Last thing I need is one more piece of stuff, but an ultrasonic cleaner seems like it would be god to have for ongoing chain and cassette cleaning. Will one of the Amazon $30 jewelry-sized jobbies do the trick?
Most of the jewelry sized ones make it difficult to put anything more than a chain in there. Spend the extra money, and get one with a heating element as well.
I had a cheap plastic one and it broke. 2nd time around I got a nicer $80 metal one and its been good for a few years now. Both worked to clean the chains well enough.
Got it- thanks.
Last thing I need is one more piece of stuff, but an ultrasonic cleaner seems like it would be god to have for ongoing chain and cassette cleaning. Will one of the Amazon $30 jewelry-sized jobbies do the trick?
Used my wife’s once, did decent job but as others have stated I’d get a larger one with a heating element.
It is one of those. Buy the cheap one several times or the good one once.
Last thing I need is one more piece of stuff, but an ultrasonic cleaner seems like it would be god to have for ongoing chain and cassette cleaning. Will one of the Amazon $30 jewelry-sized jobbies do the trick?
Not too long ago, I used one of those $30 jobbies. They do work, but as mentioned, it’s kinda annoying and limited - you can’t fit much in there, and the fluid you use gets really dirty and saturated really quickly due to the small volume.
However, I made a change that rendered the ultrasonic cleaner obsolete, and has way better for drivetrain and overall bike maintenance overall. I went waxed (not oil lube) chain. Tons of posts on this on this forum, just google it. With the wax, the drivetrain really cleans itself, and parts stay really clean without specific cleaning. The ‘dirtiest’ wax drivetrain I’ve had is way cleaner than my best efforts cleaning a lube-based drivetrain, even with that cheap ultrasonic cleaner, chain brush tool. The only way the lube will be cleaner is if you use multiple solvent washes + ultrasonic cleaner, which is beyond a royal pain, especially for solvent disposal.
Seriously consider going waxed. So easy with a $20 dedicated crockpot and a $5 block of paraffin wax. Just google it - you’ll never need to clean your drivetrain again unless you really, really want to.
Thanks. I’m already on wax, but I would still like to have something that will let me get a deep clean of the cassette and chains regularly. More importantly, when I get new chains from which I need to remove the factory grease before waxing, I would like an alternative to using mineral spirits & denatured alcohol for the strip.
Probably not ideal… I bought mine from Harbor Freight with a 25% coupon. Use it alot and it works great.
https://www.harborfreight.com/25-liter-ultrasonic-cleaner-63256.html?_br_psugg_q=ultrasonic+cleaners
Thanks. I’m already on wax, but I would still like to have something that will let me get a deep clean of the cassette and chains regularly. More importantly, when I get new chains from which I need to remove the factory grease before waxing, I would like an alternative to using mineral spirits & denatured alcohol for the strip.
I’ve got one of the cheap ones (cassette or chain fits fine) and do chain waxing. You’re still going to need some solvent to degrease new chains, but I’ve had reasonable success with Simple Green Aircraft clean and various orange solvents. I haven’t done any formal testing, but fresh wax in the pot stays clean after the stripping rounds.
If I was buying again, I’d probably get a slightly nicer one, but I’d also focus on how easy it is to get the fluid out. Pouring it out of the one I have can be a bit messy (buy a large funnel for whatever container you’re trying to go into) and because the fluid volume is small, you end up changing the fluid more frequently (as previously mentioned).
Thanks. I’m already on wax, but I would still like to have something that will let me get a deep clean of the cassette and chains regularly. More importantly, when I get new chains from which I need to remove the factory grease before waxing, I would like an alternative to using mineral spirits & denatured alcohol for the strip.
That’s cool, should work.
I’m lazy. I just make sure if I get a new chain, I’m at least a month out from a race, and I don’t even degrease it - I just stick in the wax. It’s def not as good as a detailed degrease, and less wax sticks on the first time, but after about 3 waxes, it’s indistinguishable to me from a deep degreased chain (which I’ve done before). I hate dealing with solvent disposal if I don’t have to.
I started off using an ultrasonic cleaner, but I got tired of having to heat up water / wait for the cleaner to heat up. It also uses a lot of degreaser.
I’ve found it simpler to just soak the chain in mineral spirits overnight in a glass jar, shake for a minute, soak again in clean spirits, wipe, then finish off with denatured alchohol.
I started off using an ultrasonic cleaner, but I got tired of having to heat up water / wait for the cleaner to heat up. It also uses a lot of degreaser.
I’ve found it simpler to just soak the chain in mineral spirits overnight in a glass jar, shake for a minute, soak again in clean spirits, wipe, then finish off with denatured alchohol.
I think this is correct. I don’t tend to recommend using an ultrasonic as your sole cleaner. The cleaning solution gets more effective if heated, plus if you degas the solution first. If you’re running solely an ultrasonic, you’re heating solution up on the stove and pouring it in, then 5 min degas, and one cycle isn’t enough to clean your chain enough for waxing purposes. I do prefer to shake the chain in bottles.
Josh Poertner and MSW have observed that you can use an ultrasonic as a finishing step in the cleaning process, to really get the chain super clean. It’s not necessary, but it’s fine to do.
If one is thinking of a jewelry-calibre ultrasonic, I think it would suffice for that final cleaning step. I have a US$100-ish ultrasonic from Amazon for that purpose - actually I bought it as a sole cleaner, not knowing then what I know now.
My experience has been that the cheap plastic jewelry ones are pretty rubbish. The £30 I bought defo was a waste of money.
The £80 stainless steel one I got that has a heater built in is much better.
As per others, I tend to donit in steps:-
- Take the chain (or what ever part) off, stick it in a jar with white spirit to soak for a while. Shake the jar from time to time.
2…rinse off the chain/ component.
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Put in the ultrasonic bath. I put a bit of degreaserin with the water. Run the bath.
-
Wash off with clean water.
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Squirt on some 90%+ IPA (the rubbing alcohol, not a hoppy fashionable beer) onto the chain / component and let that evaporate to take the residual water with it.
So much cleaner and better than without the ultrasonic- as otherwise degreaser solvent remains in the chain nooks and crannies then comes out to make a black shiiity mess with what ever lube is used.
I found silca’s bio degreaser worked quite well for the initial strip. No ultrasonic cleaner needed. I did rinse with alcohol after, but in theory distilled water should work just as well.
Why are you cleaning your cassettes once the chain is waxed? YMMV but I’ve never seen any accumulation there.
I’ve been using an el cheapo jewellry size ultrasonic cleaner from Aldi for a few years and happy with it.
Only large enough put a chain or cassette in (but not large enough for both at once).
3 minute cycle - empty dirty cleaning fluid - replace - maybe 3-4 cycles until chain is clean.
Larger cleaner with heating element may be more time effective, but I’m cheap and happy just running the chain through a few cleaning cycles. I just keep running it through the cycles while I’m cleaning the rest of my bike so not like I’m losing time out of my life.