Making An Ultrasonic Bath

It seems that you have almost everything that you need. Just keep in mind that the most commom media for ultrasonic cleaning in petroleum solvent (i.e. "isarraz" or something alike...). So, be sure to build your heating element in a safe way or boom... I'd suggest even a water bath around that tank with a thermostat, and route all the wiring safely to avoid sparks in the solvent vapor environment. A good cover for the tank would be also a good idea. About the transducer, I don't have too much idea. But if nobody does, I'll try to check one tomorrow at work and see if I can read the power in the nameplate. 4l of volume is quite big for this kind of stuff, would allow you to clean something else than bike parts.

isn't it possible to just use water, maybe with adding something to break the surface tension? I'm not realy fond of heating petrolium based products, and I don't think a bit of dirt and grease is that hard to remove.

the heating element and wiring are completely safe. the tank was build and has been used for boiling water mixed with caustic soda and I never had any problems with that.

thanks for your help

If it were me...

I would use a Piezo buzzer element or multiples. They are available quite inexpensively. Do a Google search for "piezo transducer" or "piezo buzzer"

You will need an oscillator to give you a frequency of 20-40khz and an amplifier to give it enough juice to transfer the vibration to the tank. You might also need a small weight to attach to the buzzer to make transferring the energy to the tank more efficient.

On the way of solvent's etc. I use liquid dishwashing detergent with my ultrasonic cleaner and warm water for cleaning small engine parts, jewelry and it's the most fantastic glasses cleaner you ever saw. There are commercial cleaners/degreasers that are water based that work very well but you have to watch out if you clean anything aluminum or magnesium as they will stain very badly with some of the cleaning solutions out there. Look at a commercial machine shop tooling store for these kinds of cleaners/degreasers. I got mine from Rutland tool.

Alconox is made for ultrasonic use. It doesn't foam up and has been an industry standard.

It depends on the nature of the parts. I say solvent because that's what I am used to see and use.

Anyway, you can always use water, detergent, and, in case of cleaning a bike chain or something like this that have steel parts that could deteriorate in case water and detergent get trapped in the spacers, pins,..., you could use a bucket inside the bath with solvent.

Pretty simple, works, and it sounds safe enough for me.

A quick final dip in 91% isopropyl alcohol (readily available in the US at Wal Mart or drug stores) and ten minutes in an oven at 125 deg F (a bit lower if rubber is present) should get rid of residual water and grease. To keep costs down, I would have a coffee can of alcohol that I could set into the Alconox solution and then dip the object in the alcohol with the sonic bath turned on. Any bits that the Alconox didn't release would JUMP off.

The solvent used needs to be non-flammable. CCl4 comes to mind, though beware of its health risks by carrying out the precautions stated in the Material Safety Data Sheet [MSDS].

CCl4 is banned under Montreal protocol.

Do not use it even if it is available. It is toxic & harmful to ozone layer.

We clean a lot of little metal parts to get all of the oils & dirt from machining off of them before we use them or send them out for other processes. We simply use a little ultrasonic bath with warm water & dish soap.

It may not be the best thing for getting absolutely everything off of the parts, down to the micron level, but it should certainly be fine for cleaning your rear cog set or the bottom bracket bearings on your bike!

Good Luck & happy riding! Try to stay away from the toxic stuff anyway. Not good for you or the earth.

"It is toxic & harmful to ozone layer."

Toxic I'll buy, but harmful to the ozone layer? The stuff (as a gas) weighs 153.8 gms per 22.4 liters, for heavens sake, or about 3.5 times the weight of CO2, and way more than Nitrogen's 28 grams or Oxygen's 32. How did you get it up to the Ozone layer, anyway, in any kind of concentration? Sounds like more of Owl Gore's prestidigitation in a field he knows nothing about. Methane at 16 gms or ammonia at 17 gms are more likely to make it to the ozone layer.

Some horn-type tweeters (HF speakers) are good up to 30-40 kHz, and they aren't expensive, but they also aren't too powerful. If you glue as many as you can to the tank, you may get enough power into the solvent to do some decent cleaning.

Actually, any amount of agitation from any source works well. Take your average dishwasher for example -- it doesn't even use ultrasonic agitation.

I do not think that horn type speakers will give you enough enery to sufficiently agitate your bath. The more water or solvent you have in the tank will require a greater amout of power.

What an awesome idea.

I've spent so many hours cleaning chains and sprockets with a toothbrush and rags.

This is definately on the projects TO-DO list.

Cheers,

I agree! Actually I've thought of it off and on for years, but never done anything about it... How about a transducer that could be inserted into a wine bottle to dislodge bits of tartrate etc.?

I hope someone responds that really knows...

Dick

I used to ( part time job) repair commercial ultra sonic cleaners for a watch maker supply house. I kept one unit for my own use to clean carburetors and smaller car parts. I now also have a machinery washing machine which does not heat the cleaning solvent or use ultra sonic methods. For bike parts, chains etc you need both types. .

First I degrease the worst of it in the solvent washer. it has a circulation pump and a faucet like flexible hose. I use a stiff brush for the worst of the dirt buildup and grease. To get something sparkling clean I next immerse the parts in a zip lock baggie if they are small like carb jets etc. or other plastic container that stands up to the solvent. In 15 minute the cold liquid becomes hot in any case from the vibration. . Sometimes I plae the baggie in a water bath to keep from contaminating the stainless steel tub. Saves on cleanup later.

Airmar is the worlds biggest transducer maker for all sort of equipment. They make stuf that operates at frequencies ranging from 20 kHz up to 250 kHz.

Contact them for a recommendation as to transducer and expect to use a 50 or 100 watt element or sets of element.

BTW airmar does not sell to the public but they wil tell you who retails stuff in your area.

The oscillator is simply a high frequency driver that runs at the resonant frequency. The ones I repaird worked at 20Khz some at 40kHz. transducer was a round puck of 3" - 4" diameter and 5/8 thick.

the ocillator power transistors were mounted on a heat sink forming the base cover of the bottom. The transducers were epoxied to the under side of th etank itself. you want the heat to go into the tank shell not the botom lid.

The ceramic transducers are epoxy ( 5 minute or Devcon industrial strnehgt) glued to the bottom of the tank shell. Make sure it can stand the heat and vibration.

If you bolt it, consider how are you going to do the fastening for maximum vibration transfer without stressing the metal fastener?

Here is a suggestion that worked for me.--Many years ago. I was 16. My brother and I made a sonic cleaner from an old stainless steel pan. We built a wooden frame to hold the pan. used an old speaker coil attached to the frame very close to the pan. Bottom center. The speaker Permanent Manet/electromagnet was the old type that ran high voltage thru it. Weight- about 10 pounds. We used an Heathkit audio signal generator and a old RCA radio for the amplifier. It didn't work. Then after thinking about it, dropped an iron plate to the bottom of the pan, and like magic, it worked! We improved it by drilling holes in the iron plate. We had great results varying the Osc frequency and the radio volume. My Dad brought some cleaning degreasing chemical from a local plating shop. I think it was called Oakite. We had to use this outside. We did not have a garage, in Michigan, in the Winter. We kept the radio in the utility room wired to the tank in the back yard. Heated it up with a camp stove. I will never understand why my mother ever let us rebuild our motorcycles in the utility room. Come spring, we had the best, clean rebuilt motorcycles. Two of them.

Building something like this today would be much easier. No radio, no oscillator. Just an electromagnet, step down isolated transformer (for safety) and a dimmer switch from the hardware. -or- For about $10 more, a much more exotic tank.

"Building something like this today would be much easier. No radio, no oscillator. Just an electromagnet, step down isolated transformer (for safety) and a dimmer switch from the hardware. -or- For about $10 more, a much more exotic tank."

No Oscillator? Then you have no ultrasonic! The waveshape produced by a dimmer may have some ultrasonic harmonics, but not much power there. Most dimmers aren't rated for inductive loads. Is there something I'm not understanding?

I recently had the privilege of a tour through Cosworth Engineering in Los Angeles. The city which I believe bans the use of heated petroleum cleaners. They use a solution of 50-50 "Simple Green " and water, heated to 130 degrees in a traditional parts cleaning tank with an agitator. The results were impressive, exceeding anything that regular solvent produces.

The submarine that I was stationed on also used the 50-50 Simple Green/Water solution, but I believe it was at a much higher temperature (I think the Auxiliary Division personnel jury rigged the thermostat. ;-)) and parts came out looking like they came right out of the package.

The system described is a sonic cleaner. works on 60 or 120Hz depending on the configuration. The dimmer is amplitude driver for the agitation. The sound it makes is a muffled 60 or 120Hz buzz with sufficient power to do the job. This works!

The next step to complexity as suggested, would be an oscillator (555 timer with FET or IGBT driver and a DC supply driving an magnetic transducer.(coil of wire on a ferrus core)

Maybe Oakite Rustripper. Well known, works really fine. Can be used in a heated and aerated bath.

I bet it was your cleaning solution that worked, not necessarily the "ultrassonic" part...

Although snelstim mentioned that the bath had a heater, he was not talking about switching it on!! (which would be most dangerous I feel!!)

I would use some small high power speakers, "saved" from the junkyard and build myself an oscillator from a simple 555 circuit (from the web or I could look one out if you wish) for each one with a variable resistance to vary the frequency say between 10kHz and 30kHz, and see what works best with each loudspeaker......

High frequency speakers need several watts of input, so you will need to buffer the 555 with a transistor output.....and if one LS breaks, well you rescued a lot from the junk yard didn't you!!

Even a soapy (washing up liquid is good and cheap) water solution will get most oily things clean, even if not working at completely ultrasonic.....experiment!!

Always wear hearing protectors when working with sound by the way, even sounds you cannot hear!!

What are you going to do with the speakers? You need a mechanical connection between the speakers and the tank (or liquid). If you go this route, replace the speakers with an electromagnet magnetically coupled to the pan. (or a piece of iron glued to the pan.

Good answer. I think thats a great idea! Why does it have to be ultrasonic? I was going to suggest renting a concrete vibrating probe used at construction sites to test lower frequencies. They are not that expensive to buy (<$100 advertised for 110V unit). Your idea could be sourced from the Goodwill store with furniture.

It does not have to be ultrasonic. We want to accomplish vigorus agitation of the cleaning solution. I think ultrasonic technology is beyond the scope of this project.

I used to use one of these with my old water bed and the widows throughout whole house would vibrate.

Now your just bragging

I know of a company that manufactures and sells a device that destroys unwanted algae in ponds using ultrasonics.

Check out wastewater treatment companies.

Perhaps Google: wastewater/treatment/algae/ultrasonic

I have an alternate idea, for a mountain bike it's very possible to completely break the bike down, including removing the tires from the rims, axles from the hubs etc.; and the fork from the frame; and most of the bit and pieces will fit quite nicely into a home dishwasher. A few long cycles on the pot and pans setting will leave your gear gleaming. From there you can experiment with soaps and non volatile degreasers. Re-assembly is then done with clean grease. Be aware that your spouse may not share your enthusiasm for this most novel idea.

I would echo the other folks who recommend against volatile solvents. "Simple Green" or equivalent and hot water should do the trick.

If you do go with flammable solvents, one important component is the fusible link. This is built into whatever holds up the lid, so that in the event of a fire, the link melts and the lid falls closed, cutting off the oxygen to the fire.

In a quick search, I found a 55 watt transducer for about $25 plus $4 shipping.

I recently bought a complete factory made parts washing machine for $79.95. Has UL approved safe pump and a fusible link on lid. It holds 3 gallons of cleaning fluid. Harbor Freight probably has them for less. Unfortunately we do not have Harbor Freight here and the cross border paperwork would negate any cost saving.

Having used cleaning baths, ultra sonic cleaners, and so on for many years, I would argue that the 60 hz vibrators or audio speakers are not going to be as effective as a real ultrasonic cleaner. The very high frequency creates tiny bubbles between the dirt layer and the undelying surface. You are not going to do that simply by shaking it. You might as well just use a brush and solvent. Or a wire brush wheel on a drill.

Thanks for all the reply's I would like to start building on it, now that I know it's actually pretty easy to make it myself. But I still haven't got an answer for how much power I would need and what frequency. I found a lot of site's where I can buy ultrasonic transducers but they range from 15khz to 4Mhz. Or is it "the bigger the better" and hope I don't destroy the tank with the vibrations. I would realy like to go for ultrasonic because it's the only thing that can make the water cavitate. all other sollutions seem also doable (except for the dishwasher because my mom would kill me) but they are more a case of trial and error and I would like to be sure of what I'm doing so I only have to do it once. I would rather go mountainbiking than working on something to clean the parts

As to wattage; I had initially said 50 W to 100W but I am now suggesting you find out what Airmar recommends for their specific transducers. Or whatever brand you end up getting.

Based on the power capacity of the units I repaired, the wach maker cleaners only used around 20 watts. Bigger is NOT better in this case. Too much power wil simply destroy the active element of the transducer soon after you start up; or it will cause delamination of the epoxy bond holding the transducer in place. Once that happens the transducer is also likely to self destruct. Depth soundes and sonar units work the same and have the same problems. for higher power units you need larger heavier transducers. Some of the big recreational units do use as much as 500 - 600 wats for deep sea use. For what you wan to do 20 - 40 watts is ample.

20khz at 5 watts should be plenty

Agreed! I happened to find one of those ultrasonic humidifiers. Water tanks missing but ultrasonic transducer was intact. That whole driver circuit had one littel T)220 transistor and the transducer only measured 27 mm diameter. The whole power transformer could not have been more than five watts and it also powered a fan for blowing air.

Will post results when I convert it to a desk top cleaner.

A little theory on how ultrasonic cleaning is in order.It works by cavitation;creating very small bubbles that implode, releasing energy.A regular soap will prevent the bubbles from bursting,killing the effect.A small amount of automatic dishwasher detergent, which has a suds suppressor will work very well, but a small amount only.Too much will prevent cavitation and kill the cleaning action.There are ultrasonic fog generators on line that may be adapted for your use.Google them.

The fogger is a very good point. It reminded me that I have a humidifier that works with an ultrasonic transducer. I would think they might be a reasonable source for a transducer.

I've used a number of different solutions with my ultrasonic cleaner and keep going back to the liquid dishwashing detergent. I've used a number of "strengths" of the soap to water ratio and find little difference in cleaning ability. I will have to try a very small amount and compare to the normal strengths I usually use which is pretty strong.

I normally clean my parts with a tooth brush and strait detergent and hot water before putting them in the ultrasonic and am frequently amazed at the visible crud still being removed after I would have thought the parts were clean.

Attention;;;

Why in the heck do you need an ultrasonic cleaner for a bicycle chain?

Please excuse my language,but this one of the most foolish ideas I have ever heard of,,,,,,

AFTER the chain is clean,,,,Will you be able to guarantee that,Every Pin with Every roller is TOTALLY lubricated,,Please don't tell me you are going to do this to your bearings also..NO NO< no,no,

Do you have access to the factory lubricant that came w/chain??

Please Reconsider this

RESPECTFULLY

Joe in Texas

He would probably be better off cooking the chain in some nice chain oil

Some chains have sintered bushings, which will wear very quickly unless they are soaked in the proper lube after a vigourous cleaning...

My Triumph motorcycle shop manual recommends doing exactly that, but keep the temp to about 125 F max.

Ive worked with Peizo transducers for medical nebulisers. They can be a pig to drive and can burn out easilly, you have to hit them at their resonant frequency.
So...I'd go with some of the other ideas floating around here.
Purely mechanical agitation say a motor with a small offset weight running fast, or the audio driver, as some one said driving into a horn probably fixed to the centre of the tank bottom.
Or maybe just use an ultrasonic toothbrush on the parts !
Del

Where can you get an ultrasonic toothbrush? Sonicare and its kin are just that: sonic.

Whatever...you get the idea though?