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Degreaser for Ultrasonic

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Cranky Chain Cycles

Finally riding a big boys bike
What degreaser gets the best results in an ultrasonic cleaner? In another thread, Simple Green was used but it left some parts discolored and it left a nasty residue on the tank.


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Im no expert in ultrasonic cleaning but i think the waves of energy clean whats in the bath. For PCB boards where we had soldered a component on it, we would use isopropyl alchohol. Unlke water, IC will evaporate quickly and not rust or leave residue. Never tried it on a bike part tho.
 
My first time using a UC. I bought a 15L one off eBay. It’s big enough to put multiple parts in. The directions were blah.

I used Zep industrial degreaser on ‘99 Specialized mountain bike components. I read that Simple Green was mild so I wanted something stronger. It took two cycles of 30 minutes to get everything clean. The UC never got to the target temp of 60 degrees despite being preheated. I filled the tank with Zep until the parts were submerged, and then filled with hot water to the line.

Final result: the crank and cassette turned out great. The jockey wheel still has a good amount of crud (see pic).

Draining: I’m using a non-disposable degreaser so I fitted the unit with a 3/8” barb and a 10’ hose. I drain it into an oil jug. I like a larger hose diameter and baeb fitting so grease doesn’t gum up the butterfly valve.


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My first time using a UC. I bought a 15L one off eBay. IView attachment 1126211

I have the smaller version of this UC. I think its the 5L version. The control panel looks the exact same. After looking at your post, I seriously wish I bought the larger one because I'm lucky to get a chain clean in mine, and like others here, I use Simple Green. I'll have to try your method and perhaps get a larger one eventually.

For what its worth, the best-ever cleaning I got for steel parts was using an old portable dishwasher. I'd use heavy setting, and all controls on maximum. It worked great! The only dislikes for me was that it took up a lot of space in my shop, and always needed water and drain hookups. Its the home version of an industrial parts washer. Alloy and polished aluminum will take a beating if you use regular household dishwasher detergent, so if anyone tries this, DO NOT wash your expensive old Campagnolo components in it!
 
I have been using the one I bought at Harbor Freight and the cleaner was also purchased there. It does a pretty decent job if you get the heavy crud off first. It's not very big through.
 
What degreaser gets the best results in an ultrasonic cleaner? In another thread, Simple Green was used but it left some parts discolored and it left a nasty residue on the tank.


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I've come to the conclusion that the only reason that happened, was because I put the copper colored brake discs in there. I stopped putting those in there and haven't had anything else get discolored. Still using Simple Green diluted with some water and not having any issues.
Once in a while I'll have to scrape hardened grease out of the bearing cages and run them through again, but other than that it does an excellent job with the Simple Green.
 
Use Simple Green. It's disposable. I made the mistake of taking my used degreaser and mineral spirits to auto parts store to recycle and was told to go pound sand. They only accept oil. SG works as well as the commercial degreaser and I can flush it down the drain.
 
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