Anyone out these using an ultrasonic cleaner for tube prep? I love the idea of reducing the amount of sanding in my process and I imagine it’d benefit any type of joinery
Some online shopping led me to rifle sized cleaners, which seem to be the closest to bike tube sized.
I’ve seen Engin cycles setup, but that looks like an expensive machine…
There’s a handful of tutorials out there on DIY ultrasonic cleaners and it seems that transducers and drivers are cheap and readily available from a number of places. Anyone tried this?
What are your thoughts?
Would you adopt ultrasonic tube cleaning if it didn’t cost an arm and/or leg?
Is it overkill?
Recommendations for affordable cleaners that would fit a tube?
For steel weld prep, sure I agree. I guess my curiosity was more around overall tube/frame cleanliness, removing any surface rust or flux left over from braze-on/internal line brazing/soaking, tubes with mill scale etc…
I built a soak tank using waterproof ply and pond liner paint. It was meant as a temporary tank some 7 years ago. It just has water with a cup of phosphoric acid in it. I used to use a very small pond pump to swirl the water but haven’t done that for a while now. Just let it soak while I do other things. If I want the flux off quicker it goes under the hot water tap. The acid prevents rust whole in the tank and also adds a bit of a protective film. I just use wax and grease remover and alcohol to clean before brazing. After prepping with emery that is.
I use a Vevor 22L ultrasonic cleaner for getting flux off. It work like a dream and does double duty with drivetrain cleaning. You can’t fit a whole bike in, but you can get enough of a frame to clean any given joint. It also heats the water which makes flux removal even quicker. I’d highly recommend it, especially if you don’t have a giant sink with infinite hot water.
I’m new to ultrasonic but this unit interests me for its price and size. What do you use for the cleaning solution? Any tips on stuff I should know and watch out for when cleaning Ti?
Thanks for your honesty I figured one had to be some sort of chemist to use an ultrasonic cleaner so I’m happy it’s not as complicated as I’m making it! Simple green it is
I need to soak some surface rust off of a few tubes that weren’t stored well. Is this ultrasonic cleaner, or anything else, large enough for putting entire tube sets in?
I have never used the cleaner to soak off rust so I can’t vouch for that. The 22L isn’t big enough to fit full tubes, but you could soak one side and then the other.
I figured one had to be some sort of chemist to use an ultrasonic cleaner so I’m happy it’s not as complicated as I’m making it! Simple green it is 