Ultrasonic cleaner repair

[tq60]

Been awhile but I'm making progress.

Found an American company that supplies ultrasonic.

Apc international.

GREAT COMPANY!

They have a sale page where they support students with any DIY folks. They sell excess stock here.

The downside is the minimum order of $100.00.

They have a bunch of support stuff to properly solder them as well as epoxy.

We had a bear of a time removing bad one, the unit is USA made, and they used very strong epoxy.

A micro-torch and channel lock got it.

The transducer was only $19.00, epoxy 35.

We learned something the hard way, and NEVER apply the power to the ultrasonic devices while not secured!

The tech in us wanted to be sure it was going to work before we attached it.

The O-scope had plenty of wave form, but I just wanted to test it... right....

We placed the transducer on a rubber Matt and was not expecting to hear the 50 KHZ oscillator, but maybe it would move around on the table.

Just quickly plug in power, and in about a tenth of a second, we heard high frequency just before the transducer exploded!

We purchased extra units as minimum order and assumed we would make a mistake. Soldering was a snap, but this was a surprise.

So we know the driver works.

Soldered to the next one, epoxy will be cured tomorrow.

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[rwm]

Holy cow! I would not have guessed that.

 

[tq60]

Me neither, but then you look at the forces needed to make the tank work. If not constrained by the tank, the energy must go somewhere.

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[rwm]

Yes. The impedance mismatch between the transducer and the air would keep all that energy inside the transducer. It must have flexed so much it shattered.

 

[homebrewed]

It also might not like being operated w/o water in the tank. Best to check before testing it again.

 

[tq60]

I'm not going to test dry. I heard that some do not like that.

Epoxy should be cured by now, been 24 hours, but the data sheet indicates may be better after few days.

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[intrepid]

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.

Don't want to steal this thread but thanks for the above info. Also where can I find different formulas or chart for cleaning different items?

 

[tq60]

Test successful, mission completed!

The data sheet for the epoxy hinted that the best cure was after a few days.

Given that the un-secured transducer exploded, we wanted less chance of failure.

First, we have a couple of other ultrasonic cleaners, a small one for dentures that sorta-works, and one very old one that a keyboard can fit. It seems to work.

HOLY SMOKE!

We put some water in the tub and turned it on, it is 50/60 KHZ, the tank got huge waves like we were stirring it with a stick, the other units do not do that.

Could not find a good test item in a short time, but we did have a stainless measuring cup on the bench with a dirty film on the bottom, we use these for loose parts and cleaning.

We do not have a basket yet, so we dipped it in to get it to float on the surface and turn it on the cleaner.

The crud on the bottom of the cup started swirling around, and water was popping out of it, the timer goTest successful, mission completed!

The data sheet for the epoxy hinted that the best cure was after a few days.

Given that the un-secured transducer exploded, we wanted less chance of failure.

First, we have a couple of other ultrasonic cleaners, a small one for dentures that sorta-works, and one very old one that a keyboard can fit. It seems to work.

HOLY SMOKE!

We put some water in the tub and turned it on, it is 50/60 KHZ, the tank got huge waves like we were stirring it with a stick, the other units do not do that.

Could not find a good test item in a short time, but we did have a stainless measuring cup on the bench with a dirty film on the bottom, we use these for loose parts and cleaning.

We do not have a basket yet, so we dipped it in to get it to float on the surface and turn it on the cleaner.

The crud on the bottom of the cup started swirling around, and water was popping out of it. The timer went to one hour, but we only tested for maybe 30 seconds.

There was no scrubbing or wiping involved, just dumping out the water. Also, just water was used for the test.

This unit is amazing!es to one hour, but we only tested for maybe 30 seconds.

There was no scrubbing or wiping involved, just dumping out the water. Also, just water was used for the test.

This unit is amazing!

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[tq60]

Had to do a repair!

The original transducer had a wire attached to the center, so we did the same.

Worked very well... too well!

Today, we actually set the timer for maybe 10 minutes, and after a few minutes, it sounded different.

Opened it up, and the wire came off, along with the plating.

It seems this thing had enough power to shake off the wire.

Good thing we had practice parts to learn how to solder to these. It is easy.

This time, we attached to the edge, and then for support, we potted that area with epoxy.

It takes a week to cure stuff. I used Devcon 5 minutes, and should be fine for this.

Hopefully, it does not shake the epoxy loose!

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View attachment 478856

 

[tq60]

Tested today. It works, but does not seem to be as strong as before.

Is the little bit missing matter?

It's likely it does, but maybe the position of the supply wire?

The wire on the other side is near the edge, so it should not matter, but it is time to experiment!

We did not want to repeat the middle, so we did the next best thing, we added 2 more connections at 120 degree spacing.

It does seem to have more power, so it looks like this has improved things.

The missing bit will just be that.

We have one more transducer, but I do not want to try changing it.

Epoxy curing...

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