Ultrasonic cleaners.

[Banjostring]

I'm looking at getting one of these too. The ones on amazon only seem to have a 3min cycle. Is this generally long enough? Is it ok to put o rings in there? If so, do they have to be taken off the tank/atty first?

Thanks

 

[Vapingtree]

The one faceteeth shows is just like the one I have, they seem to be ubiquitous across the online shops. If required I've run mine twice or three times if I think the parts need it. The instructions on mine say 'do not continuous working over than 1 hour' (sic)

I throw the lot in the cleaner, don't even take the o rings out of their grooves - am I lazy? It probably just doesn't matter that much :-)

 

[Banjostring]

Cheers for that, I might order one today then. Amazon says they can deliver today [emoji1303]

 

[Noobienomore]

I have a fancy digital 5 litre one for cleaning up carbs and the like - I use Mistral "Task Force" heavy duty industrial cleaner - you dilute the stuff 300-1 and it still strips anything clean as a whistle. I chucked in a couple of Aspire Arc coils that I had managed to clog and burn - it brought the mesh up like new, but after a 5 minutre cycle at 75 degrees, it completely destroyed all the wicking - it was just little wisps floating around the tank.
Maybe one day I'll try to re-wick them, but I don't know if it's even possible, it looks pretty tricky.
So for now, they live at the bottom of the "spares that will probably never be used" box. They are nice and shiny, though...

 

[WASD in Blue]

Looking at this and wondering are they worth it ? or just carry on with warm water and cotton buds ?, any input appreciated

 

[Noobienomore]

A lot of the ultrasonic cleaners advertised aren't ultrasonic at all - I had a small one years ago which was advertised as ultrasonic but was basically just an agitator. - you could hear it buzzing at about 300hx and it walked across the floor if you didn't put it on a rubber mat. Worked well enough as a simple cleaner, if you let it run for long enough - but a far cry from ultrasonic cleaning.
I just put 3 old (not burnt) EUC coils in mine at 20% power and 50 degrees - the wick has gone a bit "fluffy", poking out of the holes a bit, and the staining on the outside is gone. Be interested to see how they work in a vape stick now - I'm addicted to those bloody things, I have 9 of them at the minute and more on the way!

Edit - typos, and may more probably remain...

 

[Noobienomore]

Well, totally off topic - I decided to test it with a small burger-sized cast iron frying pan. Not an oldie, a few year old, but has now gathered a good seasoning finish and lots of burnt nits around the edges and underneath. It was absolutely foul, hasn't been used for months.
Changed the cleaning solution to a much more concentrated one - not 400-1, more like 30-1. Set the temp to 80 degrees, waited for 9t to heat up, and then dumped the pan in and set it for 30 minutes. then let it sit for half an hour in the hot solution, which had changed from a nice transparent yellow to a colour pretty close to Massey Ferguson grey.
Took it out and rinsed it off - clean as a whistle. Cast iron doesn't sparkle, but if it could, this would have. It even stripped off the factory applies "seasoning", a baked on oil of some sort. it was just bare iron.

So I'll have to re-season it, which involves cooking lots of bacon in it and just cleaning it with hot water and salt (salt if it's really messy). That means I will have to eat all the bacon. such a cruel punishment, when all I did was clean it and restore it to if's natural state.

 

[WASD in Blue]

@Noobienomore thank you for the info mate, I may well buy £20 one I posted a pic of as it could be handy for cleaning a variety of things

 

[nwhornet]

@Noobienomore thank you for the info mate, I may well buy £20 one I posted a pic of as it could be handy for cleaning a variety of things

I've got a cheapie from Lidl which does ok especially on new atties with machine oil on them. Great for scoring brownie points with SWMBO & getting her jewellry sparkling

 

[tootingyoda]

One way to test it's effectiveness is to put a small square of kitchen foil (bacofoil) in for a cycle. Apparently if it comes out all perforated it's working. It worked on my cheapo from Amazon.