ultrasonic cleaners?

Hash and Stuff Distillation
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Anyone have any suggestions on an ultrasonic cleaner? Is it worthwhile? Looking to expedite glass cleaning. For those that use them how “clean” do pieces need to be beforehand? Also what solution is the best?

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I have one, I love them. They are not recommended for glassware going under vac as it can create micro cracks in the glassware.

I have an Elmasonic and have nothing but good things to say about it. It is pricey though.

I usually just have some alconox solution, have ranged from a light film to caked on material with zero issues on either end of the spectrum.

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I got a cheap chinese one from amazon. works amazing

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01HBDUM74?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

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Curios about your statement regarding ultrasonic cleaners creating micro cracks in the glasssware. Do you have a source for this?
Thanks!

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When it comes to these micro cracks, I would say that if you are using the glassware for distillation, best to stay away from ultra sonic cleaners. If the glassware is used for other vacuum applications that dont require the ultra low vacuum that SPD or WFE need, the small fissures are most likely not going to be an issue.

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Do the micro cracks come from the sonic waves themselves, or from being on the metal rack?

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from the waves

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The 30L China ultrasonics off of eBay are about $250. BUY THE $10 INSURANCE WITH IT!
Also, worth it to purchase two, as they tend to break rather often. They overheat and burn out the boards. If you can, add a fan to cool the electronics off. The alternative from a bigger company is going to run you $1500-$2k easy.

Never use an ultrasonic for glass that is under deep vacuum, short path distillation for instance. It will cause micro-fractures in the glass pretty quickly…

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this is what I use . detergent is low foam alconox

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Hello, Im having an issue cleaning a 5 micron stainless steel sinter filter. The lipids and fats are clogging the filter taking about 1 hour to filter 5 gallons of ethanol extract. We have an ultrasonic what solution would anyone recommend? We tried the SPF 50 Degreaser, not doing the trick. Any insight would be appreciated. Im assuming to break down the fats a alkaline solution?

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Dumped out the alconox from the last technician, no wonder he never used it. Filled it with recovered ethanol and experienced the joy of ultrasonic oil removal. Heated to 50C that sucker will eat through just about anything cannabis related.

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Thanks for information! We tried xylenol soaking overnight, then reverse filtration, still no luck getting the a nice steady flow. How long did you ultrasonic?

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@qma

You try sticking your gun in one of these for easy cleaning?

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Hi Im not sure what you mean “sticking your gun” ?
I don’t think the ethanol will be the solution the Kendall manual states not to put flammable solvents in ultrasonic, may cause a fire.

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He is talking about a filler gun

nope, the only contact surfaces that can’t go in acetone is the viton gasket in the front, no point

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I use one for my sintered disks

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What do you put in your ultra sonic with cleaning sintered disks

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ethanol

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I have wanted to do that, but I don’t want to blow my shit up. I was guessing if I did it at a relatively low heat, it’d be fine… I just don’t want to be one of “those” videos on the internet

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Im a fan of PD680 for ultrasonic sinks. It’ll take caked on grease off of bolts, so it should do fine for glass (if its compatible).