years.

New fuel lines and filter, (and fuel pump) fresh gas and it started second pull and runs fine.

I'd imagine it would be even more effective, quicker, in an ultrasonic cleaner. Safer/healthier too.

 

[SteveSr]

Are these check valve only on a certain brand carbs? I have just looked at the breakdown of a WT-170 and Bing 48 for two of my saws and apart from the fuel pump, I can't see anything else/

Check valves are normally located in the main venturi nozzle and are usually not replaceable without replacing the whole nozzle. Some older carbs may be the exception.

These valves are usually made out of a small rubber or fiberglass disc. The rubber ones degrade from exposure to fuel chemicals and get blown out by overzealous use of compressed air. With the fiberglass ones the glue that holds the fibers together degrades, the fibers come loose and cause the valve to start sticking.

Some newer carbs i.e. with accelerator pumps or purge bulbs may have other check valves built-in.

 

[Sidecarflip]

Mostly, you'll find Berryman's B12 Chemtool in my heated UC but it may have Simple Green also. I can change the fluid quite easily, has a WOG valve drain on it. I tend to soak to be sharpened loops in it as well, but in a lye and water solution. Lye dissolves any pitch and gunk on a chain loop in about 15 minutes or less when heated. I keep the solutions I drain out in gallon spring water jugs that are empty. No point in buying new unless they really get gunked up.

 

[nedsim]

I had a work friend with some reclaimed acetone he scored from a workplace. Used it for cleaning at his home shop.

Somehow, a spark occurred (static electricity?), and he was very badly burned.

We get complacent with flammable liquids. I avoid open containers.

Philbert

Terrible. I keep the acetone in the shop in one of these. Expensive, but safe and convenient.
https://static.grainger.com/rp/s/is/image/Grainger/2AF92_AS01?$adapimg$&hei=536&wid=536