Bransonic 12 Ultrasonic Cleaner
The Bransonic 12 is an ultrasonic cleaner with a 1.2-liter capacity. It is useful for cleaning small parts without supervision; it can clean parts that are tedious or difficult to clean by hand, or just save labor.
Use
Clean any particularly nasty or big gunk off your part. No point in making the ultrasonic cleaner work hard to dissolve something that you can wipe off with a paper towel, brush, or fingertip.
Make sure your part will not be touching the bottom of the tank. This will eventually wear holes in the tank. A homemade wire-mesh basket is with the cleaner and can hold most parts. For other parts, suspend them on a wire, or put them in a wire mesh bag that the basket can hold.
Use a water-based cleaner. For most cleaning and degreasing, diluted Simple Green is a good choice.
- DO NOT use flammable cleaners (such as alcohol or acetone); they will be aerosolized into a flammable mist!
- DO NOT use mineral acids or chlorine solutions (such as bleach); they will chemically dissolve the tank!
Submerge your part in the bath. Make sure there are no air bubbles trapped in your part; they will block cleaning action.
Make sure the ultrasonic cleaner is in a safe and level spot, plug it in, and turn it on. The power switch is on the left side, bottom-front corner.
DO NOT put your hand into the tank while the ultrasonic cleaner is running; this can cause skin irritation.
If possible, let the ultrasonic cleaner run with the lid on. (Note: the new, homemade basket makes this impractical. Somebody needs to trim the excess wire off the corners of the basket, and maybe make a rubber or cork gasket for the lid.) This lowers sound levels enough to be safe for continuous exposure. If this is not possible, then make sure that either the ultrasonic cleaner is isolated from people, or that you and other nearby people have hearing protection. Remember, most of the sound ultrasonic (around 40 kHz), so you can't hear it!
Check your part every 5-15 minutes. If your part isn't clean after an hour, consider a using a different cleaner in the bath, or a different tool for cleaning your part.
Due to reflections of the sound waves, not all surfaces of your part may be cleaned equally well. Rotate the part periodically to ensure even coverage.
If you wish to pour out the cleaning solution, make sure the unit is unplugged. (This needs to be done periodically as the cleaner gets contaminated with all the crud it's dissolved off of parts.)
When done using the ultrasonic cleaner, replace the lid to keep the tank clean.
