Ultrasonic cleaner repair

[tq60]

We picked up a small to medium sized usa made ultrasonic cleaner from online seller ad of course, the ultrasonic part does not work.

It is 50khz and 60 khz dual frequency with tank heat.

The driver is working but the connection to transducer is bad.

Someone tried to solder it and failed.

Looks like it is attached, only the Flux was holding it, scope had many volts on the solder, zero on the transducer, gentle pull and wire with solder lifted up with wad of Flux in the middle.

Looks like transducer is attached with epoxy, difficult, but not impossible to remove.

Trying to find replacement transducer, most are 40 khz, and are different shape.

There are lots of options, looking for someone who maybe has done this before or knows how to source these things.

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

 

[MikeInOr]

Are the leads supposed to be spotwelded on instead of soldered? I have seen a several people building LiIon battery packs by spot welding the cells together. Maybe it might be worth a try to spot weld the leads and use the original transducer? A search for spot welding LiIon battery packs might point you in the right direction for a fairly simple DIY spot welder.

Who makes the cleaner? What size is the tank?

I have a couple industrial ultrasonic cleaners that I use a lot and love the results!

 

[RaisedByWolves]

We picked up a small to medium sized usa made ultrasonic cleaner from online seller ad of course, the ultrasonic part does not work.

It is 50khz and 60 khz dual frequency with tank heat.

The driver is working but the connection to transducer is bad.

Someone tried to solder it and failed.

Looks like it is attached, only the Flux was holding it, scope had many volts on the solder, zero on the transducer, gentle pull and wire with solder lifted up with wad of Flux in the middle.

Looks like transducer is attached with epoxy, difficult, but not impossible to remove.

Trying to find replacement transducer, most are 40 khz, and are different shape.

There are lots of options, looking for someone who maybe has done this before or knows how to source these things.

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

Why not just resolder the connection?

 

[markba633csi]

Yes, just scrape another area clean and use some zinc chloride type paste flux- it should work
Use a hot iron and work fast

 

[tq60]

Tried that, the surface was maybe one atom thick, it came off when we tried, photos are pre attempt.

If we would have known before we may have tried conductive glue but that stuff is expensive and likely would have failed.

We see many transducers on Amazon, many cone like ones and a couple disc like units, but most are 40 KHZ or less, this unit is higher frequency so not sure if they are that picky.

It should not be that difficult...one would think...

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

 

[ChazzC]

Sorry, but “50/60khz” refers to the input AC power: should be 50/60hz - doesn’t seem like a U.S product, or not a quality manufacturer.

 

[rwm]

That's pretty funny that the spec'ed kHz...

 

[ChazzC]

We picked up a small to medium sized usa made ultrasonic cleaner from online seller ad of course, the ultrasonic part does not work.

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

What did the Seller have to say when you found out it didn’t work?

 

[MikeInOr]

https://static.sykessler.com/manuals/1732-manual.pdf

The top of page 12 says that the unit is 40 KHz. It looks like some idiot put 50/60 khz input power instead of 50/60 hz input power. A 40 KHz transducer should work fine.

It also looks like you could buy a new one for about $280 so I wouldn't put too much money into a new transducer. https://www.sykessler.com/product/2qth-next-gen-ultrasonic/

gemoro-2qths - Google Search

It also looks like GemOro slapped their label on a pretty generic Chinese ultrasonic cleaner then tried to write their own manual not having any clue what they are talking about since page 12 says the input frequency is 40 KHz. LOL!!!! I think "Made in U.S.A." is total B.S. Maybe they made the mis-labeled sticker in the U.S.A.

I have had this 6L (6.3 quart) $120 Chinese unit in my bathroom for cleaning my eye glasses and CPAP supplies since April 2017 and it still works great. I think you would be MUCH better off with just buying it instead:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HGNYO0U/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The GemOro lists 150w total power consumption. The one I list above has a 200 watt heater and 180 watt ultrasonic power supply. The unit above should clean much faster than the GemOro unit. Beware of Chinese units that list something like 200w total cleaning power, those are usually 150 watt heaters and 50 watt ultrasonic power supplies, i.e. deliberately misleading.

I hope you didn't pay much for the bad GemOro ultrasonic cleaner. I would reccomend tossing it if you can't return it.

P.S. For my eye glasses I use distilled water, isopropyl alcohol and a drop of Dawn dishwashing liquid. It does a great job without leaving any residue. For general cleaning pretty much any cleaner will work. Tap water and TSP does an excellent job, so does Dawn dishwashing soap and tap water.

What do you wish to clean in an ultrasonic cleaner? Did you have anything specific in mind?

 

[whitmore]

Tried that, the surface was maybe one atom thick, it came off when we tried, photos are pre attempt.

There's a silvered ceramic contact layer, usually, and you need silver-containing solder to connect without
dissolving the layer.
All is not lost, though; there's plenty of silvering left, at worst you could make contact with a spring to
hold a conducting plate against the electrode. Extra points for hammering an old silver coin
into a conducting plate that tolerates soldering and is compatible with the silver.