Ultrasonic cleaner
 

Does anyone use an ultrasonic cleaner to clean parts? What type of detergent do you use? I am mainly looking at this to clean diff internals, hingepins and maybe some plastic parts.

I haven't messed with any ultrasonic specific detergents, I use Mean Green from the Dollar General store.

I mix it 50/50 with water and heat it up to 125* or so.
Works like magic on just about anything you want to clean.

I tried lots of different cleaners and settled on Simple Green. It will eventually clean most of the fluid out but not completely. I haven't found anything better. My machine has a built in heater that really speeds up the process. Harbor Freight has it for around 60 bucks if I remember right. I mix in some Dawn sometimes too.

For diff cleaning I use a tea bag strainer (large one), a mason jar, and some M.E.K. (Methyl Ethyl Keytone, $10 or so for a can at WalMart). It pretty much melts the silicone out of the diffs in 30-45 seconds. Take apart your diff...put the pieces in the tea strainer (minus the bearings and O-Rings, close the strainer, and then dip the whole unit into the mason jar half full of M.E.K. and swish it around a bit. Then let it sit for 20 secs or so....swish it again and pull it out. Lay the parts out on a clean paper towel and let them air dry.

It works perfectly every time. It WILL swell the O-Rings though if you leave them in there....and not good for bearings either obviously.

I use the same method only with Naptha. same results

simple green works great. i use about 70/30 water to simple green. works well on all parts. i use it for work also on alum and other parts like carbs and rubber parts.

I used Isopropyl alcohol (99,9%) it works great, also for bearings! It's not eating o-rings or somthing like that... very gentle mixture

mineral spirits work best for diff internals.

I use greased lightning w/simple green and filtered water. About a 2:1 ratio on cleaners to water. Greased lightning is available at Lowes and/or Home Depot. Simple and effective. I use the ultrasonic from Harbor Freight, about $25 bucks.

A Better Ultrasonic Cleaner
 

We use Omegaclean. It removes oil, grease, carbon and other contaminants better than aerosol solvents and hand-cleaning. It's non-toxic and environmentally safe. The buffers protect aluminum finishes and it has silicates that guard against flash rusting. It's about $30/gallon, but worth it. Paste this into your browser: omegasonics.com/industries/power_sports.shtml

I just bought this one and will test it the next time I tear down a buggy: http://cgi.ebay.com/2-0Litre-1-2-Gal...item335cc7fa6c

I hope it is up to the task :)

anyone tried gun oil?:confused:

Resurrecting the thread. Has anyone used one to clean an Engine in preparation for a rebuild?

Those cleaners will eat up the cast Al block quickly so be careful.

I use a tank of Simple Green in my ultrasonic cleaner for parts.

Thanks, appreciate the feedback. I will just continue and clean the old fashioned way then.