Jewllery Cleaner - Doing it Wrong?

[Sir TophamHatt]

I bought a jewllery cleaner to clean motor parts and wheels.

However, the handful of times I've used it with isopropanol, it appears to have done very little.  I'm not expecting the liquid to be black, but I'd expect to see a few bits perhaps?

 

Am I okay to leave the isopropanol in the bowl for weeks/months on end?

 

I seem to have got more grime off with a cotton bud after two rounds of two minutes soaking.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

An ultrasonic bath? Never had one for home use, but in the lab only ever with water and a high grade surfactant ('Nonidet' is the name that comes to mind) which was very effective for shifting assorted baked on shit off the gear.

It's the cavitation action that does the mechanical work, no idea if the action is a vigorous with alcohol as it is with water.

(With a  photomultiplier you could make the cavitation action visible, impressive amount of energy from the miocroscopic bubble collapses.)

[RedgateModels]

I just use hot water and Carex hand soap, but then that stuff is the work of the devil anyway judging how well is gets hands clean after working on the car. My Dad used to have to scrub his hands with Vim when I was a kid LOL

[JZjr]

I use mine with just water.  The only modelling related use it's had is cleaning the weights from a Ringfield 56 which were soaked in oil and grime, they came up a treat.  They did take 5 minutes or so though.

 

It also works wonders on my glasses, cleaning bits that are difficult to get to.

 

Maybe it's worth giving it a go with just water.

 

Cheers

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Warm but not hot water and liquid baking soda for me, seems to work. Depends what you are trying to remove.

 

Mike.

[decauville1126]

Try, as already suggested, just water. If not clean then consider using one of the proprietary fluids used in the clock restoration world. Sometimes they are ammonia-based so don't overdo the brass cleaning, particularly if there are soldered joints as over-indulgence can lead to the solder becoming friable and weak. This also applies to whitemetal castings. 

 

There's a world of info out there on the internet but it can take some time to work through it and find what suits you best.

[Mike Buckner]

6 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Warm but not hot water and liquid baking soda for me, seems to work. Depends what you are trying to remove.

 

Mike.

 

Please forgive my asking a basic question - does that mean mix up some baking soda with water, or is there a proprietary "liquid baking soda" product?

[Enterprisingwestern]

8 minutes ago, Mike Buckner said:

 

Please forgive my asking a basic question - does that mean mix up some baking soda with water, or is there a proprietary "liquid baking soda" product?

 

TBH, once you've put soda in the water it it becomes a liquid, the version I use is "Liquid Soda Crystals" by a company called DP, can't remember where I got it from, but Poundland or an equivalent rings a bell. Used neat, (my original idea), it's a bit too gloopy and thick, but diluted in warm water seems to do the trick. Rinsed afterwards in clean water obviously.

 

Mike.

[spikey]

"Liquid soda crystals" is washing soda (sodium carbonate).  Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate.  Different products with different uses.

[Dave John]

Water with a squirt of Cif cleaner in my little lidl cleaner, great for defluxing soldered assemblies. Any cleaner would do I suppose. 

 

I also use it to stir tins of paint. 

[Gordon A]

I have used windscreen washer fluid in my ultrasonic bath - no skin softener.

 

Gordon A

[57xx]

As per 34C - water and surfactant. A friend uses a small amount of dishwasher powder in his to clean small motorbike parts, they usually come out sparkling.

[Enterprisingwestern]

5 hours ago, spikey said:

"Liquid soda crystals" is washing soda (sodium carbonate).  Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate.  Different products with different uses.

 

Do I look like a kitchen goddess??!!

 

Mike.

(Answers not required thanks!)

[cctransuk]

9 hours ago, Sir TophamHatt said:

I bought a jewllery cleaner to clean motor parts and wheels.

However, the handful of times I've used it with isopropanol, it appears to have done very little.  I'm not expecting the liquid to be black, but I'd expect to see a few bits perhaps?

 

Am I okay to leave the isopropanol in the bowl for weeks/months on end?

 

I seem to have got more grime off with a cotton bud after two rounds of two minutes soaking.

 

Warm / hotish water with a drop - literally - of washing up liquid does it for me.

 

If you want to neutralise flux at the same time, add a couple or three caustic soda crystals - as used for drain cleaning.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[Sir TophamHatt]

Hmm.

And is it supposed to do anything?

Mine does a lot of buzzing, almost like it vibrating a little but the stuff inside isn't particularly moving or looking like anything is happening to it.

[bigherb]

Ultrasonic cleaners work by cavitation bubbles hitting the surface of the item and bursting which dislodges the dirt, works best with water and a water soluble solvent to soften grime. There are types for all sorts of specialist applications, I get mine from Allendale Ultrasonics.

 

 

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

The buzzing noise is audible  subharmonics of the ultrasonic generator that should be shaking the water molecules about.

 

In the lab units of the early 1970s a standing wave pattern was present on the water surface, just what you can see in 'Bigherb's' picture above.  A common enough failure mode of the 1970s units that I got to play with as a lab rat (hopefully they have improved since) was the transducer falling off the bath due to the vigorous shake it all about. Still buzzed away, but no agitation or standing waves on the water surface.

[Torper]

23 hours ago, Sir TophamHatt said:

I bought a jewllery cleaner to clean motor parts and wheels.

However, the handful of times I've used it with isopropanol, it appears to have done very little.

 

I wouldn't use isopropanol.  I use a fluid specifically designed for ultrasonic cleaning and have had good results with SeaClean2 for general purpose cleaning and, after soldering, with one of the specialised flux cleaners as sold by Allendale.  These fluids are of course concentrated and should be diluted with water according to their specific instructions.  It's also usually recommended that the operating temperature of the bath should be warm or even hot - again, each fluid should have its own recommendations.

 

Having said all that, I've got both washing soda and caustic soda in the kitchen cupboard and in view of the recommendations above may give them a try - but be very very careful with caustic soda, something I used to use in substantial quantities.

 

DT