Anyone have a sonic cleaner?

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Does anyone have a sonic cleaner? I would like to strip my Alaska F7 and start over, but I want no trace of the paint left. I heard ultra sonic cleaners with 91% alcohol would do the trick.


Sigh.... I am begining to hate this project.

[engineshop]

I never used my sonic cleaner for paint stripping, but I use this one with success:

http://www.dickblick.com/zz250/65b/

[Chris333]

A Kato F7 shell is only $25.00 direct. How much is this cleaner?

[sparky]

I picked up an ultrasonic cleaner from Harbor Freight on sale for ~$20.00 .  It works O.K., but 91% isopropyl and an old toothbrush work just fine for me.  Even on Kato shells after multiple soaks/scrubs.

[wazzou]

Fair warning...Ultrasonic cleaners also generate heat and the heat combined with the 91% Alcohol will quickly turn a shell to mush.

[sparky]

Bryan-  I know some of the cleaners made for industrial use and jewelry are heated, but the one I got at HF is not.  I've run it for a few hours at a time with no appreciable rise in alcohol temperature- it's still close to room temp. after running.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=3305

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Well the shell is now bathing in alcohol. Looks like it will need paint stripper as well. Hopfully I will get this thing p[ainted again by next week. I'm going to take my time. I think the blue went on too thick because I painted it about 20 minutes after the mask-sealing yellow.

I am also reformulating the yellow to be thinner and brighter to match the prototype.

Lets hope this goes better then last time.

[Hyperion]

Bryan-  I know some of the cleaners made for industrial use and jewelry are heated, but the one I got at HF is not.  I've run it for a few hours at a time with no appreciable rise in alcohol temperature- it's still close to room temp. after running.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=3305

You say that it works "OK".... can you elaborate any? 

I've stripped dozens of shells using a toothbrush and alcohol and it works pretty good but it is fairly messy and some, particularly Katos, are a bit harder.  With the Katos it also seems more like I'm kinda wiping the paint away more than stripping it off, and it can take considerably longer than the Atlas models.    I'm all for making things easier if this ultrasonic thing helps even a little bit.

[Nato]

  I have had an Ultrasonic cleaner for going on 16 years now. Got it at a Jewelry supply house.I have never used it to remove paint ,but to clean mass quanities of metal and plastic wheel sets. At first I used the rather smelly cleaning fluid that came with it, but now use isopropal. Have never had a over heat problem, my cleaner has a built in timer that you can set for different run times. Yes Ultrasonic probably would remove the paint ,but as others have posted a new undec shell would be cheaper.                     Nate Goodman (Nato). Salt Lake, Utah.