Cheap ultrasonic cleaners - are they worth it?

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jonathan18

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#290456 12-Nov-2021 20:40

I'm interested in purchasing an ultrasonic cleaner for cleaning household stuff like jewellery, glasses, knobs etc, but I've read very mixed reviews of their effectiveness.

I've looked at models like these:

(ok price, high shipping cost) https://www.amazon.com/Magnasonic-Professional-Ultrasonic-Eyeglasses-MGUC500/dp/B007Q2M17K/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=ultrasonic+cleaner&qid=1636702401&sr=8-3

(cheap as) https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003394550674.html

(moderate price) https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1000005654040.html

Is it a matter of you gets what you pays for, ie the cheap ones do diddly, but commercial-grade ones are effective?

Are there any affordable models that members would recommend, or do I just stay away at this price point?

Any feedback much appreciated.

timmmay

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#2811970 12-Nov-2021 20:50

Whatever you do, don't put sunglasses into an ultrasonic cleaner, even a good one. My optometrist did that with my ray-bans once, ruined them. They got me new ones though :)

jonathan18

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#2813142 15-Nov-2021 12:05

I'll be mindful of not trying to clean sunglasses in this, especially given mine are prescription sunnies! What happened to them when they did clean them?

Has anyone got advice or thoughts on ultrasonic cleaners? @01EG - I noticed you used these to clean earbuds (I assume the foam/silicone tips, not the buds themselves?), so how do you find they work on such things?

01EG

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#2813144 15-Nov-2021 12:10

@01EG - I noticed you used these to clean earbuds (I assume the foam/silicone tips, not the buds themselves?), so how do you find they work on such things?

yes, foam/silicone tips of course. They look very clean to me as "new" after. we cleaned the glasses too, look ok too.

timmmay

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#2813225 15-Nov-2021 13:12

jonathan18:

I'll be mindful of not trying to clean sunglasses in this, especially given mine are prescription sunnies! What happened to them when they did clean them?

Front coating on the lens came off, looked like they'd been through the washing machine.

dacraka

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#2813252 15-Nov-2021 14:05

Note that the Amazon one is 100-120V, 60Hz, not 230V/50hz for NZ standards.

darthkram

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#2813311 15-Nov-2021 14:28

I dabble in amateur watchmaking and bought this model off TM to clean parts.

It works well enough, there's a definite difference once things have been through the cycle. My wife also likes to use it to clean her makeup brushes and the amount of gunk that comes out of old metal watch straps proves it is definitely doing something.

I wouldn't expect amazing performance for this price though, I still need to manually clean parts to get off old/harder gunk but for softer surface level stuff it works ok.

Experiment with fluids also, I use Shellite from Bunnings for degreasing for example. I fill the ultrasonic reservoir with water then put the Shellite and parts in a jam jar and put that in the water, makes clean up much easier.