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I’ve found that the large metallic ones are useful for bike parts. Depending on the shape of the bowl, 3-5 litres is about the smallest you might want for cleaning chainrings and cassettes.
As an add-on to the above, if I put a container with liquid to float in an ultrasonic cleaner, will the cavitation effect still happen inside the container? If so, will it happen above the cleaner’s water line? And if so, could one put a chainring in a plastic bag with cleaning liquid, submerge it partially (vertically) in the cleaner, and expect it to clean more than the submerged bit?
Muc-ed-off-
I've not tried a floating container, but a kilner type jar standing in the water / sitting on the bottom of the bowl has worked for me - most cleaners carry warnings against using flammable liquids, but a lidded jar prevents the vapour escaping in a potentially explosive way. This was admittedly for carburetor parts, so you'd need a bigger jar for a chainring.
I would guess that a flexible bag above the waterline would allow too much energy to escape for cleaning to happen?
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OK, thats deffo bigger than I was hoping.
@JurekB Ive read they can be quite underwhelming or at least over anticapated to be amazing wonder cleaners but I'm still quite interested.I really just want to know that my bike, and subsequent bikes and bits I am going to end up with, are clean af like new, better maybe. Obviously its the lubrication and maintenace after a clean that matters but yeah.
Its not really needed, don't race or own a shop or owt but really I have never had a super clean or new bike ever cos I always build off eBay. -
3-5 litres is about the smallest you might want for cleaning chainrings
Actually, the smallest capacity I could find which had enough internal dimension to fully sink a 53T chainring (222mm OD) is a 32 litre model costing nearly €2000
if I put a container with liquid to float in an ultrasonic cleaner, will the cavitation effect still happen inside the container?
Transmission of the vibration depends on the container material. Low hysteresis is good, so metal and glass work OK. The smaller the difference in acoustic impedance between the liquid and the container material, the better the coupling efficiency. Polythene might work quite well, the coupling is good and the very thin layer should minimise the....TL;DR, just fucking googled it and people offer polythene bags specifically for ultrasonic cleaning, so yes, polythene bags work, but I wouldn't expect much effect above the fluid level in the primary bath.
MrE
.mo.
gbj_tester
a truer statement was never uttered.
anyone have experience with ultrasonic cleaners, I'd like one large enough to clean chainrings etc. Amazon have a variety of prices, litres etc.