Ultrasonic Cleaners?

[ChrisCummins]

Hi,
Does anyone use ultrasonic cleaners for their camera repair/clean up work? I noticed that there are small <£30 ones readily available so wondered if would be helpful in doing a full clean up job on old cameras.

Regards
Chris

 

[Gumby]

The inexpensive ultrasonic cleaners that are generally sold for jewelery cleaning are largely ineffective. An industrial ultrasonic unit works well. Hand cleaning with proper solvents works well too.

 

[hanskerensky]

I have such a small US Cleaner and indeed it is a disappointment. Furthermore be very carefull with which cleaning solution you use, i had once a shutter ruined because the solution was too agressive. Nowadays only use what we call "washing benzine" (guess in English white spirit ?) and of course ONLY OUTSIDE SAFE AWAY FROM THE HOUSE !

 

[Chris Sherlock]

Ultrasonic Cleaners?

G'day Chris,

I've got a 60 watt ultrasonic cleaner and find it does an adequate job for me. The key to cleaning is using the right solution for whatever muck you are trying to remove.

Parts covered in thick, dried grease are never going to clean well in luke-warm water.

For film advance and focus helical components and the like, I first give them a rough clean in a bath of solvent. An old toothbrush is useful to help get the worst off. Then wipe them off and put them into the ultrasonic cleaner filled with a hot, strong solution of household ammonia based detergent.

I follow this with a very good rinse to remove any chemicals and dry thoroughly.

The parts are left cleaner than they were coming of the manufacturer's machinery.

Ultrasonic cleaners can be very useful for cleaning delicate rangefinder surfaces.

Regards, Chris

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I use an inexpensive one, usually apply ronsonol or isopropyl alchohol first to the helical and then drop it into the cleaner. Also use it to clean aluminum parts of FSU lenses.

Mine works well enough, was $35.

Before:

After:

 

[Frontman]

I used to be a jeweler, and the ultrasonic cleaner I had worked phenomenally well. It was also phenomenally expensive (a couple thousand dollars). On the "high" setting it would easily dimple metal shiny foil, giving it a lumpy, matte finish. The ultrasonic was mainly used for getting polishing compound and flux out of unreachable nooks and crannies in more complicated pieces of jewelry or watch mechanisms. For camera bits you could probably get perfectly good results with Stoddard solvent, or even Berryman's chem-dip. These remove old, dried grease quite well, and are not expensive.

 

[p.giannakis]

I taped my mobile phone on a cup with ronsol, switched it to vibration, threw konica 's Auto-s shutter in it and i gave it many missed calls.
It did a pretty good job...

 

[arthur sadowsky]

Wow, looks like it is super effective!!

After:

Wow, looks like it is super effective!!