Just bought an ultra sonic cleaner for carbs

[chuck hahn]

Oh and as for the "try it" remark. As i told you all before, I have access to one at anytime i want up at the dealership. Ive seen it in use and have seen carbs and covers and many other parts that have come out of theirs and frankly i wasnt all that impressed over what i have done with berrymans..thats just the reality of it all. These things are trumped up as if until they were invented every bike mechanic for the last 75 years before was barely lucky to have kept a bike even running. And every hot rodder and muscle car guy that used it for their Hollys were just a bunch of tools too...funniest bunch of BS ive ever heard.

 

[jhillier449]

I have an ultrasonic cleaner at work as well. We use it for cleaning circuit boards that we build. It cost 25 grand and does one hell of a job on carb bodies. . It also works really fast, 10 minutes and ready for reassembly.

This is the future I think.

 

[chuck hahn]

Yup...the speed factor ( to me ) is the only real advantage..

 

[tkent02]

Yup...the speed factor ( to me ) is the only real advantage..

And the fact that it does a better job, and uses no nasty chemicals which end up in someone's drinking water...

 

[GS1000G Shopper]

I picked up the Harbor Freight one today. I've read through the thread, is there a consensus of what the best cleaning solution is for carbs? My red GS1000 is due.

Here is what I gleaned from the thread-
1) I found some dedicated carb cleaner, but it's like $45/gallon. Other metal cleaners are around $25/quart.
2) Maxcide is $10/quart. Pine Sol and water would be inexpensive as well (two posts on this combo).
3) Alcohol= flammable, not planning to try it.
4) Red devil, drano, simple green- ??? EDIT Found another bike forum thread here with pics, they like Simple Green.
5) ebay link to carb cleaner was expired (main reason why I don't like eBay links) in England, likely too expensive w/ shipping & too long to get it.
6) Everything cleaner- sounds good but made of unobtanium (nowhere to buy it, eh?)
7) Vinegar?
8) Special solution: blend of several chemicals, all bio-degradable & environmentally safe (also unobtanium as far as I can tell)

Independent research shows dish soap and water is often used. I know Dawn detergent always cleaned my greasy hands when I washed dishes by hand (have a Binford 6100 dishwasher now ).

Any more input from the past few months since this was posted?


Warning- if you don't have anything good to say, just don't say anything. Amazing amount of thread-crapping here, I think this thread would be half the size it is if only relevant info was here.

 

[JEEPRUSTY]

I would think spray 9 would be effective.

It degreases very well.

 

[Planecrazy]

Yet another ultrasonic user that has "seen the light!" I don't have a large industrial unit - just the small Harbor Freight "jewelry grade" unit. However, the difference in the quality of the "clean" you get versus conventional cleaning is quite impressive!

It's not just the advantage of being able to clean with more gentle chemicals, but the fact that in areas where you simply "can't go" with traditional methods the milder solutions plus the ultrasonic waves do a thorough job of removing and breaking down dirt and scale so that it will pass back out of the tiny orifices it would otherwise be trapped in.

While Chuck would be correct in arguing that the Berrymans would break down said dirt and scale it's the fact that one doesn't have to use such an aggressive solution to get the same results (and faster) that make the ultrasonic option a superior one. But in the end I say, "whatever floats your boat..."

Regards,

 

[Homie]

Hmmmm? I just had an epiphany! I have an electric gallon paint can shaker. What if I got a gallon can of Berrymans and placed it (with parts to be cleaned inside) into the paint shaker and ran it for a couple of minutes? It would be a "hybrid" subsonic Berrymans cleaner!

 

[Guest]

I picked up the Harbor Freight one today. I've read through the thread, is there a consensus of what the best cleaning solution is for carbs? My red GS1000 is due.

Here is what I gleaned from the thread-
1) I found some dedicated carb cleaner, but it's like $45/gallon. Other metal cleaners are around $25/quart.
2) Maxcide is $10/quart. Pine Sol and water would be inexpensive as well (two posts on this combo).
3) Alcohol= flammable, not planning to try it.
4) Red devil, drano, simple green- ??? EDIT Found another bike forum thread here with pics, they like Simple Green.
5) ebay link to carb cleaner was expired (main reason why I don't like eBay links) in England, likely too expensive w/ shipping & too long to get it.
6) Everything cleaner- sounds good but made of unobtanium (nowhere to buy it, eh?)
7) Vinegar?
8) Special solution: blend of several chemicals, all bio-degradable & environmentally safe (also unobtanium as far as I can tell)

Independent research shows dish soap and water is often used. I know Dawn detergent always cleaned my greasy hands when I washed dishes by hand (have a Binford 6100 dishwasher now ).

Any more input from the past few months since this was posted?


Warning- if you don't have anything good to say, just don't say anything. Amazing amount of thread-crapping here, I think this thread would be half the size it is if only relevant info was here.

I don't have one but a friend of mine does and he use's a cleaner he gets from the Dollar Tree called Awesome and it works great from what I have seen,

 

[GS1000G Shopper]

Hmmmm? I just had an epiphany! I have an electric gallon paint can shaker. What if I got a gallon can of Berrymans and placed it (with parts to be cleaned inside) into the paint shaker and ran it for a couple of minutes? It would be a "hybrid" subsonic Berrymans cleaner!

I think it would depend on the number of cycles (hertz) you would generate. Ultrasonics from what I have read are around 20,000 to 400,000 cycles or hertz. No idea what a paint mixer would generate.

Give it a try, keeping in mind what Friedrich Nietzsche via Gordon 'the G-Man' Liddy said: That which doesn't kill me makes me stronger.

Seriously, cycles generate heat, so some of the cleaners say not to use flammables in them. I'm pretty sure the Berrymans stuff is flammable.

 

[GS1000G Shopper]

I don't have one but a friend of mine does and he use's a cleaner he gets from the Dollar Tree called Awesome and it works great from what I have seen,

Awesome. Likely an awesome price as well. Thanks.

 

[Guest]

I think it would depend on the number of cycles (hertz) you would generate. Ultrasonics from what I have read are around 20,000 to 400,000 cycles or hertz. No idea what a paint mixer would generate.

Seriously, cycles generate heat, so some of the cleaners say not to use flammables in them. I'm pretty sure the Berrymans stuff is flammable.

It might work but keep in mind, you're only agitating the Berrymans. My Ultra Sonic cleaner generates at 55 KHz frequency & that's very important to making it work. A paint mixer would by no means be as effective or safe as my Ultra sonic with its water based non flammable cleaner.

What is Ultrasonic Cleaning?

The object to be cleaned, in this case a carburetor, is placed in the cleaner containing my special bio-degradable liquid. An ultrasound-generating transducer produces ultrasonic waves in the fluid; this creates compression waves which ?tear? the liquid apart, leaving behind many millions of microscopic ?voids? or ?partial vacuum bubbles? (cavitation). These bubbles collapse with enormous energy; however, they are so small that they do no more than clean and remove surface dirt and contaminants. The higher the frequency, the smaller the nodes between the cavitation points, which allows for cleaning of more intricate detail. The tiniest passages in your carbs are scrubbed clean better than any carb dip can accomplish.
An ultrasonic cleaner won?t harm most materials, it just cleans & does so amazingly well.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=186915

Cheers, Paul

 

[Planecrazy]

Let's not forget one very slight difference between the paint shaker and the ultrasonic cleaner...

In one the part being cleaned sits still while the high frequency waves create the cavitation that creates the bubbles that help clean the part, inside and out.

In the other the entire part is being VIoLEntLy sHAKen ArOuND, dented, scratched, and generally destroyed ... but it'll come out nice and clean in the end, at least on the outside!

Regards,

 

[GS1000G Shopper]

I've used the Harbor Freight (HF) cleaner on 3 of my 4 carbs so far, and must say I like it. The metal brackets such as the throttle and choke come out like new. I'm using the Dollar Tree "Awesome" (called LA's Awesome) cleaner at a 5:1 ratio. It's $1 for a quart bottle, so at that price, I use a new solution for each carb.

Since the HF cleaner holds 2.5L, I use a 1.89L Gatorade bottle and put in about 380 ml (used a 500 ml water bottle for measure) then filled it with hot water. The cleaner is not deep enough to cover the entire carb, so I flip the body and run two cycles. I have before pics, and after I get some more parts to where I can put them back together I will shoot some after pics.