Cleaning your finds - Ultrasonic cleaners

[kleinman98]

Does anyone use ultrasonic cleaners and are they efficient.

Any additives we can use in them?

 

[the duck]

Use nifty in them, works well, only nifty though, 50 50 with water they are good for the removal of dirt and grime

 

[Pete_The_Prospector]

I use dishwashing liquid in mine but depends on what I'm cleaning. In mine, warm to hot water works far better then cold.

 

[gcause]

I bought mine from Aldi they have them on special every year. I use jet dry (Finish) in them.

 

[kleinman98]

Thanks just ordered mine on ebay. Need it for my printheads as well so missus didnt even flinch.

 

[Goldpick]

Thanks just ordered mine on ebay. Need it for my printheads as well so missus didnt even flinch.

Just tell her it's good for cleaning her jewelery, that might rack up some browny points.

 

[deepblue]

Rusty Ban from chemists shops is the best cleaner around use diluted with water, other wise try mag wheel cleaner alibrite removes ironstone and quartz leave in solution until nuggets are clean.

 

[Roscoe]

I have a very powerful ultra sonic cleaner we clean complete carbies in them at work, I have tried lots of different chemicals in them to clean coins. I am not real impressed with the cleaning of coins with the ultra sonic cleaner. Yeh, it removes dirt etc, but it can make a mess of old coins too. One chemical combo on say goldies is no good for clad etc. etc. The best results i have seen is with a rotary tumbler or vibratory tumbler. The best i have seen on another forum was with a rotary tumbler using stainless steel shot. Another use for the rotary tumbler is polishing stones etc...roscoe

 

[authere]

Hi All,

First post!!!,I've been thru the process of using the ultrasonic cleaner and putting different mediums in it to clean our gold, they are very convenient but...since I got hold of some decent Ali-bright(they are not all equal) we have found that is all that is req'd to clean up our gold.

It will remove ironstone and quartz if left long enough, or at least loosen it up enough to remove with a pin, it will even dissolve species if left long enough and a bit of help along the way

I payed $20 for a litre from a place that does professional car cleaning and it was a distinct yellow in colour, the good part about it is that it can be used time and time again

What we do is to put all the used Ali-bright into a glass jar and let it settle and it will go clear again with the dirt-scum sitting on the bottom and then we can re-use it

We have cleaned over 40oz's with it and still have half the litre bottle left

So....., no more ultrasonic cleaning for us

Ron

 

[Marked]

link to product mentioned above: http://www.septone.com.au/detail.asp?item_number=394 - this is an acid based cleaner.

wouldn't mind seeing the active ingredients listed on the label...

Edit: just looked at the MSDS for this - active ingredients (although small percentages) are Sulphuric acid and Hydrofluoric acid...the latter is particularly nasty at concentration, so please be careful when using; i.e. full gloves, eye protection, etc. would be well advised.

 

[kleinman98]

So this Alibrite wont hurt gold at all if left for extended times?

 

[Peko]

Won't do any damage to your gold.

What is wrong with using a toothbrush to clean your nuggets, much cheaper than buying an ultrasonic cleaner.

 

[kleinman98]

I will use it for my printer heads so kill two birds with one stone

 

[authere]

Hi All,

Ali-King yellow is the product i'm using

Ron

 

[Sarn]

I have a small jewelry one that I purchased from a garage sale for $15 (as new, was only used once. . It did the job cleaning some modern coins that had been buried for quite some time, cleaned the crap off nicely but there were divots left in some of the coins - I'm guessing thats because they had degraded naturally and once the crap was removed the wear was noticeable.

I wouldn't use on older coins/ relics but for more modern stuff I don't see why not.

 

[deepblue]

Alibrite is great for gold but I wouldn't use it on anything else certainly not on coins. As any coin collector or dealer will tell you the minute that you clean a coin the value as down, even an ultra sonic bath will alter the surface of the coin. Alibrite could be purchased from Super Cheap in the past. Wayne

 

[Marked]

Hi All,

Ali-King yellow is the product i'm using

Ron

Hydrochloric, Hydrofluoric (very small percentage) and Phosphoric acids in that one - so definitely not for coins...

The only acid that will affect gold itself is a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids...and this mixture has a half-life of about 24 hours (I used to have reason to play with all sorts of good stuff for work) so any of the commercial (retail) acidic cleaners should be good to do a job on your gold for you. If you follow the safety guidelines on the label.