Ultrasonic Parts Cleaner - any recommendations?

ajkerr73

Mainly wanting it for chain cleaning but of i can get one that will fit a cassette (road), then that would be great.

Any good, not stupid money recommendations?

pblakeney

A cleaned takeaway container and degreaser.

First.Aspect

Yeah I wouldn't bother. An ultrasonic cleaner isn't going to turn muck off into an actual degreaser or anything like that.

ugo.santalucia

Why people are so obsessed about hyper cleaning? There is really no benefit in a pristine chain

MattFalle

I have one one that I'll send a piccie and link to in a bit - big enough to fit cassettes, mechs and a Glock in, but, tbh, clean every two weeks with a stiff brush and Jizer while its all on the bike followed by a good hose down is just as good if not better.

MattFalle

ugo.santalucia said:

Why people are so obsessed about hyper cleaning? There is really no benefit in a pristine chain

Because its smoother, better on wear, quieter, accepts new lube better and means your bike doesn't look like a bagofshit

ugo.santalucia

And what’s all this tech doing that an old rag doesn’t do, exactly?

MattFalle

Exactly as per all our posts.

But i'd suggest, much like most people, a stiff brush as a rag will just moveshit round to no avail, much like a conservative cabinet re-shuffle.

MattFalle

As an aside, I've also started using a small wire brush to get the cassette sparkly clean - 30 seconds on each cog and le voila!

In order to increase post count I'll post a picture of this in a bit.

ugo.santalucia

It must feel nice to have a clean cassette

MattFalle

It does. It also sounds nice. You should try it.

ugo.santalucia

Imagine when they find out that the black metal oxide drenched in lubricant oil is actually a better lubrication that all those magic waxes on the market… you will end up buying someone else’s dirt, after carefully cleaning away yours…

MattFalle

Errr. Yeah. Mega.

MattFalle

MattFalle

As promised. Breakfaat drink for approx size

super_davo

Q really is what do you use it for?

You can get a 600ml jewelry one for £20 which would do a chain, or a 3 litre one for £55 which look way more industrial (like yours) that could do cassettes, brakes and other parts etc.

But if all you ever use it for is chains then I would be tempted with the cheap one, plus a lot smaller to tuck away when not in use.

MattFalle

Chains, cassettes, brakes work stuff. Random stuff. Carbs.

Tbh, in this instance size doesn't matter. Its essentially the size of two shoe boxes, one on top of the other.

If you can't pop that on a shelf/in a corner then we need to look elsewhere.

photonic69

Do you need a bigger cleaner to clean the smaller cleaner you use to clean stuff?

masjer

photonic69 said:

Do you need a bigger cleaner to clean the smaller cleaner you use to clean stuff?

It's turtles all the way down.

MattFalle

photonic69 said:

Do you need a bigger cleaner to clean the smaller cleaner you use to clean stuff?

Like a Russian doll of cleaners?

#cleanerski

hpaul

Remove everything, degrease all. Replace it with wax. I've done with turbo, best thing I ever done. Chain used to pick up serious dust in garage, was a mess.

Then if you want to clean, it's warm water soap, dry with rag. Re apply. You do need to apply it more often, cleaning isn't essential as the wax comes off. I plan to do on my outside bike when I get time to clean it. May not work great if ride often in wet tho.

First.Aspect

hpaul said:

Remove everything, degrease all. Replace it with wax. I've done with turbo, best thing I ever done. Chain used to pick up serious dust in garage, was a mess.

Then if you want to clean, it's warm water soap, dry with rag. Re apply. You do need to apply it more often, cleaning isn't essential as the wax comes off. I plan to do on my outside bike when I get time to clean it. May not work great if ride often in wet tho.

Ypu don't ride a bike outside do you? That really increases chain wear.

katani

hpaul said:

Remove everything, degrease all. Replace it with wax. I've done with turbo, best thing I ever done. Chain used to pick up serious dust in garage, was a mess.

Then if you want to clean, it's warm water soap, dry with rag. Re apply. You do need to apply it more often, cleaning isn't essential as the wax comes off. I plan to do on my outside bike when I get time to clean it. May not work great if ride often in wet tho.

Here's some good info on wax based lubes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrO7TtJpcn0

I ride outdoor only and have been using Squirt for a couple years and in my experience the wax based lubes, when applied correctly, at least double the chain lifespan. I use a hair dryer to get the chain hot before the application and put it in the big chain ring and the biggest cog to have it at maximum tension as I find it allows the lube to penetrate into the space between the pin and the roller better.
The downside to wax based lubes is the driver train runs noisier.

hpaul

First.Aspect said:

hpaul said:

Remove everything, degrease all. Replace it with wax. I've done with turbo, best thing I ever done. Chain used to pick up serious dust in garage, was a mess.

Then if you want to clean, it's warm water soap, dry with rag. Re apply. You do need to apply it more often, cleaning isn't essential as the wax comes off. I plan to do on my outside bike when I get time to clean it. May not work great if ride often in wet tho.

Ypu don't ride a bike outside do you? That really increases chain wear.

I only use turbo in winter, I've heard it extends chain life. I use squirt(emulsion based with wax)

I've found it runs quieter and smoother on turbo, most importantly the cassette looks new. When I hear it getting noisy I reapply the nyt before I use.

My main reason for trying wax was the ease in cleaning. No toothbrushes etc, to tight to buy a chain cleaner. Recently found out two of best cyclist's about our way have started using it to. Good enough for me.

gethinceri

Unless they're shite riders but still the best about your way.

MattFalle

Are they the best road cyclists or best turbo cyclists?

#fastSundaychaingang

First.Aspect

Pretty sure that conventionally a lubricant is something that flows.

This comes up a lot. Far be it for me to suggest, but the sort of people who obsessively worry about chain wear and obsessively clean it are also, on the whole, more likely to use a solid lubricant that rubs really quickly and needs constant chain cleaing and reapplication. Because they clean the chain obsessively anyway, so an overly expensive lubricant that doesn’t work for very long is no great disadvantage disadvantage.

These people however erroneously conclude that the magic wax is what gives them good chain life and clean chains, rather than the constant cleaning.

MattFalle

So will lard work then? Lard is waxy.

First.Aspect

MattFalle said:

So will lard work then? Lard is waxy.

I think it would work about as well as ptfe or parrafin wax.

Not ideal if you store your bike indoors though.

MattFalle

The outdoors bikes are kept indoors until they go outside but the turbo bike - an indoor bike - is kept indoors and not outdoors.

ugo.santalucia

We used some vegetable oil at one point and that was fine too. Only downside, dogs quite like it, so if you stop at a cafe, you might have the odd cockapoo licking your chain, before urinating on your wheel, which is quite entertaining actually