bjr48

I finally bought one of these the other night at walmart and am a little disappointed with it so far. But I'm sure I just need to figure out a couple of things.

I need tips on what solvents to use in it and what you are cleaning in it.

I put denatured alcohol in it and mainly want to throw in a handful of small parts and screws when I take something apart to fix rather than cleaning it all by hand. The main thing is that I am looking for something easier to take all of the loctite off the screws. Using den. alchohol in the ultrasonic for an hour still left it all on there. It was easily removed with a pick and much cleaner end result than what I tried before (wire brush on dremel) but I'm sure that the right solvent will knock it off in the tank instead of requiring more manual labor.

Give me you experience and suggestions! Thanks...

butch man

Never found a product that cleanes locktite off without work. let us know if you find something. Bearings is all I've ever tried a ultra sonic cleaner for.

NeoNot

iTrader: (3)

Acetone will remove loc-tite but I have never tried in a US cleaner before. I have always used it in a sealed container and just let the pieces sit in it overnight.

RCmayor

iTrader: (9)

New screws are cheap, get them in bulk from a supplier. McMasterCarr, MSC direct. Or that tony guy has a "few" screw sets and packs.

roadracer43

iTrader: (1)

You could have bought many screws for the price of the cleaner.

looper

iTrader: (19)

what solvent do you use in the us cleaner for those?

butch man

I dont remember its been a few years since I used it.It was what ever came with the unit & had like a 4 letter name like T.M.P.B. It didnt evaporate & etched all the oxidation off my wifes rings & necklaces & bearing grease sunk to the bottom in little balls.Go on line & look at I think integy or one of those types of companys,they used to seel a U.S cleaner & could probably see their recomendations.You could probably use naptha that stuff cleanes silicone & petolium oils off metal like right now & if pretty safe to work with I get that at home depot pretty cheap,they call it V.P.& M naptha.Not good for rubber but never had problems with plastics degrading in it.

bjr48

Good point on the screws. Wasn't really thinking about cost though. It's not like I'm going to start throwing screws away every week just becuase they are not clean. I replace them usually when I don't like the condition of the heads anymore and I'm afraid they will become stripped out. There are also a few special screws on every car that you can't just get at the local hardware store, etc.

I've got lots of acetone left over from a project so I'll try the soaking mentioned above for that then. I would be afraid that acetone would attack the plastic tank in the US though so I'll just try the soaking.

Is the only thing rc people use US cleaners for is bearings?? Seems like there should be a few uses for them. Keep them coming if you've got them I was pretty sure I was missing out on some simple maintenance tricks by not having one Maybe not!

cary

iTrader: (67)

I had one some years back (like 20) and found that a plastic gar
with a lid then give it a little shake does a better job now I get
new bearings and a like

looper

iTrader: (19)

i use mine (an old medical 2 qt one) for cleaning my airbrushes, in it i put a 50/50 mix of createx airbrush cleaner and windex.


i like the naptha idea, i think i had seen it mentioned before for that. does naptha have a strong odor?

butch man

smells like paint thinner,soaks into your blood stream about the same too.

bentgear

Just remember that when using solvents in ultrasonic cleaners that the liquid gets warm from the high frequency vibration. Gets even hotter if the model you are using has a heating element. Not saying don't do it, just wanting you to think about it when/if you do.

Ed M.

looper

iTrader: (19)

hmm i might use a citrus based cleaner in there then follow with a quick dip in a jar of alcohol to get the slick off it

bjr48

The one I just got does say only water based solvents and no flammable liquids. However, mine doesnt' have a heater and after an hour the denatured alcohol was still cool. And yes, the bottle of alcohol says flammable on it. Be very careful and be warned if you blow your garage up!

I'm starting to think that mine is going back to Wally world this week at the same time I take back my 1:1 scale car battery core return. $20 US +$9core = more racing money The jewelry cleaner is unopened and the screws I put in there were basically clean already! Looks new to me

Maximo

iTrader: (11)

I use a heated 2 qt ultrasonic to clean all my engines and engine parts..I use a heavy duty commercial degreaser ad it works amazing...the degreaser I use is a water based degreaser, similar to what they would use in a odorless solvent tank...... I usually run mine at about 60C