OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Tech Talk Ultrasonic cleaner project.

Not sure how this will be received.
But, I am putting together an ultrasonic cleaner.
Thought someone may be interested.

I don't clean a huge quantity of carburettors, but I want a more passive way of doing it.
I also want to limit my exposure to carb cleaner.

I could have just bought one, but what I have noticed is:
a cleaner advertised as 100W, may be 50W heating & 50W ultrasonic power.
So adverts can be deceiving.

I got the idea of using an old deep fryer from "Roebuck".
Cheers, it should work a treat.

So for $2 at the recycle centre, here it is.


The kit I bought is a generator circuit card and 2 x 50W 40kHz transducers.
Basically, 240 Vac supplies the board.
The output from the board powers the 2 x transducers that get attached under the cleaning vessel.



The Card I mounted up in an insulated enclosure.


I'm not sure how it will work when its finished, but I will let you know.

great job .will watch this one with interest.

What did the ultrasonic kit cost?
Any benefit in attaching four transducers?
Please keep us updated...

Are you using the deep fryers heating circuit? And if yes, won't it get too hot for the carbies? If no, are you supplying a heat source as well as the ultrasonics? Very interesting project, would like to know about the transducer kit as well.

Hello fella's,

Diesel, the kit cost $65.
The generator board I have will power 2 x 50W transducers for 5 mins on, 5 mins off to cool down, I will install a 12V computer fan to keep it cooler and increase run time, maybe.
It will have its limitations.

You can have as many transducers as you like, but you will need a generator board that can power them. The price for those goes up.

Trev, I am not having a heater at all.
I have never used one of these before, so I will see how it goes using hot water from the tap.

Hopefully it will turn out to be something I can use. Cheers

Hi

I purchased a ebay ultrasonic cleaner some time ago, a 12 litre for $400 i think.
It heats and I use it a least twice a week, works great. I had some posts on the machine on the forum some time ago with the results.

I'll follow this thread with interest as the kit you using is somewhat cheaper than the commercial unit.

I find 65c is a good temp to work at, as a hot water rinse after cleaning it all flash dries.

Pardon my ignorance,as I have never used anything like it before,but what do they do?
Is there any real practical use in cleaning mower parts?
Sorry guys I have herd of them but my lack of knowledge now has me intrigued.

Link to two old ultrasonic cleaning threads, they have some before and after shots. I find the cleaners are excellent at cleaning carbies and other parts that have intricate and hard to get to spots, like air bleed galleries, jets, emulsion tubes etc etc. Strip down, dunk them in and come back 1/2 hr later, rinse and reassemble.

1st old ultrasonic cleaner thread

and 2nd old thread

What do you think Blumby, about the cleaning results.

Thanks Rusty ute, I have seen one of your threads before, not the Suzuki carb one though.
65 deg C as a good temperature, nice to know.
Your machine does a great job, it is the cats pajama's.

Hard to see what heatsinks are being used on that board from the photo but it should be fairly easy to put bigger heatsinks, and make sure to use black ones rather than plain aluminium for better heat transfer and a longer duty cycle. Make sure you use some heat transfer paste if you change the heatsinks as well. I'd also use a much larger enclosure to allow more air flow with your computer fan idea.

Some things for me to consider there, Trev.
Understand emissivity of a black surface, to better help heat transfer.
I have some large heat sinks here. I might fit them down the track.
Also have transfer paste.
Just want to get it working to start with.

Often wondered why the heads on engines are not coated with a heat resistant black finish.

Hi Mark. I came across a similar looking board with similar specks from an English supplier and they claim 45 minutes on 20 minutes off as a duty cycle so I would imagine with better heat sinks and better cooling yours should be able to match that.

Mark Electric....re your enquiry on heads being painted with heat resistant paint, it may be that the paint may inhibit heat flow to the cooling air, forming an insulating barrier and increasing head temps. I remember from my misspent youth playing around with high performance VW air cooled motors that even a single coat of paint would increase temps by 15-25 degrees....just a thought

Trev, so with larger heat sinks, larger enclosure, computer fan, I could possibly run this for a 30 min duty cycle?
I would work up to this, monitoring temps as I go.
Was the board you looked at powering 2 x 50W units?

Diesel, What about an anodised black finish on a Victa power torque head.
Not economical to do, but should give a cooler running engine.

Quite a large area when you start reading about emissivity of black bodies.
Black coloured car radiators, heat sinks, fighter planes and more....
Thanks

Yes, it was for two 50 watt units Mark. I emailed the company and they confirmed the duty cycle. Yours may be a chinese copy of theirs, assuming yours is chinese that is.

Will add significantly to cost with no real world improvement........?

Worked on this today and got it to the point where I could test it.
Energised it to give it a few short runs. Worked fine, you can see the high frequency vibration in the water.
However, the fuse on the board blew.
I mocked up another fuse, but the board has no output.
So this project is on hold.

Yep, the paint does act to reduce heat transfer, to the air flowing past the fins. It adds a 'thermal resistance' to the system, in effect.

Anodised finishes on aluminium don't have the same effect; they're really only a dye added to the oxide layer on the surface of the aluminium. The oxide layer is made a bit thicker than natural by an electrolytic process, and the dye is adsorbed at the same time.

Anodising can be done as DIY, but that's only really practicable for small parts, as it does require a DC power source. Caswell Plating supply suitable dyes for this process.

Thanks for that Gadge,
I had a look at the video on Caswells site, the 5 step process is quite involved, requiring tank heater, filter pump and a kit of chemicals and more...

Where my cleaner is at: new board and repair parts for the damaged board are on their way.
Why it blew the fuse could have been my fault, I had the tank half full of water, around 4lts plus the basket. The fuse blew when I removed the basket.
I have learned that with out a load in the tank the output current increases making the heat sink hotter.
Should have had the tank full of water.
Does this ring true for anyone?

Being an electronics technician since 1967 and having worked on a lot of high frequency stuff, I really cannot see anyway that could be true. Transducers are in practical terms simply a speaker albeit generally using a ceramic disc as the driven element rather than a coil of wire. I cannot conceive of a change in load causing a change in current unless there is an electrical circuit between the ceramic and the metal of the tank that could slightly change the capacitance and even then I would consider it highly unlikely. Is there electrical contact between either of the terminals and the body of the transducer?