Re: Ultrasonic Parts Cleaner

[theodore]

I bought mine about 3 years ago. It’s called a "Kendal HB49", and has the digital keypad. I see now they are now going to knobs. Mine holds 9 Liters, so I can put a whole Quadrajet carb inside. I was scared of going "too small". I paid about $310 at the time.

I run "Formula 88" degreaser from Home Depot. It’s like "Purple Stuff". The trick is to get the temp up to about 155 (F). Thats when it really cleans. If you turn on the on board heater first alone, the temp is slow to come up. Once you turn on the ultrasonic, the temp rises much faster.

You can put a carb bowl in there, and run it about 20 minutes, then take the carb bowl out and pour out the contents. First comes the clean purple cleaner, last comes the liquified gasoline- a brown/orange sludge. All the nasty stuff you could not see trapped in the passages.

With the cleaner I use, the aluminum carb comes out a little darker than it went in. There may be a cleaner that gives you a "brighter" carb. I’ve heard of people running "Simple Green", but don’t know how that works.

Mine has a drain valve on the side with a hose barb. Stick on a scrap of hose and drain it. Much better than wrestling the whole unit upside down.

I have an old strainer from a coffee maker, which is plastic with a "panty hose" mesh screen all around. I put all the little bitty stuff in there- Jets, screws, needles, pins, etc, then throw it in the tank along side the castings. Having the larger unit, space is not a concern.

Hope this helps-

P.S. I read somewhere that you shouldn’t put your fingers in the bath when its running, it will dissolve the bones. It’s probably B.S., but it reminds me to pay attention. I don’t want to be one of those guys with tiny hands and short little fingers ;).