I watched a man testing out different kinds of cleaning solutions in his ultrasonic cleaner last night. His conclusion was that Cascade Pods did the best job for the money.
I add a little soap and water in the ultrasonic cleaner for my rocks after polishing them and in between each tumbling stages (keeping them wet) it really gets the grit or polish out of cracks.
I can't take credit for this idea but it works, put just straight water in the cleaner and then put any cleaning solutions you want to use in a plastic or glass container, peanut butter container or canning jar and then put that in machine, the sound waves travel through plastic and glass like they arent even there, much easier clean up as the water in the machine is still clean
I bought the ultra-sonic cleaner you demonstrated and I get great results with just water. I cleaned finished rocks from stage 5 and stage 4. It surprised me how much stuff was removed and how much by rocks looked. Going to try Borax for my next test. Thank you so much for sharing this!! Happy tumbling!😊
If you want to make sure the sonicator is working properly, drop a small piece of aluminum foil on the water and turn the sonicator on. It should put holes in the aluminum foil.
Got large one, was supposed to be a parts cleaner. Used it once, didn't know what to do with it. Gonna test the crap out of it. Thanks for a more than eye opening video. Would recommend getting them as clean by hand from the get go and re-washing with new water. Maybe try soap? You gave me a ton of ideas, thank you so much!
Awesome stuff!! I also use this method works best if the rocks are soaked in water and a little soap for a few days before the ultrasonic machine.. citric acid works well as well👍🏻
I'm always wondering if that worked. Anything helpful for cleaning rocks is a bonus. I have to say for myself that's the part of collecting rocks I don't like doing. Cleaning them for tumbling or just displaying.
Such an interesting idea... curious to see how effective it is 😁 Edit: It seemed to work pretty well...I wonder if this is an alternative to burnishing in between tumbler cycles to save some time?
Somehow I have fell down a rabbit hole and ended up here but I did just lead that gasoline is like the best cleaner and you can put it it a plastic or glass bottle and don’t have to fill the whole thing with gas for it to work
Super cool video and experiment! Awesome results, never thought about this before. I will have to get one of these soon, I'm sure it will clean my fossils really good. I wonder how it would work with iron out, if it would speed up the results vs just iron out.
have you noticed any fractures in any of the rocks from the ultrasonic cleaner? i have been hesitant to try this with some of my nicer large lake superior agates just because i read they recommend not putting any stones in one softer than an emerald which has a mohs rating of 8.5 when agates range from like 6-7 usually..
I almost ordered one the other day but held off because I just wasn’t sure how it worked. I am really glad you did this video. The way I will use it is after each stage in tumbling. Do you think it would work well with borax and water?
with your jersey quartz the citric acid is more effective. tho i'm not sure how effective it would be. if you used citric acid with your ultrasonic cleaner. but you might try it
I have! I actually have a video comparing citric acid vs vinegar and dish soap for cleaning rocks! I also plan to try citric acid in the ultrasonic cleaner to see what happens as well!
I have! I actually have a video comparing citric acid vs vinegar and dish soap for cleaning rocks! I also plan to try citric acid in the ultrasonic cleaner to see what happens as well!
update on this cleaner? Im trying to pick one out for my christmas gift and some reviews stated it stopped working or its very noisy have you experienced that?
For some light dirt that would work, but the ultrasonic cleaner helps loosen stuck on dirt and lake scum especially in areas that you can’t reach with a brush. If you have ever seen an ultrasonic cleaner clean a ring or jewelry you can really see the difference! There are some cool videos about it here on RU-vid 😊