Ultrasonic cleaner

[Mike "Hubbie" Stearns]

I'm going to purchase an ultrasonic cleaner to clean carbs. I'm just wondering what all of you use and what solvent. Thanks Mike 

[Mark Wetherbee]

I bought an older USA made, higher quality unit from eBay as opposed to the cheap China brands which have poor to mixed reviews. I don’t know how the others are but good quality equipment usually is a better investment.

 

As for solvent, Carbking’s suggestion was a very expensive and hard to find mixture of hot water and dish soap...  I’m serious, I had great results with dawn ultra and someone also suggested adding some white vinegar for really nasty gunk but I was leery of the acid causing issues with a very expensive carburetor.

[edinmass]

The best way to clean a post war carb is the nasty safety Kleen stuff that stinks to no end, and the air powered basket agitator unit. Pre war units can be very fragile, difficult to replace, and are usually best served by cleaning it by hand.

[auburnseeker]

Has anyone ever tried soaking a carb in evaporust yet?  It works as a degreaser as well. It is usually pretty safe on pot metal unless you let it sit in it for weeks on end.  I know it would clean all the steel parts up like new. It will also clean the grime off plated parts without hurting the cadmium plating. 

[Modeleh]

I use straight pine sol in mine. It’s a very good carb cleaner and also will strip paint. I found this trick on a motorcycle forum a few years ago and apparently model toy soldier collectors use it for removing paint without damaging the details of the tiny models.

[Mike "Hubbie" Stearns]

I did read about using pinesol, but not straight. 5:1 ratio. Also several others that are up to about a hundred a gallon. I was going to get a hf unit, but the reviews aren't the best. Looking at a taihanthat is a 10l unit. It has good reviews and not pricy. The one article I read wanted you to buy a 2K unit that holds about 5 gallons. I'm only going to use once in a while when needed and don't want to spend that much

[edinmass]

I have never found any ultrasonic unit that is worth anything. 

[MochetVelo]

There are a number of YouTube videos on the subject, of course. In one, the guy uses plastic storage jars of different sizes in which he put Dawn & water mix. In other jars, he used gasoline. In the ultrasonic machine tub, he used plain water. The "waves" penetrate the plastic freely, and cleanup is much easier. I asked him what he does with the dirty gasoline, but didn't get an answer.

 

Phil

[Naasaa]

I have one of these cheap Chineese ultra sonic cleaner. and it is doing an OK job.

It manage to remove deposits.

I have been using pure water, water with dishwashing liqued and so on. But today I am using a cleaning detergent made for an Ultra sonic cleaner.

 

Proffesionaly have haved worked with costly US cleaners. They are a bit faster. But result is the same.

Quit happy with it.

 

Lars