Posts Tagged ‘ultrasonic cleaning’
Ultrasonic Solution Selection Guidelines
“Solution” has two definitions: A liquid mixture and solving a problem.
Not coincidentally, two points apply when seeking desired ultrasonic parts cleaner solution for parts cleaning results. These are (1) a liquid mixture called an ultrasonic solution, chemical or soap, and (2) the ultrasonic parts cleaner equipment. Putting it another way, satisfactory ultrasonic solution results most likely occur when you select chemicals and equipment to solve the problem – the cleaning job – at hand.
These ultrasonic solution guidelines take you through the two points.
The Ultrasonic Solution as a Chemical
These are specially formulated to accomplish specific ultrasonic cleaning challenges.
Most ultrasonic solutions are available as concentrates and are biodegradable. These two features contribute to economy and reduce disposal concerns.
Regardless of the chemistry, an ultrasonic solution works by a process called cavitation. Details are found in our post Ultrasonic Cleaner Uses in … Read the rest
5 Key Points to Selecting the Correct Ultrasonic Cleaner Size
Ultrasonic parts cleaners are manufactured in a tremendous variety of sizes. By “size” we mean the dimensions and capacities of tanks in which ultrasonic parts cleaning is accomplished. For example the Elmasonic E Plus series is offered in 9 tank capacities from 0.25 to 7.5 gallons and the Select Series in 11 capacities from 0.7 to 23 gallons. Industrial-sized units such as SHIRACLEAN can hold 100 gallons or more. This post will help you select the correct ultrasonic parts cleaner size.
Five Points to Selecting your Ultrasonic Parts Cleaner Size
Here are the key points to consider:
- Parts you are cleaning
- Cleaning tank dimensions
- The importance of “working depth”
- The role of cleaning baskets
- Cleaning solution volume and service volume
1. What Parts are you Cleaning?
Ultrasonic parts cleaning has proved a very effective and economical way to remove all types of contaminants from nearly anything that can be safely … Read the rest
Maximize Performance of your Ultrasonic Bath
If you have invested in an ultrasonic bath you have an appreciation of how these units contribute to fast, safe and efficient removal of contaminants from virtually any product that can be safely wetted in a biodegradable ultrasonic bath. In this post we provide recommendations on maximizing the performance of your ultrasonic bath, thereby contributing to the efficiency of your ultrasonic cleaning operations.
Points covered include:
- Selecting the correct cleaning bath chemistry
- Cleaning time and cleaning temperature
- Tips on extending the effective life of ultrasonic baths
Ultrasonic Cleaning Bath Chemistry
There is a wide variety of formulations available to support ultrasonic cleaning operations. Some manufacturers term these ultrasonic cleaning solutions, others use an overall category called soaps. One can’t argue with that because using soaps conjures up images of cleaning, whether in the car wash, clothes washer or shower.
Regardless of nomenclature, these formulations are designed to perform specific cleaning … Read the rest
How to Select Ultrasonic Cleaner Accessories
Think of selecting ultrasonic cleaner accessories as though you are buying a new car. You have the choice of standard equipment and equipment or features that are “optional at extra cost.”
The “options” largely depend on the ultrasonic cleaner manufacturer. This is why it is important for you to have a clear understanding of what you want to accomplish in your ultrasonic cleaning process. Our post on ultrasonic cleaner application ideas provides a good tutorial on this.
This post is designed to help you select ultrasonic cleaning accessories that are either required to help you quickly and successfully accomplish your ultrasonic cleaning tasks or simply “nice to have.”
Similarly this post does not go into detail on selecting a specific ultrasonic cleaner. That is generally based on the size of your operations and what you intend to do with the equipment. We cover this topic in … Read the rest
Ultrasonic Cavitation vs. Air in an Ultrasonic Cleaner
Ultrasonic cleaning procedures described in our posts nearly always call attention to the importance of degassing fresh cleaning solutions. Degassing is the process of removing trapped air in liquids. You can see this by letting a glass of water stand for awhile and note the bubbles that appear on the inside surface. Trapped, entrained or dissolved, air inhibits cavitation, which is the implosion of micron-size vacuum bubbles that accomplish the cleaning.
Simply operating the equipment for a time, the length of which depends on the volume of cleaning solution, will drive off trapped air. The process can be hastened by a Degas mode on an ultrasonic cleaner. It does the job by switching on and off causing air bubbles to coalesce and allowing them rise to the surface and burst.
Removing Other Air in an Ultrasonic Cleaner
Air can be introduced … Read the rest
Ultrasonic Cleaning Systems for Precision Optics
Specifying ultrasonic cleaning systems for precision optics requires close collaboration between optics manufacturers establishing optical cleaning requirements and engineers at firms supplying the equipment and chemicals to fulfill those requirements. It is not the intent of this post to specify cleaning equipment and procedures. Instead it’s our objective to provide an overview of Elmasonic equipment for cleaning ophthalmic optics.
And a wide range of equipment it is – ranging from individual cleaning tanks to fully automated multi-stage wash-rinse-dry cleaning lines in a clean room. We’ll briefly describe cleaning chemicals formulated for specific functions from mold manufacturing to cleaning for inspection and cleaning for coating.
Other equipment supporting cleaning optics includes water treatment plants, filtration systems, solvent treatment plants and laminar air flow modules to support clean rooms.
Our role, other than to provide these introductions to equipment and chemicals, is to put you in touch with equipment specialists for cleaning … Read the rest
Sonic Cleaning Solves 3D Printing Mold Support Challenge
3D printing, also called fused deposition modeling and fused filament fabrication, has revolutionized and lowered the cost of traditional molding techniques such as the lost wax process. By using two moldable thermoplastic formulations such as ABS for the part itself and PLA for removable mold supports 3-D printing is capable of quickly producing highly complex configurations.
A key to the efficiency of the process is fast, safe removal of the PLA mold support without risking damage to the ABS part. An ultrasonic cleaner is proven far faster, safer and more effective than water sprays or manual scrubbing.
3-D Printing in Brief
Computer aided design files for components are programmed into the 3D printer which uses thermoplastic filaments to create components by successively building up extremely thin layers of plastic. The ABS filament ends up as the product; the PLA filament, deposited at the same time, serves as a support for … Read the rest