Ultrasonic Cleaner for Airbrushes

[lawnor 25954xp 0]

I just plugged in my sonic bath and there was a loud pop and a bright flash of light from it.  Theres no way I’m plugging that back in.  I prefer it when my house isn’t burnt down.  It was a cheapo from ebay in march 2017.  Has anyone got any reccomendations for economic replacements, or should I just head back to ebay anf spend another £20?  I can’t be doing with cleaning my airbrush responsibly by hand.  I’ve gotten too use to the life of sonic luxury.

[horati0nosebl0wer 19689xp 0]

Have you checked the voltage? 110 versus 220 makes a big deal. I did the same thing to somebody’s stereo system when I was a kid living in Europe and had no idea what a transformer was.

If you bought it off the fleabay then it was likely Chinese and potentially set for 110 in North America. I’ve looked at ventilation recently and there’s a UK manufacturer that offers conversion for a small fee extra.  The problem is that its more than my compressor and current ventilation now at around $300. On top of that I’d say that the next compressor that’d use oil will be about double that price. The cost of quality is dear but ultrasonic isn’t really so.

A tip I picked up from YouTube was threading the same material used in root canals through the nozzle. I haven’t picked up any yet but it would help with any clogs inside to bring down the instance of drytip.

[lawnor 25954xp 0]

Its 2 years old.  it died because of age I’m guessing.  if voltage was an issue surely it wold have blown up a long time ago?  I use it often.

[lawnor 25954xp 0]

I had a look.  it was 220-240v, which is the uk range.  Sometimes capacitors just blow.  I’ve lost things to them before.  Thats what appears to have happened here.

[Anonymous 0xp 2]

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[limburger 21910xp 1]

@horati0nosebl0wer you’ll notice that the first time … trust me. I know too.
This reads more like it died of old age, because that too can happen to power supplies.

@lawnor did you check if there was a fuse in the device ? IF you’re lucky then that may have been the *poof* you’ve heard.

[lawnor 25954xp 0]

It went in the bin a while ago.  The replacement turned up yesterday.  It looks identical to the past one, but for all I know its just a common plastic shell.

[Anonymous 0xp 0]

Can I ask which model you bought @lawnor?  I’m thinking about getting one to try it out.  I’d use my airbrush more if it was less hassle to clean.

[lawnor 25954xp 0]

I bought this one: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/352533948637

600ml VGT-800 Mini Jewelry Ultrasonic Cleaner Ultra Sonic Cleaning

 

It looks the same as the last one I bought.  I haven’t actually taken the wrapping off it yet but I’m assuming its the same as the one I bought last time.  It is big enough to hold my airbrush parts, but not too much bigger.  It was the cheapest version of the same design that was on eBay.  I paid £18 all in.  I think I paid around £20 last time.  £20 for 2+ years is reasonable.

I follow Justin’s mix from a previous weekender to put inside.  Mostly water, with a squeeze of dish soap and Airbrush Cleaner.

[lawnor 25954xp 0]

By the way, this does not replace cleaning.  You should still give your components a wipe down to remove the obvious clutter and cleaning inside the tip is always wise.  This just ensures you do a more thorough job than you can by hand before putting it away at the end of the day.  I’d recommend putting it through a few cycles the first time you use it to let it “catch up”.  When you fish your parts out of the bath water will remain inside them.  I like to blow through anything I can to remove moisture and leave them out to dry somewhere ideally dust free between uses.  That’s probably overkill and a few hours – overnight should be enough.

I did encounter one new problem from using a sonic bath.  Inside the part of mine that connects to the pipe there is a small screw used to adjust pressure or something.  The vibrations slowly turned the screw over many cycles and my airbrush started playing up.  It took a while to work out what the problem was (And the help of people on this forum).  Ever since then I remove that part before anything goes in the bath.

In case this isn’t clear, break down your airbrush before sonicing it.  Only wash the parts that paint could get to.  I leave the spring out of the bath too.

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