I am always ask to repair weed eaters and such that have tiny carburetors that are hard to clean.A local shop told me that they use a Ultrasonic cleaner to clean a carb before rebuild.He told me that over 90 % of the carbs they do with this device work right the first time..
Since this is something I do alot of,I am thinking of getting 1 of these units.
I am thinking it would be great for the old model T carburetors as well.I haven't drilled out 1 and really done it right yet although I got the pictures last year of what to drill out and such.But I am thinking this would improve my chances of a good carb job rather it be my T's or my side work.
These things vibrate the cleaning liquid with sound waves and heat it as well.
This is similar to what he has.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/10L-Ultrasonic-Cleaner-240W-UC-500W-Heater-Industrial-Pa rts-Carb-Carburetor-/261404037053?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cdce50fbd
Any input from you all? From what I understand something Simple green 50/50 with distilled water works great on carbs.
If you are going to get one, get a good one not the HF type. I was going to try cleaning points and got the low priced HF cleaner. The run cycle was not long enough to even start doing anything.
They probably will work well on those small carbs,but I don't see them working on the passages in an NH.
Ok while we are talking about cleaning. I want to put my cylinder block in a electrolysis tank. Will it damage the babbitt? Thanks, Scott
I have a little Lyman from the sporting goods store that I use all the time. They have them for cleaning brass for reloading. It works great. I have a big expensive one made in USA that I have never been able to get anything clean in. Bought a $100 five gallon bucket of special goop. Didn't help. Heats up and buzzes but doesn't clean as well as the little cheap Chinese one.
As far as cleaning passages, if you run it through a couple cycles and the blow the passages you should be fine. You still have to blow them out is what I find.
I just get a gallon can of Berryman carb cleaner from O'Reilly Auto parts, and put it on the woodstove or stove on low heat for a few hours. Then rise off with clean water, and blow out good with compressed air. I have a vibratory brass cleaner as well, but I wouldn't put a carb in there. The media has to move freely to clean and I really doubt it can move in the small air and fuel passages to do any good.
I'm not impressed with results I get using an ultrasonic on motorcycle carbs. For parts that have a light film of oil/dirt, no issues. For parts with many years of crusty crud, no good. Mind you I'm using an industrial ultrasonic cleaner we have here at work.
I prefer dipping them in Berrymans then use a borescope to check passages.
Well, this morning I got a call and had 3 engines come in with carb problems. Gunk carb clean in a gallon can is what I have handy and I soaked all 3 carbs in it 1 at the time.2 came out ok,but the techumseh hm100 carb,nope no run right.
It is the 3rd of that type in the past 3 months I have done everything but hit with a hammer and it will not run without partial choke.
So I have test subjects.
I have a ultrasonic cleaner here but it is not complete. A neighbor worked for a company that makes dental equipment and it was something he picked up that was never finished for whatever reason.I hope to fiqure out how to hook it up and give it a shot before dumping money in a new 1..
I ask about this here because alot of folks here do the same type work I do and I can get useable feedback.
Mack, check out this thread:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=239790&highlight=ultrasonic
Well, Ok, I had another couple weed eaters come in and was against the wall on 1 of them.
Wouldn't run after soaking the carb.
I had wanted to wait and get 1 that was 299 on ebay with 17 bucks shipping. But my sales this week on ebay only netted about 80 bucks.
Harbor freight had their biggest 1 for 77 bucks.
I got the 2 year warranty to. Because I figured if it worked at all, I would wear that puppy out in 2 years.
Well, I did my research first and sure enough the 1's on ebay for 82 dollars are the same unit I got with different name on it. There is 1 I read about on the net sold by a reloading supply company for about twice the price that is the same unit. Most all the reviews were good on the unit.
Well,I have not cleaned a T carb Yet. But I will be later in the week.
What I have done proves the idea is viable and I will be investing in a larger better quality 1 when budget allows.
This unit's time cycle is just to short. I use 3 8 minutes cycles to clean a weed eater carb and rotate it in the vat each time I switch it back on. THe basket is lacking handles,very annoying.
But what it does to the carbs, amazing.
I literally got a weed eater out of my junk pile that I gave up on 2 years ago and had it running in a hour.And all I did was take the carb apart,and run it thru the machine 3 times.
I did another that was not running well. Fixed.
I use distilled water and a heavy degreaser from a local cleaning supply called Grime cutter for the cleaning liquid.
This unit only has 1 transducer and a timer that only goes for a max of 8 minutes. The heater works well.
I will do a T carb later in the week and report back. But If you do any carb work you might want to research this topic. Follow Marks advice if you can and get a good 1.
This is the unit I got since I am on a tight budget.
http://www.harborfreight.com/25-liter-ultrasonic-cleaner-95563.html#pr-header-ba ck-to-top-link
Good thing you got a warranty with it. That is the same one Lyman sells. Best I got out of mine was three days running it 4-5 hours a day or less. You might want to look at the carb cleaning thread at what my experience with them is.
Go to the gun store and get some Lyman brass cleaner goop. $15 for the small bottle, $25 for one twice that size. That and a little soap will do wonders.
This one:
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/411944/436328.html?1396826582
Thanks stan
I stand corrected. I just looked at the box the last one came in and it is an RCBS. It's lasted a couple weeks now running hours and hours a day. I've been working in the shop a lot trying to get caught up a little before warm weather gets here, probably ran it 5 hours steady today. I have the steel goop in it and the brass goop in the big one. Did three carbs in them today, one big nasty OC-2 that is all brass except for one or two small steel parts.
Well just a update for the curious. I had to take this 1 back. For whatever reason, it started leaking. even with the liquid 1 inch below the fill line. Musta cracked or something.
They honored the warranty and all was took care of without hassle.
So now this 1 is warranted till 2016
Oh, forgot to say, I have probably done 40 or more small carbs in it so far.
Will a Holley 4 barrel fit inside?
I bet a Kingston four ball will.
Royce, a Holley Double pumper will fit in my bigger one. You have to use different goop for the pot metal than for brass or aluminum. It darkens the pot metal instead of brightening. I haven't figured out what the right goop for it is yet. It will clean it inside and out, tho. All those little passages come clean or at least clean enuf to blow out with air.
I bought an extra engine and some parts for my 54 Willys Jeep pickup, had a Carter YF carb with it, nice but needed to be cleaned. About 20 minutes in the big one, a kit and it runs like new. Did discolor the pot metal to the point where I had to take the wire wheel to it to shine it up. Must need different goop.
My small one is still working fine, I saved the box and the receipt that I made them write "In store exchange warranty" on. It will quit the day after the 1 year warranty runs out probably. If it does, I got my $100 worth out of it. It runs hours and hours most days I'm in the shop. Has worked great so far tho, much better than the other one I had. I still bead blast pretty much everything before I put it in the goop. Makes the goop last a lot longer.
My big one currently has a mixture of the commercial goop, half a can of carb cleaner, a cup or two of lacquer thinner, a gallon of Stoddard solvent, some oil cutter type of liquid soap and half a cup of coffee because everybody says my coffee would take the paint off a Peterbuilt bumper, figured it would help take the shellac out of the passages in a carb.
It will heat to 140 degrees, stinks so bad even cold I had to move it outside, can't hardly stand to walk by it in the yard when it's hot, will peel the rust and paint off head bolts in about five minutes and every bird in the yard flys away when I turn it on. A brass carb in it will clean up fairly good in about 20 minutes, a little bead blast and a dip in the little one with the Quick Shine for goop and it is good to go back together.
No Royce, I am still figuring on upgrading to a bigger 1 later as I need to do the 4 barrel on 1 of my cars.
I am gearing up to buy a CREST heated larger one, but they are not cheap.