simple homemade ultrasonic cleaner?

[markitsnappy]

I stumbled upon some YouTube videos of guys making some real simple ultrasonic cleaners by strapping a palm Sanders to a container. Anyone try this? Does it actually work? If it does what's the best cleaning solution to use?

 

[Doozer75]

Ultrasonic mean above 20,000 Hz.
Do you think a palm sander moves over 20,000 Hz?
Even if it was less than that, you would need some kind of
resonator to heterodyne the frequency higher. Not sure that
is possible. Most good ultrasonic cleaners use a sweep generator.

--Doozer

 

[Umclemrbig]

I believe it would be better characterized as a shaker.

 

[JASTECH]

+1 Shaker/vibrater

 

[MustangFJ]

That is kind of interesting regardless of the specific name of the technology. Do you have a link to the videos? I could not find them.

 

[Packard V8]

Yes, it sorta works.

Yes, it's a vibratory solvent cleaner.

No, it's not ultrasonic; completely different technology.

Maybe, think about the size of the parts you need to clean.

jack vines

 

[markitsnappy]

i figured it wasn't really ultrasonic, i thought it might work to some extent and just wanted to know if anyone had tried it. I'm off of work today i might try it for the hell of it. I just want to clean sockets, tools, etc.

 

[dandan111]

Hey it keeps the water moving. If you could hang a basket in the tank that may help also. Let us know how good it does for those tools. Maybe some dawn dish soap and hot water would make the process even cheaper!

 

[rlitman]

Yes, it sorta works.

Yes, it's a vibratory solvent cleaner.

No, it's not ultrasonic; completely different technology.

Maybe, think about the size of the parts you need to clean.

jack vines

The issue is the wavelength of the sound. The waves just won't have any cleaning action in crevices and corners when the frequency is too low. The waves will keep the water moving, but won't create any movement where they don't fit.

My air RO palm sanders orbit at 12000 OPM. That's still not ultrasonic.

I guess you could steal parts from an ultrasonic humidifier that's got a leaking tank.

 

[markitsnappy]

well i tried it. I remembered that we had a roasting pan that we got for free from my wife's aunt. it worked out nice I think because the lid can be used as a tray and I used the rack inside like a basket. I used my trusty black and decker mini work bench and put an old black and decker sander on the bottom and a makita finishing sander on top. I started out with some 3/4 drive snap on sockets and a snap on combo wrench. I used some hot tap water and basic dish soap. I used an infrared gun and the water measured 112 degrees F. I ran this setup for 10 minutes.

as for the results? I think it did ok. there was some sediment on the bottom of the pan when i pulled the items out. I think the outside of the sockets actually came out pretty well. the inside did not get as clean as I would have liked. I guess this goes along with what you guys were saying about the crevices not gettting cleaned. after I pulled everything out I wiped them down with paper towels. I do believe that the grease inside was looser than before. I personally think it would be worth experimenting further. For instance, I didn't realize until after wards but this roasting pan was meant to be able to be used on a stove top so it has an extremely thick bottom and so this may have dampened some of the vibration. So I'm thinking it might have been more effective to place the sanders on the side walls like in the videos. here are some before and after pics.

 

[5mall5nail5]

The problem is that with true US cleaning nothing vibrates. You'll wear a hole in the pan and wear the tools down before you get them real clean.

 

[Danglerb]

Ultrasonic cleaners cause cavitation, kind of a tiny bubble, and that is what does the scrubbing. Dirt explodes off of stuff in a ultrasonic cleaner.

I think you would have had as good or better results using a dishwasher.

 

[andywander]

The issue is the wavelength of the sound. The waves just won't have any cleaning action in crevices and corners when the frequency is too low. The waves will keep the water moving, but won't create any movement where they don't fit.

My air RO palm sanders orbit at 12000 OPM. That's still not ultrasonic.

I guess you could steal parts from an ultrasonic humidifier that's got a leaking tank.

Just because it orbits at 12000 OPM, doesn't mean it won't put out any higher frequencies. And in fact, I would be very surprised if the only vibration it put out was at the orbital frequency.

Of course, 12,000 OPM is is only 200 orbits per second, so you are well below ultrasonic frequencies there, at least as far as the fundamental frequency is concerned.

 

[andywander]

The problem is that with true US cleaning nothing vibrates. You'll wear a hole in the pan and wear the tools down before you get them real clean.

Well, I think I see what you are trying to say, but ultrasonic cleaners certainly DO vibrate things. You may not notice them because they are of such a high frequency.

 

[NateChill]

I’ve been digging into DIY ultrasonic cleaners and came across this 2012 thread while searching the forum. The palm sander idea seems pretty straightforward. I also found this guide https://autotul.com/blog/how-to-build-an-ultrasonic-cleaner/that looks similar. Has anyone tried this kind of setup? Does it clean decently? What’s a good cleaning solution? Hope this old post gets some replies! Thanks!

 

[yhprum]

Have a look at this guys channel. He has done quite a few. He found glueing down the probes didn't work, they eventually fail. I have wondered if a strong magnet would work for each probe.
Let us know if you decide to make one, I sure want to.

 

[JradM]

Beware the abrasion that can occur where the object you're cleaning contacts the container. As the container vibrates your object will be rubbing back and forth against the bottom. That can be an issue with ultrasonic cleaners too - though likely less than the palm sander-cleaner since the run time ought to be much shorter.

A magnetic stirrer would probably work as-well or better, but I haven't looked-into what that would cost. Likely this contraption was conceived-of as something you could do the same day for low-cost and without any fore-planning - otherwise you would just use a ultrasonic cleaner.

The other question that comes to mind is whether this would genuinely do anything better than you might accomplish with a brush and some form of cleaning fluid. Maybe. Perhaps it's for things you can't reach inside of?

 

[Firebrick43]

The other question that comes to mind is whether this would genuinely do anything better than you might accomplish with a brush and some form of cleaning fluid. Maybe. Perhaps it's for things you can't reach inside of?

Ultrasonics are awesome for guns and the have tiny nooks and cranny’s that baked on carbon is hard to scrub away.

I have a pistol size tank but if I win the lottery I will have a rifle size tank and an oil tank in a walk in 500 sqft safe room for all of my machine guns and howitzers

 

[JradM]

Ultrasonics are awesome for guns and the have tiny nooks and cranny’s that baked on carbon is hard to scrub away.

I have a pistol size tank but if I win the lottery I will have a rifle size tank and an oil tank in a walk in 500 sqft safe room for all of my machine guns and howitzers

I have a couple ultrasonics too, very handy. I just meant, for this palm-sander version, is THAT going to be better than a brush and cleaning solution?

It's not going to achieve the cavitation that makes ultrasonic cleaners work. It's more like just a means of getting the water to move. In that case, stirring, shaking, bubbling, etc. are all means to the same end.

Maybe I'm wrong and the shaking of a palm-sander really does do something more than stirring, but less than an ultrasonic.

 

[Beerhippie]

I’ve been digging into DIY ultrasonic cleaners and came across this 2012 thread while searching the forum. The palm sander idea seems pretty straightforward. I also found this guide https://autotul.com/blog/how-to-build-an-ultrasonic-cleaner/that looks similar. Has anyone tried this kind of setup? Does it clean decently? What’s a good cleaning solution? Hope this old post gets some replies! Thanks!

There is absolutely no comparison between shaking something around with a palm sander and blasting it with ultrasound.

An ultrasonic cleaner works through cavitation--the creation and collapse of tiny bubble as the pressure waves exceed the vapor pressure of the liquid. Cavitation involves awesome--awe as in terror--forces that have been compared to atomic weapons, just much, much, much smaller. Cavitation can actually eat metal--one of the tests for a good ultrasonic cleaner is to hold a piece of aluminum foil in the solution while the machine is running. if it's working well, the aluminum foils will look like it's been shot with a tiny shotgun.

Save the palm sander for shaking concrete forms.

 

[Mohawk Dave]

I have 3 or 4 ultrasonics....But I sometimes still do the sander thing on a black and yellow tote, usually when I'm using citric acid to derust something large with heavy rust. The shaking simply helps. But it is in no way a Ultrasonic or even close.