Skip to main content
Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers

Ultrasonic cleaning.

Enter a word or two to search the forum section and click the Search Forum button.

Hey all.

Just a quick write up here for those taking up or restoring equipment. Well, as some of you know, my website is showcasing equipment, etc and projects coming up. So... I'm just catching up on all things mowers and thought, I'd drop this here.

Ultrasonic cleaning of parts for restoration is one of the best ways of unattended cleaning of precision parts from carbs to flywheels, components, etc to large parts if you have a bath big enough for the work.

The advantage of ultrasonic cleaning in combination with light acids or alkalis is the agitation and finish you achieve. take as an example, a faulty zenith carb. as soon as you start to strip the carb down to most of it's available components (leave screws out), parts like jets etc benefit from this cleaning work as petrol contains all sorts of muck which clog jets, cause gumming and in cases parts burning. So, the use of ultrasonics really helps.

I use a KEMET 40L unit which really helps when acid stripping parts for recoating, as well as parts washing and carb servicing and love it to bits. One of the most exciting projects it has undertaken so far is a complete acid strip, fine cleaning and rinse of all the parts for a qualcast B1. within 4 hours, all parts were ready for undercoating, top coating, etc. so it really helps in my daily work.

if you're able to find a large ultrasonic bath used for a good price, get it, as it's going to be your best friend if you're like me, using it as a service tool. The advantage with this system is you can fully immerse an engine block like  villiers 2 stroke stripped or a B&S engine and it will clean all contaminents and give you a clean engine block. I've found that cleaning the casings, heads, etc I get a better engine finish and a like new feel.

So, if you're going to do a decent job of your restorations, look into an ultrasonic cleaning tank. you don't need a big unit like me for cleaning carbs but larger tanks help with certain jobs that other cleaning methods don't do as well.

ed

Forums