Lidl Ultrasonic Cleaner

[David]

Looks as though it was in stores this Sunday.

Any one tried it?

Any good?

Cheers

Dave R

[Andy Burns]

Can't remember if mine was from aldi or lidl, had it a few years, if using for glasses be on the lookout for any anti-reflective coatings starting to flake off :-(

[Harry Bloomfield]

Same here and it works well.

[Brian Gaff]

Was this the cleaning bath type? Its often used for jewellery, but beware, I once put a pcb into one of these things and it cleand all the board decals and component markings off. Brian

[Broadback]

That reminds me, years ago when I worked for ICL there were problems with the gold contacts on some of the PCBs. We were advised by the American company who supplied them to clean them with Pepsodent toothpaste. A few months later there was an urgent communications saying do not use Pepsodent as it removed the gold. Well why wonder where the yellow went! I guess you need to be of a certain age to remember the adverts and appreciate the irony!

[dennis]

AR coatings wont flake off unless they were faulty.

[charles]

if it removed the gold - what did it do to tooth enamel?

[Andy Burns]

Well the glasses were several (7?) years old when I started using the US cleaner, the optician didn't foresee any issue using it, but after a few months it did start to flake off ...

[cl]

Toothpaste is abrasive, that's how it works. Anyway tooth enamel is a whole lot harder than gold.

[Roger Mills]

Sadly, I'm old enough!

[Roger Mills]

It looks extremely similar to the one which Maplin sell for twice the price, even when on 'special'. I've got the Maplin one, and it's ok for cleaning small items of jewellery, but not wonderful. For example, if you use it on slightly tarnished coins, they come out cleaner but no less tarnished.

[Bob Eager]

I think that was the first advert I ever saw on TV...

[Dave Liquorice]

Well they are for removing stubborn dirt or engrained dirt in tiny nooks and crannies. Tarnish is the base matrial oxidised or WHY not dirt.

Mine worked well cleaning the hub gears from the lawn mowers drive chain.

[Bill]

In message , Rod Speed writes

I've used a small industrial US cleaner, Kerry from Hitchin, without any ill effects and my spec's have an anti glare coating. A lot depends on the cleaning fluid that is used. I just use warm, soapy, water. The advantage I find is that it cleans in the areas that cloths and brushes don't.

A KC2 at:-

[Another John]

For what, Harry? This is one of those Aldi items that I am tempted to buy, then I get it home [try and find a place to keep it] and THEN start wondering what I might use it for!

John

[Harry Bloomfield]

Rod Speed submitted this idea :

It gets the dirt out of the crevices and leaves the lenses clean. I don't have coated optics. I also use it for numerous other things too.

[Harry Bloomfield]

on 04/12/2014, Another John supposed :

I bought one with no particular use in mind, you find the uses after buying one. Glasses, jewelry, I drop my watertight watch in, because it titanium band gets gummed up with dirt. I swapped smoking for vaping, so my vaper goes in for a good clean out. Any small mechanical parts go in for a clean, maybe with a solvent.

It works well, anything really dirty issues a cloud of dirt, when I press the start button.

[David]

My finger prints can take AR coatings off glasses with no effort whatsoever.

Even had one pair re-coated (free) but the coating came off again.

[dennis]

I recommend buying them from somewhere else then. AR coatings are evaporated on layers of metal and/or silicon oxides, they don't come off easily if they have been put on correctly. They are normally tougher than the glass/plastic they are applied to.

I once accidentally got some waxoyl on my specs and it looked like the AR coating was coming off but it wasn't and after a lot of cleaning the waxoyl eventually came off leaving it all intact.

[meow2222]

I've cleaned an assortment of things ultrasonically. Results vary, great sometimes, not sometimes. There are also a fair number of objects that can be damaged by them - including waterproof watches. For most stuff I stick with a dishwasher.

NT