I bought the little guy from HF. It is junk...

I bought the big HF one. I'm OK with it, but since I never had a big one (ultrasonic cleaner, that is), I really don't know if I would like a big one better.

I use 100% Mean Green as my solution. If/when some evaporates, I add a bit more water or Mean Green, if I'm feeling froggy.

Mine is a Kendal #HB-S-49DHT. It holds most anything I need to clean, even the harnesses from the cabinet. It isn't quite big enough for the playfield harnesses though.

I have a quite small one, which costed 150 EUR. I have never seen it clean anything - I just does not work with any solvent I have tried it with (vinegar etc.). I guess I should upgrade, but I am weary on this - I would like to receive a reasonable cost machine that really does the job right. This is a good thread, keep the suggestions coming!

you likely aren't using the right solution(s) in it then...

ultrasonic cleaners "clean"... tumblers "polish"... 2 different tools (although some use tumblers for cleaning, it really isn't the correct tool for the job)...

Just found someone local selling the $89 Harbour Freight model for $35. It was only used once and I picked it up. Haven't tried it yet but excited to give it a go. I didn't mind risking $35 to test out this way of cleaning.

http://www.harborfreight.com/25-liter-ultrasonic-cleaner-95563.html

Recommend a solution please. I use vinegar distilled water and grease lightning and it does absolutely nothing...

Half Mean Green and half water works well even in my cheapo $25 ultrasonic cleaner from Amazon.

I'd love to see what some of the cleaners discussed in this thread can do.

It depends also what you are cleaning.

One big reason I recommend a glass jar method. (also less cleaner/cost used)
You can have small parts in a baby food jar, or 3 jars of 3 different cleaners with water around in the tank.
Heated liquid helps a great deal.

Please do where you have 100% ventilation.

We have used everything from diluted lye, insanely caustic, **DANGER* DO NOT DO**, with rubber gloves, masks, and a ventilation system, to soap and water.
So everything works, but before their is a debate on whats best, it depends on what you are putting in, and what you are trying to take off... think stains on the carpet.

Just remember that some solutions will damage certain parts, and some "dirt" can scratch pieces, after being cleaned and then vibrating in a solution.

Clean solution is important if chrome finished, high polished, or plastic to avoid scratches...

So wait you can put cleaner and parts in a jar then put that into the tank with just water in it? That would help greatly with changing the fluids that seem to do nothing for me... I really wanted this to work. The tumbler is awesome, ultrasonic is not. If I do jars I can heat them in the microwave before. Maybe that is the trick.

I use half water and half Purple Power. I heat the water to about 160 degrees. I run everything for 10 minutes. Cleans like a charge.

A word of warning, be very careful when cleaning plastics in an ultra. Depending on your specific solution and plastic, you can easily strip the art.

It, of course depends on the ultrasonic. The smallest "Jewelry" types, are not so strong to expect great results alone or with a glass jar. Larger ones yes. You fill the tank with water to the right level, and different jars of different solutions can go in next, try to keep them from chattering...(again, level surface, quality of ultrasonic)
Heated, and ventilated. ( I wouldnt recommend heating the cleaner in a microwave, but you can heat the tank water, and mix hot water in your solution)

Remember this is a glorified toothbrush in many cases. It doesnt replace tumbling, but is often used after polishing of metals. and general dirt/grime removal help.

They are tremendously helpful, but sometimes peoples expectations, without experience, can be let down.

200% Right....Please dont put plastics with artwork on them in an ultrasonic.

+1. Found this one out the wrong way this morning. Solution was mixture of water, purple power and dawn dish soap. I was only going to run it for a 480 second cycle but got interrupted by my 7 month old waking up from a nap screaming. went back down about 30 minutes later and pulled stuff out of the ultra and a bunch of the paint was stripped off my plastics. My heart sank as this was on a game where plastics aren't easy to come by. I've run printed plastics in the past with Simple Green/water/dawn and haven't had a problem but this is the first and last time with Purple power. Luckily I found some replacement plastics on Ebay but from now on I'm not even going to chance putting printed plastics in the ultrasonic!

I wouldn't trust running plastics threw the ultrasound. They get cleaned by hand.

I have put plastics in my ultrasonicator, but only do so with water and a small amount of dawn and simple green or windex. However, always spot check first and use a hidden or junk plastic if you are going to risk it.

By hand is always safest, but I know some will still use the sonicator.

Please clarify... compared to a brush and soapy water it's far more efficient, getting inside joints and crevices a brush or rag cannot. I did an entire playfield with the little guy and everything went from black and greasy to like-new with no more effort than throwing in parts and dumping them onto a towel to dry.

Just stripped a playfield down and used the HF large size ultrasonic.
Gotta say I am very impressed. Never used one of these before.
Just used some Mean Green and hot water as the cleaner.
First batch was some metal ball guides and gates. They came out very shiny and clean.
Second batch was all the playfield screws. They now look like new from the store.
Third I did the entire ball eject assembly minus the coil and the trough parts. Simply amazing.
Wonder how I ever did without one of these little devils.

Nice tip on the glass containers Art, do you find it decreases penetration of the sound waves when you use thick glass?

Also, any feedback on other solutions? I've been experimenting with a mix of 50/50 isopropyl and distilled water in my 27L because I like the evaporation properties and the lack of residue. Ammonia sounds interesting. I tried bleach in one of my smaller units which kicks butt but is pretty caustic of course.

Where did you pick thatone up from and how much coin did you need to drop?

That is the #1 upgrade I would liek to have!

Sorry...1 month old. It only decreases, if it is a low end unit, to the point of not worth doing.
In a larger unit, like the one pictured, We would run 3 or 4 jars at once, each with a different solution,
all resting off the bottom on plastic in a regular water solution, heated of course...Hot water helps a lot.
From the jewelry industry, we also use magnetic tumblers...I havent tried that for pinball parts, and industrial focused
high pressure steamers...I blast out anything left in threads, nooks, and difficult areas

NICE!

Please report back with any pros/cons or issues. Please let us know if you later wish you had gone 1 size bigger.

I bought this unit Tuesday on EBay. It shipped Wednesday & arrived Thursday. Total class act professional seller. Double boxed with superb packing. Ships out of NY so I was in the UPS one day range.

370.00 free ship for the 12L version. This will hold a complete harness and large metal playfield parts.
The small sonic HF version is about 70.00 with coupon now. Great value but limited space. Won't work for bigger stuff plus takes time to do multiple loads. I used the HF for about a year and realized it was time for more capacity.

sonic.jpg

what size is yours skypilot? just want to make sure I know.

Also, will full flipper brackets fit in it?

correction: I think this is right but seller may adjust prices often to inventory.

The KENDAL SONIC CLEANERS are sold on ebay user name: the_shining_image. Sold on Amazon under the seller name: New Shining Image. Ebay is a better deal. Amazon charges bigger seller fees but some like the a-z protection.
12L is 370.00 on ebay vs Amazon 480.00 shipped (will fit most wire harness)
9L is 279.00 on ebay vs Amazon 350.00 shipped (will fit some wire harness)
6L is 184.00 on ebay vs Amazon 294.00 shipped (maybe 6 flipper sets)
3L is 136.00 on ebay vs Amazon 171.00 shipped (Fits about 2 or 3 complete flipper sets)
2.5L is 79.00 at HF with 20%coupon vs 90.00 on Amazon & Ebay. (Fits about 2 or 3 complete flipper sets)
The best thing to do is go to website for usable basket dimensions and make a cardboard box to match. This will allow you to place stuff in it for useable size.

Cool video on how to test your sonic cleaner:

Sorry, I just bought mine yesterday. After all the research I thought I should save others the effort. It's all good, they pay for themselves over time. You can't go wrong!

I did end up buying a Kendal 27L unit. Pretty nice, full wire harness just fits in it.

CF, where did you end up purchasing from? How does that unit compare to others you have used in the past?

Amazon Prime, it seems to be equal to the smaller $89 Ultra unit as far as cleaning quality, I did a little different cleaning formula since its so much, 3/4th gallonsimple green and ~4oz~Ultra Dawn dish soap then hot water from my kitchen sink. Wire harness looks freaking new.

I can't really add anything new to this thread but I will relay my personal experience. The HF Ultrasonic works great for me with 50/50 Purple Power and water. After anywhere from 10-20 batches or whenever the solution starts to get dark and there is black crud settled in the bottom, then I dump it out, rinse clean and start a new batch of solution. It works wonders on star posts, hardware, flipper bats, metal and plastic ball guides, etc. I always turn the heat on for 5-10 minutes before running the first batch and always use the 480 sec. cycle, sometimes twice for very dirty parts. I have never put plastics with screened artwork on them. I just use glass cleaner and a shop towel for those.

Awesome, thanks! That's the one I may pick up.

Any one have before and after pictures of parts they cleaned. I have a large tumbler. Seems to take forever to get the parts clean. What other advantages does a ultrasonic cleaner have over the walnuts shells in a tumbler besides time and clean up?

I love the 2.5 L Harbor Freight unit. Nothing cleans off nooks and crannies like this thing. I use heated water and Mean Green. It doesn't completely replace a tumbler though. I still use both, although in an average restore, I run a lot more parts through the ultra sonic than I do the tumbler.

You posted as I was posting! Tumblers and ultrasonic cleaners do different jobs. There may be some overlap, but not a lot. Visible playfield metal parts and gates that need to be polished go in the tumbler. Anything that just needs to be cleaned or is plastic without artwork on it goes in the ultrasonic. So parts like plastic star posts with all the ridges go in the ultrasonic. Some people like to polish everything, but I don't. To me the things like underplayfield screws, plungers, brackets, springs, etc don't need to be polished. I run them through the ultrasonic to get all the dirt and black powder off before reassembling (with new coil sleeves). I do hand wax plungers when they are clean and dry.

I bought cheap strainers in different sizes and use them in the ultrasonic to keep the parts divided. When the cycle is over, I just grab the strainer handle and rinse the parts under water and put them on a towel to dry. Keep some cheap gloves around when using it a lot or the Mean Green will have your hands dry as a desert.

81lDcCaLQAL._SL1500_.jpg

I use the ultrasonic *before* I tumble. Clean parts tumble in about half the time, and the media lasts longer.

Yeah, tumbler media isn't super expensive, but Flitz is, and I've got the ultrasonic, so I might as well use it

I have wondered if Coils and diodes were safe in an Ultrasonic.
Guess they are.

I bought the 12l unit Tuesday on EBay. It shipped Wednesday & arrived Thursday. Total class act professional seller. Double boxed with superb packing. Ships out of NY so I was in the UPS one day range.

The KENDAL LINE
The KENDAL SONIC CLEANERS are sold on ebay user name: the_shining_image.
Sold on Amazon under the seller name: New Shining Image.
Ebay is a better deal. Amazon charges bigger seller fees but some like the a-z protection.

27L is 599.00 on ebay vs Amazon 721.00 shipped (will fit most wire harness)
21L is 530.00 on ebay vs Amazon 583.00 shipped (will fit most wire harness)
12L is 370.00 on ebay vs Amazon 480.00 shipped (will fit most wire harness)
9L is 279.00 on ebay vs Amazon 350.00 shipped (will fit some wire harness)
6L is 184.00 on ebay vs Amazon 294.00 shipped (maybe 6 flipper sets)
3L is 136.00 on ebay vs Amazon 171.00 shipped (Fits about 2 or 3 complete flipper sets)
2.5L is 79.00 at HF with 20%coupon vs 90.00 on Amazon & Ebay. (Fits about 2 or 3 complete flipper sets)

AMCLEAN.jpg

Works perfect for all the wax & grime in plastic posts

asc.jpg

http://www.google.com/shopping/product/2969298979447576995?lsf=seller:8740,store:7447989088862860456&hl=en&cm_mmc=shopping-_-googleads-_-pla-_-100047759&ci_sku=100047759&ci_gpa=pla&ci_src=17588969&gclid=Cj0KEQjwm6CgBRC0zOmrydrqmosBEiQA_xoLRvGx8ebxXSI44_y7i1Ru2tTJA3zyx0rujF7DN_MaU5IaAoUr8P8HAQ

cleans but is a strong base and does discolor.

Keith is it worth having one over the spray and brush method . Also do your playfield harnesses fit or do I need to go bigger ?