adamgoldberg

Recently, I went looking for advice on what to use/how to use an ultrasonic cleaner for dirty bike parts. Here's what I've had really good luck with... this is at least partially for my own reference later

Ultrasonic Cleaner
I bought a device described as "New Stainless Steel 6 L Liter Industry Heated Ultrasonic Cleaner Heater w/Timer" on ebay from a beauty-supply-oriented seller. Note that there are several different devices which look very similar; and at least one of those is marketed under several different names at prices ranging from $100 to $500! The pictures on ebay include one view from the back, and if you look at the detailed view you can see the model number (in my case, PS-30A). I've seen the PS-30A sold for as much as $500 elsewhere. This is the one I bought: ebay link that'll go stale eventually

The 6L model I got is not large enough to hold a 50T chainring. This was a bit of a error on my part, but not the end of the world. If I had it to do over again, I'd think real hard about going up a size or two.

Cleaning Fluid

To begin with, I tried plain water with a bit of dish washing detergent. This worked ok, but not as well as I hoped. The soiling on parts cleaned this way was softened, but it took a fair bit of scrubbing and rinsing to really make the parts clean.

A bit of research led me to Branson MC-3, which is an ultrasonic-specific metal cleaning fluid that's specifically safe for aluminum. In many cases, they tell me, the soiled fluid may be flushed down the drain, but they advise checking with the appropriate authorities before you do that. In my case, I just plan to take the used fluid to the county waste transfer station with a copy of the MSDS and let them deal with it.

It's difficult to find MC-3 in smaller than a case of 4 gallon containers. There are a few sellers out there that sell the quart bottles, but I went with Process Equipment & Supply who were recommended to me by a helpful person at Branson.

Cleaning parts with a ~8% solution of MC-3 & water at 50*C vs. a <1% solution of Dawn at 50*C was fairly night & day. Worked great for removing grease, dirt, oil, etc.

Rust Removal

MC-3 isn't a rust removal fluid. Branson does sell something which is, but it's pretty noxious stuff I think. In the end, I bought a small container of Evapo-Rust from an auto parts store. I was able to soak my clean, but rusty, parts in Evapo-Rust for about 2h, and then clean in the MC-3 for 3 minutes (@ 50*C) and it worked great.

The Evapo-Rust label says it's safe for use in ultrasonic cleaners. I've read about people who fill their ultrasonic cleaner with water, and fill a glass or plastic container with the fluid they want to clean with, and set THAT into what amounts to a water bath in the ultrasonic cleaner. If you do that, you could go back & forth between Evapo-Rust and MC-3, but in my case I didn't need to do that (the rust I've been removing is on small parts).

Generally

Use gloves. I have thick chemical-resistant gloves that I've been using. The chemicals described above are reasonably safe, I think, and not terribly noxious, but still. Be careful. In particular, one must be careful with the not-yet-diluted MC-3.

Disclaimer

What the heck do I know about any of this stuff. You should be careful and not trust me.

===============

Follow-up:

I took an old chain out of the trash, cut it into four pieces, and took three of the pieces and cleaned them in the ultrasonic cleaner @ 50C for 2:30, 5:00 and 10:00 minutes, and then gave each a brief quick rinse in fresh water (no scrubbing at all). Some of the photos aren't as in focus as others, but I used a macro lens to try to get as close as I could. It seems to me there's a pretty clear difference between each of them (that is, it's cleaner after 10:00 than it was after 5:00, etc.). The chain is a little harder to tell how obviously clean it is after more than a couple of minutes ... but see below the cassette which was a bit clearer as to the cleaning power.

Photos are too large to attach, they're shared at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/mritqgqg6...C0dY3jcQa?dl=0

Ronsonic 

Thank you for sharing your experiences. Helpful.

Let me also pass on some things I've discovered with a cheap little one. Mine will hold stuff like hubs, derailleur, brakes, a cassette or levers, nothing like a crank or chain ring. But that's big and not hard to get into to clean.

You can fill the tank with water and put the part and cleaning agent into a zip lock baggie for convenience and material savings.

Mineral spirits works great in an US and will get the crud out. A bit of oil mixed in means your part will come out clean and lubricated and a wipe with a paper towel will leave it perfect and ready to use when dry. This works amazingly well with chains, especially combined with the baggie trick. Disposal is a different matter.

Anodizing can be damaged just by the agitation of the part against anything else in there including the tank itself.

And like you, hey, this is just my experience. If you blow up your self and shop and bike it's on you, not me.

dwmckee

I have tried water with Dawn and also Paint Thinner and with these and a heated 15 minute cycle parts like chains and cassettes still come out a bit gunky/disappointing. I was expecting them to look almost new. I will have to try the cleaner you recommend...

adamgoldberg

Yep, that was my experience. MC-3 is cheap-ish (I paid about $10 plus $10 shipping), and works much better.

adamgoldberg

Before, a not-too-dirty cassette I pulled out of the pile:



After 4 minutes @ 50*C in a ~8% solution of MC-3, and a brief fresh water rinse (no wiping or scrubbing):




Pretty good, eh? I didn't have a dirtier cassette to wash, unfortunately.

Note the aluminum lockring is not etched or dulled.

dwmckee

OK, I am sold. I will have to get some of this stuff Is it this good on grimy chains too? Also is it worth running a cycle with the chain immersed in a lube after cleaning to use the ultrasonic aspect to get he new lube deep between the chain rollers and plates?

Thanks

dwmckee

I am seeing only 4 quarts for $60 on their site. Were you able to get them to ship just a single quart?

adamgoldberg

Call them and say the nice lady from Branson suggested calling them for 1qt.

adamgoldberg

i haven't cleaned a chain that I intend to use again (yet), am trying to figure out which lube to use in an ultrasonic bath on a clean dry chain... There are industrial lubes for roller chains but I dunno.

what would you use?

ETA:I do have an old grimy chain that I was going to throw away. I'm going to cut it into a few pieces and see. I'll post pics of original and cleaned sections (with parameters, as above) ... but if anyone has an idea what I should use to lube it, I'll give that a try too and report.

ThermionicScott 

I have some concerns about putting parts in a Ziplock baggie with mineral spirits in a water bath in an ultrasonic cleaner... if any of the parts have sharp or pointy edges, it would be really easy to put a hole in the baggie and allow everything to mix together. That'd be a mess. I use a mason jar to contain the parts and mineral spirits and that works pretty well.

adamgoldberg

Do you put the mason jar in/on the basket, or on the bottom of the tank?

ThermionicScott 

I take out the basket and put it in the tank with enough water to fill up the rest of the tank. A picture would probably be much clearer, but I have yet to upload one, sorry.

dwmckee

I have used a synthetic motor oil additive from an auto parts store. I forget the brand but it is thicker than honey and about $10 for a quart. I let the chain hang overnight and let the excess drip back into the bottle. Pretty messy, but it makes for an amazingly quiet chain afterwards. I wipe down chain well before installing. This seems to work pretty well but I am not going to say it is the best for fear of starting another chain lube thread. The lube has very similar consistency as Silca NFS lube which I have been a big fan of, and this seems to work similarly for a much lower price...

Ronsonic 

I've used bar & chain oil with good results. Wipe off the excess because it is sticky.

KD5NRH

Had a lot of luck with poor man's sonic cleaning on handgun parts before; hose well with Brakleen, (red can) then put in a tupperware dish of Dawn and water on top of a speaker with good bass response, and several hours of my favorite foxtrot and swing tunes at normal pleasant listening volume. A soft brush will generally get any remaining crud, and Texas summer sun will drive off any remaining water fairly quickly. Seems like it ought to work fine for bike parts too. May try it when I get stuff together for a full overhaul on the 7100 this month. (New BB, freewheel, chain, rebuild both wheels, etc. Just did new tubes, rim strips and a loosen-rework on the wheels while replacing the broken spoke on the rear, plus repacked the bearings on both.) If the old chain isn't very stretched, and the freewheel still feels good, they'll go in the spares pile, so a full cleaning on both would be good.

adamgoldberg

Bump - see post #1 , includes some photos of a old chain.

jkretsch

Looks like a great product. Most retail outlets require a minimum order but you can buy individual quarts on eBay for $25.

davidad

I use Simple Green and water and have had good luck with my chains.

masi61

I’m using a 3.5 gallon Prosonix with 6 ultrasonic transducers. Pretty powerful. Big enough for 53 tooth chainrings. It turned my clear anodizing cloudy when I left it in too long. It also took the “Ultegra” laser etching off.

jkretsch

Coming into this thread several year's late but ... I've been using an Ultrasonic cleaner to clean my bike parts for a year or so and have tried several different cleaning solutions at varying concentrations trying to find the "perfect" mix that clean chains, cassettes, etc without etching the alloy surface. Finally I have come upon a solution made specifically for aluminum alloy called Branson MC-3 and this stuff really works!! I've tried on several parts including a really dirty chain and cassette and I'm very impressed. Even the alloy lockring came out clean with no etching. This is an industrial solution this is not easy to find in small quantities but it's currently available on eBay in 1 quart bottles for $25 which is enough to make almost 4 gallons of cleaning solution.