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Old 12-19-2021, 01:51 PM
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Default Ultrasonic Cleaner

Looking at purchasing a sonic cleaner....for cleaning parts....especially carbs...

Just a hobbyist...but need one big enough to fit Quadrajet or AFB ...

Found a 10L...2.6 gallon..240 watt on Amazon...in my budget...

Any input is appreciated..

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Old 12-19-2021, 02:34 PM
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I have found the heated ultrasonic cleaner is good for degreasing but won´t clean soot and oxidation out of the carbs.

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Old 12-19-2021, 03:03 PM
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Buy the right detergent for aluminum or it will turn it all black and start eating what you are trying to clean.

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Old 12-19-2021, 03:22 PM
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We bought one made in a country of 5 letters starting with "Ch" and it last almost 2 hours.

Second one (at about 10 times the price) made in USA has lasted about 15 years.

Wonderful tool.

Jon.

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Old 12-19-2021, 03:39 PM
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This cleaner works very good on aluminum carb bodies with my ultrasonic cleaner :https://www.aircraft-tool.com/shop/d...ookieSupport=1

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Old 12-19-2021, 04:20 PM
gobrdgo gobrdgo is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tempest1964 View Post
This cleaner works very good on aluminum carb bodies with my ultrasonic cleaner :https://www.aircraft-tool.com/shop/d...ookieSupport=1
Man this is so important. Imagine my chagrin pulling a carb out of mine all black and corroded from the wrong solution! I basically aged it twenty years in twenty minutes! Has to go to vapor blasting to fix my mess.

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Old 12-19-2021, 09:18 PM
Jbyers1956 Jbyers1956 is offline
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Default Citranox cleaner

Citranox, acid cleaner.Worked well on my motor cycle carbs. It was pricey. And, I found that with this, I had to separate the different metals, and brass, copper. The copper, brass made aluminum dark color. Really hard to remove. So, try to get all the ferus separate from your aluminum. Well, you can fill the machine with water, put your different metals, bolts, an brass in separate baggy. Put your premix solution in each bag and seal it. Put all the bag in the tank, run it with heat. Worked out for me. Good luck.

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Old 12-19-2021, 11:57 PM
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I use the MC CLEANER / on Formula wheel collars before I micro bead them . Last batch had a couple that were pretty gross, did a good job.

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Old 12-20-2021, 09:54 AM
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IMO save your money. For years I've gotten the heavy stuff off of AFBs, WCFBs, Rochesters, etc with tooth brushes and gasoline followed by lacquer thinner or acetone and after that running them through the wife's dish washer. On really cruddy bodies I will spray them with original yellow Easy Off (not the scented stuff) and work that in with a tooth brush, and then rinse off, before doing the above. I bought an ultrasonic cleaner about the size you describe off of Amazon and it works fine. I use Simple Green, Crud Cutter, or like degreasers in it and all result in the bodies, tops, and boosters, etc. coming out clean as a whistle. The one I got also has a heat feature and I turn the heat on and let it do it's thing for about thirty minutes. It does not "eat" the aluminum as far as I can tell and that was a concern of mine. However I like my old method better than the ultrasonic cleaner. No matter what I do I double glass bead my carbs after I clean them and I feel my original cleaning method + the bead blasting does a better job but that is just me.

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Old 12-20-2021, 10:18 AM
hurryinhoosier62 hurryinhoosier62 is offline
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I doubt any carbs sees the carbon build-up that you see in a Diesel engine. We used plain mineral spirits in our Branson ultrasonic cleaner when cleaning nozzles for Diesel engine fuel injectors. Worked amazingly well.

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Old 12-20-2021, 10:56 AM
propuckstopper propuckstopper is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Green Hornet View Post
Looking at purchasing a sonic cleaner....for cleaning parts....especially carbs...

Just a hobbyist...but need one big enough to fit Quadrajet or AFB ...

Found a 10L...2.6 gallon..240 watt on Amazon...in my budget...

Any input is appreciated..
They are not cheap, but I bought a Crest Ultrasonics 7 gallon unit several years ago. I use it primarily for cleaning the innards of rebuildable shock absorbers found on snowmobiles and motocross bikes. I also have used it several times for carburetors, including my tri-power setup. Works mint!

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Old 12-20-2021, 01:48 PM
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I've done carbs with walnut shells in a blasting cabinet .. very impressive, removes all the crud but won't even touch the factory Cad plating, leaves a nice "new" subtle sheen on the surface.

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Old 12-20-2021, 06:20 PM
hurryinhoosier62 hurryinhoosier62 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dataway View Post
I've done carbs with walnut shells in a blasting cabinet .. very impressive, removes all the crud but won't even touch the factory Cad plating, leaves a nice "new" subtle sheen on the surface.
Soda blasting works well, too.

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Old 12-20-2021, 08:21 PM
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Took mine apart and dunked it all in a bucket of Pine-Sol which seemed to work well. Would have been nice to retain the cad plating, but you can't see much of the carb underneath the air cleaner anyway, and in my case the carb will probably be replaced with port-injection EFI in the not-so-distant future.






Regardless, I can see why OP may want to get an ultrasonic cleaner to keep in the garage. They can be useful for all sorts of things, not just carburetors. I recently saw this video from Iron Trap Garage where they tested an ultrasonic cleaner from Eastwood by dunking some royally gross carbs. Link below:

https://youtu.be/FclGQkY551c

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Old 12-21-2021, 01:22 AM
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Thanks.....for everybodys input......

I think I will stay with the 2 1/2 gallon unit to start with...

I see there are special cleaning solutions available...including an aircraft compatible Simple Green ...at $35 a gallon..

Can we use the basic Smple Green......and are we using it full strength....or what % are we cutting it?

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Old 12-21-2021, 02:34 PM
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I have used about 5-10% Simple Green as well as 5-10% Purple Power. The Purple Power will turn a carb body dark grey if you leave it in there too long, but from a cleaning perspective it's unbelievably good.

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