Tons of research already done on Youtube. The heated units seem to be the better working ones and Simple Green seems to be safe for anything you can soak in liquid. I watched a lot of them, watchers choice.

I have a small one from harbor freight and a large one from ebay. Both are heated. Once you get one you won't know why you didn't get one earlier - I put EVERYTHING in them, even screws before I tumble them. I just use a bit of mean green and water and they run for 3 - 4 minutes - presto! done!

Scott

I have the Chicago tool one from HF. Does it heat the mix or just help in keep it hot. I can't tell if mine actually works or not. Any info appreciated.

I use the small harbor freight one and have liked it a lot.

mine gets it quite hot...

i clean everything that will fit in it (other than hot stamped stuff) in a half and half mix of mean green and water... then tumble the stuff that needs to be tumbled...

It heats it, just takes a while. But if I let it run for the full cycle, my HF gets so hot I can't reach in and get the pieces out for a while.

Here is my big mamma..

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mine must not be working right then. Time for a return.

yup... after a few cycles, mine gets hot enough that i have to use a slotted spoon to retrieve the parts,otherwise i'll burn my hands...

@weirpinball... ooooooo... serious tool envy here...

i do, as long as they are not hot-stamped (as noted, mean green took the ink off a set of bumper bodies)... it doesn't so hot that it would melt plastics... i put pf posts, rollover guides, plastic parts from mechanisms, etc. through mine...

"what you can put in" is really a question of what solvent you are using, not the cleaner itself...

I always put all the star posts, etc in - they look like new when done.

a lot of the times, just getting the grunge off in the cleaner results in a nice shiny surface... i just ran some really grungy metal parts from a 1967 machine through the cleaner, and a goodly portion of them came out looking brand new...

and whatever you have left that still needs to be tumbled will take considerably less time, because the cleaner has already done the lion's share of the job...

ot... the 4 square is still going strong...

yea, it's worth it... plus you can use it for many other things around the house...

i use the heat... i run it through as many cycles as it takes... most times, once is plenty, but for really nasty stuff (caked on grease/dirt mixtures, etc.), it can take a few times...

i look at it this way... the cleaner is for "cleaning"... the tumbler is for "polishing"...

fwiw, i also "pre-treat" stuff before putting it in by spraying it with mean green and rinsing it with water (be careful with screws!)... that will take most of the surface stuff off and make your cleaning solution last a little longer (although i change mine often anyway)...

next time you are driving down the turnpike, stop by and play... it has a few friends now as well...

my ultrasonic is one of my best pinball tools!!!

ccotenj has a similar process to what I have used.

Pretreat with mean green for anything grummy. Drop in ultrasonicator for a cycle or 2, tumble anything that needs polishing, use air compressor to blow out anything electronic or boards and leave to dry for a bit before reinstall. Also love my buffing wheel for bigger parts that I want shiny.

I like mean green/water mixture with a few drops of dawn dish soap. Works like a champ.

Swapped mine out yesterday, heater is working like a champ. Thanks again for the suggestion to get one. Game changer.

You know my answer. I even throw coils in mine and then wrap with be wrappers. Feel free to stop by sometime and ask all the questions you want and throw a few games up on Metallica.

-Jim

You guys pretty much have me convinced on this! I just spent 2 days tumbling under-playfield fasteners. Thinking that I could have cleaned them in just a few ultrasonic cycles and a bit of finish tumbling is a game changed for my relationship with the family!

I'm cleaning everything I can in it, I run a tumbler to polish stuff as well but most stuff just needs a good cleaning.

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I personay use distilled water and simple green. For coils I blow them with compressed air and give them an alcohol bath.

Anything I want polished will go in the tumbler after cleaning in the ultrasonic cleaner.

I do when I can't see the parts in the solution anymore.

^^^

this is what i do... depends on the grunge level on the parts that go in..

i never thought to do coils in it...

I hear mention of mean green and simple green. I looked up simple green on amazon, and I see MANY different solutions available. Can anyone make sense of this?

thanks!
-mof

"mean green" and "simple green" are 2 different products... i use mean green for this stuff, although i use simple green for other stuff around the house...

aintcha glad we talked you into it?

Yep, same one I have. Does yours heat properly. My first one didn't hear at all.
Ultrasonic cleaning is like crack.

I think I may jump on this wagon after seeing Gecko's pics. Was that just the ultrasonic cleaner?

I bought the same one two days ago. Looking forward to giving it a try after seeing your results.

I've had an Ultrasonic for awhile and had decent results, especially with stuff like star posts. I wasn't using nearly a half and half mixture but I tried today (Mean Green) and the results were fantastic. I think the tumbler may be sitting out this restoration. I typically buff the screw heads anyway. I'll definitely be picking less walnuts out of holes this time around if any. Great thread.