This isn't a review of their older 'Chicago Electric' unit, which I managed to get around 10 years of use out of. This is the Central Machinery version. http://www.harborfreight.com/25-liter-ultrasonic-cleaner-63256.html Some comparisons first. 1) The old one had a heater, but it only worked when you ran the cycle, which lasted no more than three minutes. They also didn't really tell you about it, you just figured it out when the water warmed up. 2) This one is approximately three times larger in fluid volume of the old one 3) This is about twice the power, roughly. 4) The old one had buttons on top, and the wiring ran through the hinge in the lid. This led to wires breaking. (part of its final demise). The current one has an LCD display, and the buttons on the front side. As of the time of writing this, the unit costs $80, not including the 20% off coupon I used. It may not be as good as what I could get off of ebay, but I'm abusing the heck of it within the warranty period to find out how it does. There's a "basket", that's not really a basket. It's simply a plastic tray that fits into the bottom with two side loops. It has notches for hanger wires (or just gripping wires), but doesn't include them. I think that coat hanger wire might work. If you made it hanging, it might work better, but oh well. The lid is completely separate. No hinges. The heater works very well with one BIG caveat. If you leave the TC (thermal control?) button on, it WILL try to boil the water in the tank. If you have it on, then turn it off and run the cleaner, it appears to continue to keep the water warm. If it shuts off, the water does _not_ cool. It still continues to heat, but at a lower level. Unplug the machine when you're going to be away from it for a while. The timer is okay, not great. The minimum run time is 90 seconds, then 180, 280, 380, and 480. That's a maximum of 8 minutes of run time. Frankly, I don't have an issue with that. I tend to run it, let things soak, then run it again after flipping things around. If it was a HUGE unit, where you hung things into it, I could see wanting to fire it up for half an hour to an hour. Usage - I fit four slims, a gem micromatic, and two 40's SuperSpeeds in it, and they didn't tend to bang into each other. that's a lot better than my old one, where I'd have to pile them in. It's louder than the old one, but not as ringing, so easier on the ears. It quiets down some when you drop the lid on it. Filling - fill from a pitcher, and have a sink handy for pouring it out. It has no drain, and no pour lip. How to use this unit. 1) Set up on counter. I advise the kitchen counter, unless you have space in your bathroom for it for a few days. It's about 16 inches wide (room it takes up) with a vent on each side (the left vent seems to blow air, I assume the right draws). It uses a standard PC power cable, so you at least can get choices on how long of a cable you want, if you don't like what it comes with. 2) Fill up to a minimum of halfway between the 'minimum' and 'max' line. I don't know what they were thinking about that 'min' line, because with it below the halfway point, the top of the water actually jumps around. That's both wasted energy, and a risk of burning out the element. 3) Add your cleaning solution - detergent, surfactant, whatever. Set the unit on 8 minutes, turn on the TC, and fire it up. Go get coffee or make a sandwich. This is degassing. What that means is actually driving the air bubbles out of the water, which decreases the cavitation bubble size - increasing the cleaning ability. 4) Drop what you want cleaned into the solution. The water may be hot, so I'd suggest investing in a set of long tweezers or forceps. Set the timer, and let it go. If you want to do short rounds of cleaning in between soaking, feel free. 5) Once you've finished cleaning everything the UC can do, pull them out of the water, set them aside, and dump out the solution. If you're going to clean more with the same solution, which is efficient, rinse them off, then put them aside. There's more to do later. 6) After dumping out the solution, clean out the tank. Refill with water with -nothing- in it. Degas, then put your items to be cleaned back inside, and run it again. This is to dilute or eliminate the cleaning solution from inside crevices and tubes. Especially with some of the surfactants, they can discolour or damage aluminum, and in a few cases, brass and copper. The stuff I uses does NOT damage metal, but it will discolour aluminum. Caveat 1) If you have damaged plating, you may lose more. This is NOT something to get concerned about. If the plating can be loosened and broken away by an ultrasonic cleaner, it was coming off on its own - meaning there was already a space underneath it. Caveat 2) If it's gold washed, that should stay intact. The lacquer, however, WILL DIE. Gillette apparently used a nitrocellulose lacquer coating over (at least) the gold plated razors. The first thing people tell you on the forums is to soak a razor for up to several days in detergent. This does clean them, but the nitrocellulose will absorb water. They weren't meant for immersion for more than a minute or two as you shaved and cleaned up. Don't panic. What makes people panic is that the lacquer was also apparently tinted, to make the gold look darker. So, when the cleaner strips off a lot of the old lacquer, the razor looks brighter yellow. You CAN re-coat the razor, they still make tinted nitrocellulose lacquer for musical instruments. If you want to put something in with a celluloid handle, it _will_ soften. Caveat 3) I've gotten out a lot more crud doing cleanings a month or two apart, with oiling in between, than doing one continuous session. When you drop the razor in, the oil comes out looking like a little stream of smoke. It's also carrying crud with it. I have a photo of the bottom of my machine after cleaning two _clean_ razors. Lots of little piles of schmutz. However, both work exceptionally well now. One of them, the adjustment plate wouldn't even move to start. Caveat 4) Brass discoloration. I found that the SC-1000 I'm using (manufactured by GemTek) actually removes some tarnish from brass. So, depending on your cleaner, you may see interesting colours form on the handles of the old razors. Where it used to be green/black, and you thought it was dirt - that probably wasn't dirt. It was probably where the plating (chrome or nickel) had worn off, and the soap used bonded with the brass to make it look waxy. I may try to put up some pictures later. (before and after) Caveat 5) This is not a panacea. This is an exceptionally good tool for cleaning things. Once you're done, and you've rinsed, you'll still want to go over everything with a toothbrush and soap/polish/wax. I have one razor that has a small amount of stuff that comes off when you scrape it with your finger, but not in the cleaner - it's because there's not enough gap for the cavitation bubbles to get under it to pop it off. I have one razor I'm about to dip in mineral spirits to try to get off the last of the lacquer between the teeth. I hope this helps people out, and I'll answer any extra questions I can. I'm not an expert with them, I've just been using them for a while, and I spent some time reading up on what the manufacturers of the machines suggest. edit - I neglected to leave a warning, and this is a good one. Ultrasonic cleaners can damage tissue and bone. I don't believe that the very small ones do much damage, but I've never put my finger in for more than a second or two to grab something. Either turn it off, or use a set of tongs (or a hook) to move items around while the things are running. Moving things around can sometimes help shake some more loose (turning over, flipping)
Add-on. If you want to see how beneficial one can be, look at the Cruddy Micromatic thread. http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/most-disturbingly-cruddy-micromatic.55392/ (I'll fix later)
Thank you for de-mystifying the process. Those of us that enjoy vintage razors can do a better job than just Dawn soaking & toothbrushes. As a preventive maintenance procedure we can also keep new razors clean. Do you use yours to clean other items?
Yes, in fact I bought my original cleaner for knives. When you carry a pocketknife constantly, it eventually eats all the pocket lint, and gets difficult to open. Mostly because of, rather than despite, oiling regularly. This is my third UC cleaner - the first one was barely good enough for jewelry, the next HF one was much better, and worked for years (I'm going to hang onto it for soaking things. I'll just cut the cord off), and this one is stronger. Ultrasonic cleaners are good for anything hard that has accumulated grime in small nooks and crannies. (well, that won't absorb water) Cleaning brass (empty ammunition cartridges) before polishing (or even after), small car parts, and so forth. I also use it to clean my fountain pens, especially if I find one that's had ink dry in it. The soak is well and good, but the vibrating knocks the old ink out very well. If you leave the heater off, you can even use alcohol or other _very mild_ solvents in a cleaner like this, but I personally wouldn't use anything more solvent-like than alcohol. It does have a heater.
There was a warning - "Most disturbingly cruddy Micromatic". I'm not sure how I could have made it more of a caution without adding something like "MAY MAKE YOU SOIL YOUR TROUSERS!".
It's the same unit I have. Take note, it does get hot enough the bend the plastic handles on Schick razors. I found out the hard way. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
