Ultrasonic cleaner

Rings and earrings come out well too

What do you use as solution? I have tried plain water and water with a dash of washing up liquid in my ?Maplin one and always been a bit disappointed. I can see that it is creating bubbles (I am familiar with industrial ones) bui it does not remove dirt or corosion as well as I expected.

You have to use a surfacant (detergent such as washing up liquid), or the microscopic bubbles don't collapse fast enough to work. I don't think it should create bubbles you can see - they're much too small and the whole point is they collapse.

I'm currently using a bottle that was sold for use with it, but by all accounts I've read, it's not critical and washing up liquid works fine.

This is the Ultra 7000 - the small one sold my Maplin.

I bought mine, again an Ultra 7000 for the sole purpose of re-invigorating reluctant out-of-date, but original HP printer cartridges* bought off of eBay. Same as with computers and printers, since the early days of computer fairs, I've never bought anything new, and off the shelf, from proper shops.

After a couple of sessions at the maximum time setting in warm water (to start off with anyway) even the most reluctant cartridges eventually work o.k. Which is a lot less trouble than wasting countless ml's of ink doing endless cleaning cycles on the printer itself.

michael adams

...

• Pre-chip HP 45, and 78 carts.

It works by cavitation.

Now that is a good idea/use for them. I wonder what effect would be had on printed circuits?

I wonder if you could remove the fixed print nozzles and give them a do?

If I stuck a piece of mild steel that had been brazed and turned black in a forge in a ultrasonic cleaner, would it come out shiny? The forge is a gas/air mix.

I clean our specs in ours, although some claim it removes the coating. OTOH, apparently some coatings just wear too fast anyway!

Also earrings, jewellery chains, etc.

electric toothbrush heads, if you use them.

pop all the keycaps off the computer keyboard

record player stylus, if you use one

all the audio and mains plugs on the hi fi system working back to the main cutout fuseholder

note the comments about pearls and turqoise, and not to put anything in the tub itself as it will wear the tub out.

Owain

A tiny amount of argon in water.

Always fancied a sonoluminescence kit.

Yes, the instructions say to check with your optician that the coatings are suitable for ultrasononic cleaning. Also warns that some plastic frames are too porous and can be damaged.

I don't possess a single piece of jewellery - it's just not me!

I did on one (relatively old) set of mine, I don't recall any noticeable defects in the coating before starting to use the US cleaner, and I didn't just chuck them in and leave the lenses bouncing on the bottom of the 'bowl'.

That's interesting. I often have the same problem with HP78 (and 23) cartridges - usually with the yellow refusing to flow - but the black

I have fixed a few blocked print heads at repair parties by holding an IPA soaked pad against them for a minute or two, and then trying to absorb the IPA back out of the heads onto a clean dry paper towel. Sometimes needs a couple of goes. (You want to use disposable plastic gloves - it's very messy.)

Swiss army knife.

What a good idea. I'll try all of mine!

What fluid do they use these days. They used to use CFCs and were hence banned. If you are doing other jewellery, watch out as if the setting is very old stones have been known to come adrift in these things.

As for suggestions of what to clean, steer clear of anything with printing on it as it will miraculously vanish.

Brian

What about IPA? Brian

Don't forget the WD40 afterwards :-)