Sammo
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,461
Club RR Member Number: 103
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Ultrasonic CleaningSammo
@sammo
Club Retro Rides Member 103
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May 26, 2015 22:36:39 GMT
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Evening,
I have been told by the guy that's getting my bike up and running again that the carbs need to be ultrasonically cleaned. He has told me of a company he uses and they want around £100 to clean the 4 bike carbs! To me this seems like a lot of money for someone to chuck them into a bath and leave them there for a couple of hours. The carbs are already stripped so they won't need to do anything to them when they arrive.
I'm wondering if it would be cheaper for me to buy an ultrasonic cleaner and do it myself. I've seen proper industrial ones on eBay for the same sort of money or less than this company are asking but don't know if I'm missing something in my thought process.
Anyone had anything like this done? Any suggestions?
Cheers,
Sammo
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pcj
Part of things
Posts: 203
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May 27, 2015 14:45:42 GMT
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Hello Sammo, Depends really on how big the parts are and how much hassle and or time-wasting you feel like dealing with.
Maplin Electronics (and others) do a home-use ultrasonic cleaner for about £39 last time I saw one. So it comes down to how big the bits are (will they fit in the thing), how many fiddly little bits (that you'll have to keep a very careful eye on), how dirty they are (so you have to keep cleaning the bath and changing the cleaning agent (usually water), where they all are (fetching and re-fetching as they're ready/done) and finally whether you've got a use for the thing when finished (other half got any jewellery in need of a spruce up?)
Then you'll still have to make sure all the bits arrive back at the rebuilder.
Your call, but unless you're getting the bike rebuilt very cheaply it's prob not worth the hassle going DIY.
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hario
Part of things
S202 C300STD
Posts: 421
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My 2 cents is if the piece of equipment almost costs the same as the outsource cost then buy it. It can always be sold afterwards, or used to make everything shiny shiny..
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*S202 C300TD Wagon* Installed: OM606 & 722.6, Evo6 IC, S600AMG callipers & 345mm rotors. No catz. Leatherish seats.. Rust.. Future: DIY manifolds & turbo compound build. Built IP, & some kind of software. Less rust..
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The reason they charge £100 is because they have to factor in every little thing from start to finish. Stripping, cleaning and rebuilding bike carbs can be very fiddly (they are a lot smaller than on a car) and it requires more finesse since everything is smaller and build to be very light. There are lots of small washers, O-rings and gaskets that need to be in perfect order for the bike to run properly. This means that to do it right the first time you have to take your time, which costs money. After that they have all sorts of material related costs (proper ultrasonic cleaner is expensive!), waste disposal, wages from their staff and at the end of the line they also want to make money!
Of course if you only hand them stripped carb bodies and just want them dunked in an ultrasonic cleaner then it shouldn't be so expensive. And if you've already stripped them, then you should be able to assemble them as well, and then there's no real benefit in having a specialist do the work.
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We have an ultrasonic cleaner at work, it's a £600+ industrial heated affair. We use it for cleaning all kinds of stuff, but it really doesn't perform miracles. It would do an alright job of cleaning carb bits, but I reckon more due to a 30 minute soak in 75c soapy water than what the ultrasonic stuff would do. It's alright but we mainly use it because we clean plastic stuff that can't take much heat. If I had a load of stuff that wouldn't warp in the heat (like carb bits) I'd be chucking everything in a pan of simmering water with some degreaser in it and it'll do almost as good of a job for nowt.
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Last Edit: Jun 9, 2015 22:03:37 GMT by cobblers
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