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Ultrasonic Chip Cleaning (21 Viewers)
- Thread starter ski_ex5
- Start date
Shaggy
Full House
It is unlikely that new chips with home use will ever need the type of cleaning that the ultrasonic provides. Typically people will get an ultrasonic to clean used casino chips... often times heavily used with lots of casino hunk stuck to the chips.
bivey
Full House
Red will certainly bleed some with TSP or even oxyclean (w/o US) methods. Usually not noticeable after oiling as long as you are not using long ultrasonic times (recommend less than 2 min at 38-40 deg C)
Makes sense thanks for the info
mls26cwru
High Hand
thank you for this tutorial!
I don't know if Oxy is very good to use. I believe I've seen some people recommend against it. What you want is the TSP substitute sodium metasilicate. Looks just like TSP, but is not as caustic...some TSP labeled products are actually SMS (Lundmark TSP for example).
I found a Lundmark alternative at the local big box supermarket. Just check the label and make sure it is SMS and not TSP.
You can also play around with water temp and soak time...some colors are going to be more sensitive than others. Definitely practice on a chip or two at a time and check the results before doing a big batch.
Heat is a much bigger problem than the strength of the solution, especially with Paulson reds. Keep the water to less than, say, 100° F or 40° C, especially for anything red, purple, or pink.
Alright, that makes sense. On my initial try I made the mistake of just running them for too long I think. I was at 35 C on one run for 3 mins and ~38 C for a second 2-3 minute run. And I wasn't using the salad spinner yet because I hate searching threads so I paid that price. Headed to HEB to get all the stuff I need and then gonna go with just one empress joliet $5 and see if I can get it right, probably ~38 C, 2 tbsp oxi clean (that's just what I had bought, maybe HEB will have TSP), salad spinner method plus distilled water.
Oh, forgot to say -- I wouldn't use OxiClean on anything except white chips (although I highly recommend it for white chips!)
I feel like there's too much bleaching action going on. Stick to TSP or sodium metasilicate for removing most casino gunk.
I feel like there's too much bleaching action going on. Stick to TSP or sodium metasilicate for removing most casino gunk.
Yeah, Oxy is pretty good at removing gunk (manually), but you need to take safeguards to avoid color loss. I wouldn't use it in an ultrasonic setting, simply because it suds up too much (which essentially negates the sound waves and cavitation in an ultrasonic bath, which is the whole purpose of using it).
So did about 400 chips with 2 tbsp of oxyclean in a 6L tub, ~35-37 C, and various times for each chip type. The empress $5 primaries I did for just under a minute, and that was right around the correct time. It feels like the edges lost some color, but I'm curious if after oiling they'll look fine. If not then the answer might be 45 seconds max. I did almost 3 racks of horseshoe cleveland $5s at about 35 seconds each run and they got most of their gunk off. The horseshoe cleveland $1s needed about a minute and they still had slight gunk on the chip faces--but the edges looked very good. Finally, the empress primary $25s needed about 45 seconds and they turned out just fine.
I had picked up some secondary empress joliet $5s and $25s on eBay, but after getting familiar with the ultrasonic process these chips were most definitely run through one. Zero gunk on either chip type, while the secondary $25s in particular had slight fading in a similar fashion to the primary $5s.
I had picked up some secondary empress joliet $5s and $25s on eBay, but after getting familiar with the ultrasonic process these chips were most definitely run through one. Zero gunk on either chip type, while the secondary $25s in particular had slight fading in a similar fashion to the primary $5s.
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My experience with Lundmark TSP and Paulson solids is that the chips often look “dry” and drab afterward, but a little mineral oil perks them right back up.
I don’t use ultrasound—just a salad spinner on its own, with hot water from the faucet. I use 9-10 coffee cups of water to about 1.5-2 tablespoons of TSP, spun for exactly two minutes. So far, so good.
So nobody really had bad experiences with ultrasonic on that type of chips?
I guess I will try with two or three chips to begin...
Paulson's are rock solid in the ultrasonic and non-phosphate TSP. Only strange observation I ever had was a slight staining of the detergent bath after cleaning a bunch of Forest Green chips, but afterward the chips themselves did not lose any colour at all.
I guess it all depends on whether or not one considers wasted effort with no discernible cleaning results as a "bad experience".
My experience with Lundmark TSP (agitation in a 1:9 or 1:10 mixture with hot water) is that hotstamps in very good-to-mint condition come out unscathed. But hotstamps which are already abraded (i.e., with some of their surface already worn off) are sometimes vulnerable to further fading/discoloration.
This manifests as (a) gold foil sometimes turning more toward silver, and (b) the lines making up the Starburst hotstamp becoming somewhat thinner.
As far as cleaning power, I have been quite pleased with the results even without any ultrasonic and a “thin” mixture.
Dr. Matt
Two Pair
Longer times in a strong ultrasonic and hotter water tend to fade other Paulsons, and I’ve seen that even mineral oil doesn’t bring them back to the prior color in those settings. I’d expect the same for your chips. But keeping to the temps and times described shouldnt cause fading that can’t be resolved with light oiling afterward in my limited experience.
I am interested in this. I have some moderately dirty chips I need to clean. Does this method get the gunk out from the canes? Are you still manually brushing afterward or do they come out pretty good?
WedgeRock
Royal Flush
Oxyclean and a cheap kids battery operated toothbrush will....
I have 1k dirty chips en route to me so this isn't really an option I want to pursue. I cleaned 300 chips this way and it was fun but I don't plan to do it again.
WedgeRock
Royal Flush
I think I did 140... I wouldn't want to do more than a rack...
If I had 1000 discs of hooker juice heading my way, I'd by buying an ultrasonic and a salad spinner.
I’ve not had any situation where I felt the chips needed deeper cleaning than the manual method. I can’t say I’ve had any truly filthy chips, but I’ve had ones that were pretty dirty on which this worked.
FWIW, I apply the mineral oil with a Kiwi shoe polish sponge, laying the chips out on a cotton tarp folded over several times. As I flip the chips over, I kind of give them a small spin against the soft tarp, which also helps remove some of the excess and maybe has a slight cleaning effect.
After oiling and letting the chips sit a bit, I do manually rub them dry, one by one, usually using a microfiber cloth. This likely helps bring up any smaller/less visible gunk, though the main purpose is to remove any excess oil. The cloth rarely looks more than a little soiled, even after rubbing hundreds of chips.
My method is to hold the chip steady with one hand from the underside of the cloth, while gripping and spinning it with the other, again through the cloth, for a few revolutions, if that makes sense.
Usually do this while watching sports or Poker After Dark, so it isn’t quite so tedious.
Very interesting - thanks for responding. I already ordered TSP and a salad spinner. I am going to try your method of just spinning the chips with TSP+hot water and see how they turn out. If I am not satisfied then I will proceed with the Ultrasonic.
From experience chips seem to need a lot of manual scrubbing to be clean so I find it hard to believe this will work but always open to some science
thanks for sharing.
I used an ultrasonic cleaner + TSP to wash 950 grimey Horseshoe Clevelands and It worked great! They were a little dull afterwards but mineral oil gave them new life. Everyone at my game loves these chips, thanks for the tips, great solution!
Has anyone tried using light dawn in ultrasonic mixed with water?
My chips were brand new and ever so often they get dirty I’d say every 6 mo, I normally use dawn an water and a brush but leaning towards getting a ultrasonic cleaner.... I rather not have chemicals in my home which I have a 2 year old also I wouldn’t know where to dispose the chemicals so I fig I see if anyone has dropped dawn in a Ultrasonic cleaner to clean there not so Grimey chips ?
My chips were brand new and ever so often they get dirty I’d say every 6 mo, I normally use dawn an water and a brush but leaning towards getting a ultrasonic cleaner.... I rather not have chemicals in my home which I have a 2 year old also I wouldn’t know where to dispose the chemicals so I fig I see if anyone has dropped dawn in a Ultrasonic cleaner to clean there not so Grimey chips ?
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