Gentlemen:

I work with a lot of very old actions and am looking for a way of cleaning 100+ years of fossilized debris out of them without damaging what finish might remain. It has been suggested that I try an ultrasonic cleaner.

Do any of you folks have experience with these units? Will they do the job? What fluid is used in them? Are there particular designs or features that are desirable?

Thank you for you help,

Glenn Fewless

How about a pressure washer?

quote:

Originally posted by hst:
Gentlemen:

I work with a lot of very old actions and am looking for a way of cleaning 100+ years of fossilized debris out of them without damaging what finish might remain. It has been suggested that I try an ultrasonic cleaner.

Do any of you folks have experience with these units? Will they do the job? What fluid is used in them? Are there particular designs or features that are desirable?

Thank you for you help,

Glenn Fewless

They come in various sizes, power levels, and ultrasonic frequencies. I use a small one for circuitry, with a few solvents ( alcohol, acetone, MEK, and so forth ). If you are using a nasty solvent, put it outside so you do not breathe the stuff.

hst, I have experience with ultrasonic cleaners in the golf industry. There are several which are designed for cleaning clubs, some heat the solution for maximum efficacy, some just rely on higher powered transducers. The bottom line is that they can clean golf clubs with moderately durable finishes to like new without damging them, and removing a fair amount of 'crud'.

As an aside, we also experimented with cleaning a few mower blades with the ultrasonics, and they are a challenge as they have quite a bit of high speed impacted dirt and grass residue compacted onto them, and the ultrasonics did a good job of eliminating all that residue.

One thing of note, ultrasonic cleaners are fairly expensive, I have used an ultrasonic rod to clean some historical artifacts (i.e. ancient pottery) and it worked very well. You simply held it submerged in the cleaning solution--warm soapy water in this case--and directed the emitted stream at the subject to be cleaned. I believe this rig approached about $3000.....I hope this was helpful info

Good Luck--Don

Gentlemen:

Thank you for your help.

Don, I have always thought that the units were very expensive, but of late I have seen an couple adequately sized units that were within reason. I have seen them as low as $130 from Harbor Freight and allegedly industrial type units for less than $300. I just have no idea is these lesser price units will do the job. I don't even know what features are desirable on an ultrasonic cleaner. The heated bath seems a good idea.

Any further information would be most welcome.

Glenn

Ultra Sonic cleaning should work very well. We use them often in the fire restoration industry to clean smoke damaged items. I suspect you could find a restoration contractor in your area that could dip them in the tank for you for a small fee. I will do it for no charge if you want to pay the shipping.

We most often use hot distilled water with a general cleaner for our purposes.