Blew $400 on that fancy ultrasonic cleaner and it barely does anything

I read all the hype online about ultrasonic cleaners for small elevator parts like relays and switches. Picked up one of those mid-range ones from Grainger last month thinking it would save me hours of hand scrubbing. Spent a whole Saturday running parts through it and they still came out greasy and dirty. Had to break out the old solvent brush and do it by hand anyway. Anyone else try one of these and just end up feeling ripped off?

3 comments

3 Comments

amygonzalez2mo ago

Oh man, my buddy fell for the same thing. He dropped like $350 on one for cleaning motorcycle carburetors and spent three hours watching it make bubbles while the gunk just sat there. He ended up ditching it in his garage and went back to using a spray can of carb cleaner like the rest of us.

stone.evan2mo ago

My buddy Steve bought one of those for cleaning his antique clock gears (dumb hobby, I know) and the thing just shook the parts around without touching the crust. He called it his $350 aquarium for dirty water. I told him at least my $40 Harbor Freight parts washer lets me get elbow grease involved (you know, the old fashioned way).

the_mason17d ago

...and lemme tell you, my cousin dropped like five hundred bucks on one of those things for cleaning his fishing reel parts. Said it was gonna change his life. I watched him run a full set of reels through it and they came out looking exactly the same. He called it a "hot water bubbler" after that. The worst part is he spent another weekend trying different solvents and fancy solutions thinking he just wasn't using the right stuff. Nope. Still just a noisy bucket that makes everything wet.