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Ultrasonic cleaner recommendation

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  • January 4, 2020 at 2:04 pm #30384
    Xenophon2

    Any recommendations for a GOOD ultrasonic cleaner?  For 3 years I was blessed with the use of a 6-liter unit that was discarded and auctioned off by a lab, I got it for a song.  Used it to clean chains, cassettes and the likes.  Terrific results, everything came out looking like new and spotless.  Then the heating element died and in doing so it fried 2 of the transducers.  Can’t be repaired and just yesterday I found out that the same model new costs over 1500 Euro (!).

    On amazon I see plenty of Chinese models costing about 100 Euro but surely there must be a performance difference….  Am willing to spend about 250 Euro/200 GBP on it.  Should be 6 liter, stainless steel chamber, basket and have heating capacity for the detergent.  

    Any recommendations?

     

     

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Viewing 15 replies - 16 through 30 (of 31 total)
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  • January 8, 2020 at 11:17 am #954449
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    Team EPO

    Random thought but coud use

    Random thought but coud use just use an ultra sonic toothbrush (but with a different head!) only £23 and you get shiny teeth too!

     

    January 7, 2020 at 7:22 pm #954447
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    Xenophon2

    To be sure, I don’t need the

    To be sure, I don’t need the ultrasonic cleaner to go down the molten speedwax route.  Been there, tried that and while it works reasonably well it was just too much hassle especially with a wet climate such as where I am, it doesn’t last very long at all (I ride about 250 km/week, 90% on one bicycle).  For me that mileage translates to 2-3 chains and one cassette/year.

    But I do like my chain and cassette + derailleur pulleys to be absolutely spotless and for that nothing comes close to an ultrasonic cleaner (well, hot water, detergent and brushes + a LOT of time might).  Dunk it in with detergent, run, wipe down, place chain in absolute ethanol overnight, shake then bake dry, let cool, install and lube. It looks like more faff than it is.

    Thanks to gonedownhill for the tips about used lab equipment, I found a new cleaner, just need to work out the details of getting it shipped out.

     

    January 7, 2020 at 10:11 am #954445
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    srchar
    StraelGuy wrote:
    I don’t bother anymore, simply not worth it.

    Same here. Plus, my commuter, which is the bike that sees all the crud, is fitted with Veloce; a new 10-speed chain only costs £11. I used to faff around rotating chains at 1,500km, but life’s too short.

    January 7, 2020 at 8:08 am #954443
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    StraelGuy

    I always used to clean my

    I always used to clean my chains in white spirit before relubing but I don’t bother now after a simple experiment. I put a new chain on and used the ‘lube it and clean’ it technique ie apply new lube over dirty chain when necassary and then use cloths to get any and all excess oil off the chain before refitting. I got exactly the same sort of mileage out of that chain that I did when I cleaned chains so I don’t bother anymore, simply not worth it.

    January 6, 2020 at 11:12 pm #954441
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    longassballs

    Xenophon2 wrote:

    Xenophon2 wrote:

    Nick T wrote:
    How many new chains could you buy with the money and save yourself an awful lot of fucking about in the process

    Some people have trouble reading.  I’ll decide where I put my cash and right now I want to spend it on an ultrasonic cleaner.  You buy all the chains you want with yours.

    Mathemagician wrote:
    peted76 wrote:
    I’ve used my dad before and it’s ace.

    I question both your morals and the nature of your paternal relation. 

    Some proper laughs in this thread 😆

    I’ve never done the ultrasonic cleaner wax thing purely because I thought with my luck the cheapo consumer one I would buy would inevitably break after 6 months

    January 6, 2020 at 10:44 am #954439
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    gonedownhill

    Without checking myself,

    Without checking myself, Severnsales (Bristol based) sell 2nd hand labware or https://www.go-dove.com/ which is a kind of industry Ebay might have something.

    January 6, 2020 at 10:43 am #954437
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    Mathemagician
    peted76 wrote:
    I’ve used my dad before and it’s ace.

    I question both your morals and the nature of your paternal relation. 

    January 6, 2020 at 10:01 am #954435
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    peted76

    I’ve great respect for anyone

    I’ve great respect for anyone fastidious enough to clean with an ultrasonic cleaner and have often thought about getting one, I’ve used my dad before and it’s ace. But not for chains, that’s far too much hassle for me personally, the thought of getting the chain lubricant to penetrate deep enough would give me nightmares.

    Personally, my regime involves regular cleaning with Fenwicks foaming chain cleaner, a chain sponge, a good brush and old towel and honestly, I’ve never had such a clean or smooth running chain, tis a thing of sparkly beauty.

     

    January 6, 2020 at 8:58 am #954433
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    Nick T

    The last time I replaced a

    The last time I replaced a chain was about 3 years ago, I do have 5 bikes of which 3 see the most use. I keep them all very clean, while chains and cassettes are “clean enough”. I’d estimate Chorus chains are good for at least 10,000km in my own particular usage.

    I found the same as you with dry waxes like parafin, it just flakes off doesn’t it. In my anecdotal experience with bicycles and motorbikes, any lube added topically is primarily to prevent friction/wear at the tooth/roller interface – if you can’t easily remove the internally sited lubricants then it won’t easily be disturbed by the elements. 

    anyhow we’re getting off topic, let’s see if we can find the OP his ultrasonic cleaner in the end 

    January 6, 2020 at 8:40 am #954431
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    hawkinspeter
    Nick T wrote:
    hawkinspeter wrote:
    Nick T wrote:
    How many new chains could you buy with the money and save yourself an awful lot of fucking about in the process

    I got a small (0.75l) ultrasonic cleaner from eBay for cleaning chains when I was trying out paraffin wax as a lubricant. It was only around £20 and ended up being free for me as they sent me the smaller model (couldn’t fit a cassette into it though). After a few months, I decided that it wasn’t worth the time investment for me, but it’s not necessarily a bad idea. (I used that Screwfix degreaser too)

    I’m not sold on cleaning chains (or anything with moving parts) that deeply, personally – it may look like new but a worn chain will still be worn, and now you’ve driven relatively clean lubricant out of places that are hard to replace so it’ll potentially wear even faster. Chains and cassettes are disposable components so they’re going to wear out eventually, Campag don’t advise chain removal so I leave everything on the bike when cleaning and I still get several years of use out of them before the need to replace

    Several years use out of a chain? I go through one or two a year.

    The theory behind deep cleaning a chain before immersing it in hot paraffin wax is that the grease prevents the wax from sticking to the metal properly. Personally, I found that the wax didn’t last that well so I switched back to using a commercial lubricant (https://www.dry-fluids.com/dryfluid-bike-2.html) . The big advantage of using dry/wax lubricants is to prevent dirt from sticking to the chain and forming a grinding paste that does reduce the life of your chain and cassette.

    January 6, 2020 at 8:27 am #954429
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    Nick T
    hawkinspeter wrote:
    Nick T wrote:
    How many new chains could you buy with the money and save yourself an awful lot of fucking about in the process

    I got a small (0.75l) ultrasonic cleaner from eBay for cleaning chains when I was trying out paraffin wax as a lubricant. It was only around £20 and ended up being free for me as they sent me the smaller model (couldn’t fit a cassette into it though). After a few months, I decided that it wasn’t worth the time investment for me, but it’s not necessarily a bad idea. (I used that Screwfix degreaser too)

    I’m not sold on cleaning chains (or anything with moving parts) that deeply, personally – it may look like new but a worn chain will still be worn, and now you’ve driven relatively clean lubricant out of places that are hard to replace so it’ll potentially wear even faster. Chains and cassettes are disposable components so they’re going to wear out eventually, Campag don’t advise chain removal so I leave everything on the bike when cleaning and I still get several years of use out of them before the need to replace

    January 6, 2020 at 8:15 am #954427
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    Nick T
    Xenophon2 wrote:
    Nick T wrote:
    How many new chains could you buy with the money and save yourself an awful lot of fucking about in the process

    Some people have trouble reading.  I’ll decide where I put my cash and right now I want to spend it on an ultrasonic cleaner.  You buy all the chains you want with yours.

    I read quite fluently thank you but if you want to have another attempt at it yourself, you may realise that my rhetorical question was not an instruction for you to spend your cash anywhere in particular

    January 5, 2020 at 8:38 pm #954425
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    hawkinspeter
    Nick T wrote:
    How many new chains could you buy with the money and save yourself an awful lot of fucking about in the process

    I got a small (0.75l) ultrasonic cleaner from eBay for cleaning chains when I was trying out paraffin wax as a lubricant. It was only around £20 and ended up being free for me as they sent me the smaller model (couldn’t fit a cassette into it though). After a few months, I decided that it wasn’t worth the time investment for me, but it’s not necessarily a bad idea. (I used that Screwfix degreaser too)

    January 5, 2020 at 7:41 pm #954423
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    Xenophon2
    Nick T wrote:
    How many new chains could you buy with the money and save yourself an awful lot of fucking about in the process

    Some people have trouble reading.  I’ll decide where I put my cash and right now I want to spend it on an ultrasonic cleaner.  You buy all the chains you want with yours.

    January 5, 2020 at 6:38 pm #954421
    0
    Nick T

    How many new chains could you

    How many new chains could you buy with the money and save yourself an awful lot of fucking about in the process

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