how to make an ultrasonic parts cleaner 

Two absolutely great ideas for us DIY people who no doubt will use the palm sander and CLR ideas when they need to clean one carburetor per year and don't want to spend $100 for an ultrasonic unit. Thanks a ton!

This is my kind of guy right here. What I can't afford, I make. I always appreciate coming across one of my own. Happily subbed.

Thank you sir for taking time to make this video. I have wanted an ultrasonic parts cleaner for years, but didn't want to spend the $2000 on the model I wanted. Your video is one of those rare ones where the info is priceless... simply genius... Thank you...

I don't have an ultrasonic and there isn't one in my immediate future but I have a sander so I'm game to try this. 2 things I'd suggest: I think by hanging the sander and not bracing it in a vise or something you're losing vibration energy as some goes into vibrating the vibrator. Also, I saw somewhere the idea of filling an ultrasound with plain water and placing your parts in containers filled with the cleaning solution. That way you don't have to change out the liquid all the time as you clean different parts. In addition to that information it was found that glass will transmit energy much better than plastic. Wish I could give credit to the YTer who showed that but it makes sense to me. Thanks for the demo!

The best vibration transfer happens when you hold the machine fixed on a solid surface and leave the jar free. If you hang it as you did, motion is assigned proportionally to the weight %.

This worked so well I decided to glue sand paper to my ultrasonic cleaner and use it for woodworking...thanks for the great idea!

I used this technique on my dentures and it worked great. CLR is the way to go, as simple green left a funny taste for a while.

I believe that you can get maximum vibration if the sander was kept stationary on something like a vise. Suspended on strings wont be as effective because the strings can act like a shock absorber. This is still the best diy ultrasonic cleaner I have seen so far.

Another cheap way is to look in charity shops or yard sales for Foot Spas. Loads of old ladies get rid of them. They have a good depth and size and have ultrasonic vibration PLUS heat and BUBBLES!!! I've bought 2 so far and they're awesome!!!

What a great idea! I bought two $15 sanders from Home Depot and that doubled the frequency. It’s really effective on very fine details and the results on rusted chrome fittings are unreal!

Thanks for the proof of concept! I had plans to make something similar to this, but you beat me to it, and undoubtedly saved me some trial and error time in the process.

Imagine his neighbours... "dam it gerald whats the dam neighbour sanding now! Surely theres no wood left in his house to sand!"

It would have been wise to have a control jar with an equally dirty part in the 50/50 solution mix in a static condition (no vibration) to see the difference.

This is the only youtube video i've watched and said "Wow". Best hack for a small garage workshop, well done.

Like me, I'm sure a lot of people are wondering if this would work with a belt sander. I have one of those big bench mounted dealies with about 18" of useable belt space. Well, I tried it. It's a *lot* more complicated: I had to keep starting and stopping the belt, then manually lifting the jar from the end of the belt to the start, giving the motor another little blast and so on. You need to be *very* careful. My first test was with a carburettor thingy and that went well (but exhausting!). The second test was with a flywheel and I didn't stop it in time - the bucket+flywheel went clear through the partition wall and into my wife's kitchen. Suffice to say she got a shock!

Now that I've got the dents out of My tank and sorta blasted the Carb and the out side of my army tank I can dump 150 gallons MEAN GREEN in there Leave the motor running for around 12 ,or 14 or so ,I'll have Dent free sorta blasted, SUPER Clean army to sell!!! All because of these VIDEOS YOU'VE made my life so much better, JUST THINK BIG !!!!! THANK'S from NOR-CAL!!!!

Something a little milder to try as a good parts cleaning solution is 'simple green' or 'Dettol original' here in th UK. Its basically pine oil and works wonders in a 4:1 solution with water for overnight soaking. It would be interesting to see if it works faster with your ultrasonic rig :) Great idea

You just saved me $70 on an ultrasonic machine. THANK YOU !

awesome idea.Going to build my own for weedeater carburetors.I don't know why people have to be so nasty on the comments.Donate your time at the food bank or pick up trash on the side of the road,if you have that much time and energy,

I was today's years old that I found this video.... Could've used this back then... I was cleaning carbs with air compressor and guitar strings... My gosh!!! This is going to be one of my permanent tools to have

Suggestion: Instead of using velcro as your way of attaching the sander to the lid I'd probably use an adhesive instead. The velcro likely dampens a significant amount of the vibration transferred from the sander to the jar. Might sound trivial, but he sharper pressure wave should clean way better.

Great idea,necessity is truly the mother of invention..never thought of using the CLR..Thanks for the clip!I love learning new ways to get the job done.

I was impressed that you stuck your hands straight into that CLR, my friend. I can't tell you how refreshing it is to see a man stand up to lactic acid, gluconic acid and n-Butyl Ether.

YOU SIR, are my hero of the day! Maybe hero of the week. Absolutely brilliant. I was clapping and cheering you on. What a great simple idea for small parts. Cheers to you sir!

what an intriguing sense of humour ! That's brilliant.

Great working idea. You see a lot of hacks on you tube but not many that actually works like you would hope. This one works as great as a store bought sonic cleaner. Thanks for sharing!

"...if you have money, which I don't..." I love it. Great job!

This is far from ultrasonic cavitation but certainly would work. The science behind the cleaners is awesome.

Sir, I built one of these as per your instructions. I used it to try to clean my muffler bearings, but when they came out there was small amount of film left on them... After many hours of frustration I found that adding a copper magnet to the outside of the plastic container solved the problem... Thank you very much for showing me how build one of these.

Hey I have few tips as far as energy transmission to your part. So you took the cleaner off the bench which is a good idea. However, if you were to turn it upside down and put the sander in a heavy vice you would get the best energy transfer and here's why. When you hang the sander your still allowing the energy to move the sander instead of the jar and the part. If it were in a Vice the sander wouldnt move as much causing the easiest energy path to be to the part. An example if this in action would be a blacksmith using a heavy anvil vs a light one because the heavy one won't be as effected by the kinetic energy of the hammer. That makes the blacksmiths energy go more into the metal piece and less into the anvil. If anyone understands what I'm saying and can help elaborate that would be great.

So now I have a use for that sander I never use. :-) Great vid man!!

I will give this cleaning option a try for certain. I didn't expect, when I searched u/s cleaning tips, to come across a TX500 project in the background. I had one 45 years ago and loved the thing to death, even though I lunched the motor twice in a couple of years. I'm older, wiser and more gentle on my bikes these days, I hope the project worked out well for you....✌

Wow, I was skeptical but I can't argue with those results- Great!

No substitute for brains. I absolutely will use this to restore dirt bike parts . Thank you sir . Much respect.

This is actually a great idea. Good job.

Outstanding. Bought the Harbor freight ultrasonic cleaner and was disappointed. Now I know what I need to do thumbs up 👍

This works great, u must try it! Even though it's subultrasonic, adding licorice, and jam, (let soak with baking soda for fourteen minutes) ACTUALLY CAUSES CAVITATION! Something about the viscosity being changed helps.

Sold. I found a palm sander in the trash on a job site I fixed it it works fine. And that's what I'm going to use to do exactly what you did. Save a grip of cash and a lot of space in the shop. Badass video

From an engineering student prospective, hanging the sander vs mounting it on a bench will actually be less efficient, as the string will absorb a lot of the energy, it just doesn't show because of the lack of rattling.

What a novel idea. I have one of those vibrating sanders lying around doing nothing. I can now put it to work. Thank You!

Nice job! But you would actually transfer more vibration into the jar by mounting the Sander firmly

I don't have a palm sander so I mounted my peanut butter jar to the forks on my bike along with a credit card that was plastic welded to the jar. This is a 2 thousands interference fit so that the credit card is tapped by the wheel spokes as the wheel rotates. I'm not sure how fast I need to go to get to ultrasonic, but I found that the additional horsepower I gained with this modification is helpful. As a bonus, the rig slowly shakes loose my credit card debt.

This is not an ultrasonic cleaner, it's just a mechanical agitater. Ultrasonic cleaners use sound frequencies high enough (and strong enough) to create cavitation in the liquid. Ultrasonic cleaners are so much more effective because of this cavitation. That's not to say your device won't help, but the title is inaccueate.

Worked for me. Cleaned for 30mins and very dirty carbirator wus clean. Happy with results! Thank you!

IM EXTREMELY IMPRESSED!!! Gonna do this, thanks for posting!!!

Like your hack! it's great, I have a similar device I thought up. The device that presents the most vibration in my shop is my ole time heavy duty pedestal grinder, I welded 2 different size landing pads on top of each wheel guard shaped like big cupholders and using the same containers as you did I drop the parts in solution and let them sit in the holders a while well I use the grinder or some time if I'm a hurry I just turn the grinder on and let it run. It works very well especially when I can do 2 things at once. Thanks for the great tip!

Dang, I totally forgot about this channel. This is comedy gold! Why do you not have 1M subscribers?

Wow, I love this idea. I wish I had the kind of imagination to come up with stuff like this. Thank you for sharing.

This is the stuff that I love to see!! Great job!

Very nice. Ingenious! thanks for sharing. Im glad I happened to see this video. it is almost 7 years old.

of course it worked ! I'm far too self conscious to post a fail vid

Best hack / idea I've seen on the internet. Thanks.

Surely mounting the sander rigidly will make sure all of the vibrational energy is transferred to the jar. As it is, the sander is probably vibrating as much as the jar.

Got a thrift store sander and built one of these for $ 7.00. Hard to beat that. Great video.

Thank's mate, cheers from nova scotia Canada

We had a small one at work for rust removal that used warm isopropyl alcohol that worked great. Good idea.

thats a great idea.......finnaly i can use the sanders for something usefull

Oh hell yea, I'm trying this to clean dirty old rusty parts! Thanks for the video.

Brilliant!!!! Love the ingenuity. I will be doing this and will pass it onto others as well.

I tried this metod with ultrasonic cleaner, CLR and super gunky and dirty ATV engine caster parts This really works!!!!! All aluminium parts look like new now. Unfortunetelly it seems to kill a few ball bearings which I was to lazy to remove. They got turned black and rusted inside. It looks like CLR doesnt work very well with steel. Luckily it was inexpensive mistake in my case. Lesson was learned very well :) Tons of thx anyway for sharing this excellent idea!!!

I wonder what the cleaning effect is without the vibration, perhaps you could do 2 more pieces over the same amount of time, one without the vibration & one with, it'd be interesting to see the outcome?

Brilliant, I now have a solution to cleaning the bike carbs effectively. I have tried to clean them a few times and the engine runs for a few days, then I have fuel flow problems, due to one of the carbs. Thanks, a big thumbs up from me. I can even use this idea for cleaning the kitchen grill, given sizing is not a problem. :D

First time I’ve seen this done, the parts come out amazing! Would love to see a side by side with a non vibrated part

It only takes an engineering mind and $27 dollars to do great things!! congrats Mr Ichiban Moto!!

I tried this with an Orbital sander but it didn't work (wife said that it was supposed to be shaken... not stirred)

Talk about shock & awe! I've got a similar sander, and will absolutely try this if I ever need an ultrasonic cleaner! I would surely buy the first 2 rounds as a reward! Great job!

I like your style! Would love to see how far you have come with the design?! First thing I noticed missing is no hot solution. Ultrasonic baths in my workshop are set to 80c degree. Could just boil the kettle and mix the solution 😂😂

OMG! That is so cool! Necessity is the mother of all inventions!

I can't find green zip ties, only black ones, will it still work?

Necesssity is the mother of invention! Great job gonna make one for me!

Puts his delicate zinc or pot metal part in concentrated acid and is amazed. Save yourself the irritating noise and just use the acid.

Few points as someone that knows a little about physics. 1. First the sound travels along the jar and into the water, but as you can hear yourself much of the power produced is simply being lost to the environment in the opposite direction. Now. If you coated the inside, or outside of the jar with something that reflects the sound back into the jar you would reduce the time, and the power needed to clean the part. The less you can hear from the jar and the sander, the better you are doing. 2. You should have the entire jar assembly turn periodically in a circular motion backward and forward around an central axis. Basically use a solid iron bar that barely vibrates rather than a string to hold the assembly. I get what you are trying to do, but the string is absorbing the energy. next you need that jar set up so it spins .... how you would get the sander to stay where it is while the jar spins is another matter... This will create moving water inside the jar and when it spins in the opposite direction the water will still keep going in the first direction for some time. 3. Next the cleaning solution. Well, I'm not convinced you need any, if you really produce an ultrasonic low pressure wave in the water this will initiate what is called 'cavitation'. Cavitation produces tiny bubbles which when they implode do so at over 20k degrees kelvin, long term exposure to cavitation can literally eat through solid iron and steel. But you aren't going to leave it in there for three months. This is the main way that ultrasonic cleaners work and you need no cleaning fluid at all... for anything. 4. Did you try this by measuring what's called the 'resonant frequency' of the jar? After you measure the resonant frequency of the jar (there are apps) then what you do is you have the electric motor in the sander vibrate at that very frequency and this will move the grime off the surface in second and the cavitation process will do the rest. You will need no cleaner, it will take about 30 seconds. If you cannot alter the sanders frequency then find out what it is and find a jar that has the same frequency. This will turn the jar also into a Chaldri plate that moves the dirt off the surface. 5. Lastly this is NOT ultrasonic. We know that because a sander is not capable of producing vibrations above 25khz... which is where the ultrasonic spectrum of sound begins. Ultrasonic just means we humans cannot hear the sound, like those machines that are supposed to deter mice and so on. Even this is a misnomer since some people can hear up to 30khz. So, you need to vibrate it faster... much much faster, or preferably at one of the resonant frequencies of the jar (without smashing the jar, which is a thing). Do that and an hour? Forget about all that... three minutes or if you are lucky 30 seconds and every part will be spotless...!

The trolling i strong in these videos. A+ my good man, A+.

the best thing about this is it requires very little cleaning solution unlike a parts cleaner that requires gallons. Most people dont need a big ole parts cleaner or sonic parts cleaner for the 2 times a year they would benefit from them...this is a nice cheap solution. great idea.

He's still never used an ultrasonic cleaner. The agitation does maximize the action of the chemicals, but ultrasonic cleaners don't need those chemicals and they aren't nearly that loud.

Thank you for taking the time to share. Cheers from Paris

This is not ultrasonic. If it was, you couldn't hear it.

Wow, I didn’t think it would work. Very interesting. Now I need a container for my motorcycle engine mmm

I tried cleaning up a flux capacitor using this method and now I'm stuck in the year 2020! HELP❗

Gotta love mankind , always looking for improvement . All of these ideas ideas are amazing ! Now we'll question the efficiency of the many ultrasonic cleaners on the market .

Electric toothbrush in a glass of warm soapy water. Rings..watch come out sparkling. Works great.

String = amsteel blue 7/64 with 1600lb breaking strength. Same material used for mooring large ships. GREAT cordage. I keep some in my dirtbike tool pack to pull bikes/quads. Used many times to save many riders! Also makes good soft shackles, aka rope carabiners. Keep a couple on my bike bars, and use one as my key ring. Gatta try this technique!

I borrowed my girlfriends hitachi wand and put it in a bucket with all our piecing loops and rings and they came up screaming...i mean gleaming !

Bloody genius man. I could not swallow the fact it worked so well straight away???? That ugly turbine convinced my brain I was seeing a reality though. Always thought the sander was the most useless damn thing I ever saw, and it was correct until now. I finally have a reason for keeping it all these years and have now a use for it! It's almost brand new still too.

Just a couple of quick questions. You suggest making the plate out of aluminum. Is it possible to buy this on the internet as here in the UK everywhere only seems to stock aluminium? Secondly my local tool shop insists that cable ties they stock are the same as zip ties. Are they just trying to make a sale and would cable ties work as well?

Its a great way to clean the valves behind the piston stops as well, just pour the solution in the spark plug hole,next just attach the orbital sander to the cap of the motor and viola, drain and rinse and those valves will tap so much cleaner and crisper than new even,been doing it for years

I can never tell when he's just bluffing

SMART. I disassemble and ultrasonically clean fishing reels. In their case I use water and some Dawn. Cheaper when the situation doesn't require CLR. I'll bet you can reduce the run time too.

You didnt say badass and didnt drill a hole, no Ichiban stickers for you.

That is AWESOME! Thanks for the great idea. I have everything you showed in the garage so I've already saved money.

Have you tested the CLR on the parts without the vibration? Just wondered whether the vibration makes a big difference. :)

man this is veeery good , i had a lost and rusty sander that was for trash, now i can recicle it to make this thing that i need.

What would have made this legitimate is seeing what the cleaning solution would have done JUST BEING IMMERSED, WITH NO VIBRATION. That's good science, missing here.

Ultra sonic cleaners don't work from vibration. The idea behind them is to cause the gasses in the liquid to implode on the surface of the object to be cleaned, pulling the dirt off the object. Ultrasonics are on a molecular level.

After your second Sander Burns Out you could have afforded to buy an ultrasonic cleaner from Harbor Freight

Absolutely F'N FANTASTIC.......I'm gonna try this myself Cheers from Canada North

Got it upside down. Need to have the sander on the bottom near the liquid.

This is what RU-vid was invented for, that's fab, love it

Ultrasonic Parts Cleaner Ebay $44 New. Destroyed Hand Sander $60! You da man!