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Ultrasonic Chip Cleaning (21 Viewers)

** I apologize in advance if any of this was already observed and noted in another post **

Hi All,

Just wanted to post my first ultrasonic experience. I want to preface by saying that I bought one of those Chinese manufactured Vevor 6L units for $105 shipped (all the specs are more than sufficient, but realize it's not a Hornady unit, which is better, but pricier and harder to find).

As you know, the instructions in the OP are amazing. I followed everything to the letter, except for what is below.
  • Being that this is not a Hornady unit, the width of the pan was a decent bit wider than the chip cage. As a result, the 8 cups of water hardly filled it at all. Therefore, I probably put about 2.5x the water, while also adding 2.5x the fake TSP in order to achieve the proper ratio.
  • This unit is in Celsius, and for us dumb Americans, 110 degrees Fahrenheit is about 43 degrees Celsius.
  • I ended up putting the whole cage in (touching the bottom), holding the lid on with my left hand and pushing the cage gently against the right wall of the pan, while using my right hand to spin the unit using the zip ties that I put on the cage (I didn't notice any damage to the pan from the friction)
Though I'm sure you perfected this process yourselves (and no doubt noticed areas where I can improve), I wanted to provide some perspective for folks who may be considering purchasing the Vevor.

Now to the results. I thought the chips came out looking good. It doesn't appear that I messed anything up based on the improvisation that I had to do. Enjoy the pics!

Chips pre cleaning (normal light)
20160717_141830.jpg

Chips post cleaning (normal light)
20160717_145159.jpg

Chip pre cleaning (flash)
20160717_141808.jpg

Chips post cleaning (flash)
20160717_145139.jpg


400 chips in about an hour (took it very slow)
20160717_154312.jpg


Gross ass water (emptied from the valve on the unit)
20160717_161553.jpg


Next up this week - water and oil trick! (I'll add pics to this post)

Thanks for reading!
 
Nicely done! How many chips did you do at a time, And how long did you run them in the machine?
 
Anyone ever figure a way to clean Burt Co chips in an ultrasonic? I have some old Burt MD50s that are not gunky...colors just look dirty. They're hotstamped.

Also, any others have success with hotstamped TH&C Paulsons?
 

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GenghisKhan said:
Anyone ever figure a way to clean Burt Co chips in an ultrasonic? I have some old Burt MD50s that are not gunky...colors just look dirty. They're hotstamped.

Also, any others have success with hotstamped TH&C Paulsons?
Click to expand...

Those look like a job for Oxy. You should try @abby99 method!

I use the ultrasonic on the hot stamps with no problem. Depending on the actual chip I would try a sample chip prior to cleaning a bunch.

I cleaned over 600 Point Defiance chips with the ultrasonic method with no problem.

David
 
David O said:
Those look like a job for Oxy. You should try @abby99 method!

I use the ultrasonic on the hot stamps with no problem. Depending on the actual chip I would try a sample chip prior to cleaning a bunch.

I cleaned over 600 Point Defiance chips with the ultrasonic method with no problem.

David
Click to expand...

I've only used Oxy on inlaid Paulsons. For everything else, including old Burt chips and hot stamped chips, I've only used Palmolive or Dawn and warm water.

I've never used an ultrasonic and can't comment.

Edit: I meant to write Dawn, not Dove.
 
Last edited:
David O said:
Those look like a job for Oxy. You should try @abby99 method!

I use the ultrasonic on the hot stamps with no problem. Depending on the actual chip I would try a sample chip prior to cleaning a bunch.

I cleaned over 600 Point Defiance chips with the ultrasonic method with no problem.

David
Click to expand...
I should clarify I have only used oxy on paulsons.
 
I'd be leery of using ultrasonic or old Burt chips. I believe the Binion horseshoe, horseshoe molds are Burt... They no likey oxy or ultrasonic. Recommend dawn only.
 
Read through entire thread, best I understand is to NOT use any additives (TSP, OXY) when cleaning Burt/ASM/CPC chips. However, are there any issues just using the ultrasonic with distilled water. Any other problems such as temperature limitations, etc. Not sure whether just using the ultrasonic plain will accomplish much more than a toothbrush/pick, but I have a fairly large amount for really dirty SuperGem/LgKey/MD-88 chips that are a royal pain to clean by hand.
 
MegaTon44 said:
** I apologize in advance if any of this was already observed and noted in another post **

Hi All,

Just wanted to post my first ultrasonic experience. I want to preface by saying that I bought one of those Chinese manufactured Vevor 6L units for $105 shipped (all the specs are more than sufficient, but realize it's not a Hornady unit, which is better, but pricier and harder to find).

As you know, the instructions in the OP are amazing. I followed everything to the letter, except for what is below.
  • Being that this is not a Hornady unit, the width of the pan was a decent bit wider than the chip cage. As a result, the 8 cups of water hardly filled it at all. Therefore, I probably put about 2.5x the water, while also adding 2.5x the fake TSP in order to achieve the proper ratio.
  • This unit is in Celsius, and for us dumb Americans, 110 degrees Fahrenheit is about 43 degrees Celsius.
  • I ended up putting the whole cage in (touching the bottom), holding the lid on with my left hand and pushing the cage gently against the right wall of the pan, while using my right hand to spin the unit using the zip ties that I put on the cage (I didn't notice any damage to the pan from the friction)
Though I'm sure you perfected this process yourselves (and no doubt noticed areas where I can improve), I wanted to provide some perspective for folks who may be considering purchasing the Vevor.

Now to the results. I thought the chips came out looking good. It doesn't appear that I messed anything up based on the improvisation that I had to do. Enjoy the pics!
Click to expand...

Nice work! These turned out great!

I was wondering about how well the non Hornady units worked. I knew I should have gotten one! Doh! :)

As far as the size differences go, mine is the 3L Hornady model, and it fits the cage perfectly. Not sure about what the 3L non Hornady model dimensions are though.
 
I just got one of the 6L units in the mail... no Lundmark fake TSP though, what's the best alternative with Paulson RHCs? Regular old TSP, oxy, other?

Going to give it a spin soon!
 
Zuan said:
great post! am currently trying to clean Jessie Beck's......very dirty!!
Click to expand...

Jessie Becks clean great in the ultrasonic. I think about 45 seconds.

tigon said:
I just got one of the 6L units in the mail... no Lundmark fake TSP though, what's the best alternative with Paulson RHCs? Regular old TSP, oxy, other?

Going to give it a spin soon!
Click to expand...

I used the Red Devil fake TSP. I think you can order the Lundmark on Amazon.
 
Shaggy said:
Jessie Becks clean great in the ultrasonic. I think about 45 seconds.



I used the Red Devil fake TSP. I think you can order the Lundmark on Amazon.
Click to expand...
As I am novice and I have no idea how to get my hands on a supersonic cleaner here - I have been scrubbing my 900 Jessie Beck's by hand - so far three hours in and 250 clean........I will sell them afterwards for 12$ a chip as my time is valuable :LOL: :laugh: these babies will have to remain in the collection to remind me of how NOT to clean chips!
 
Zuan said:
As I am novice and I have no idea how to get my hands on a supersonic cleaner here - I have been scrubbing my 900 Jessie Beck's by hand - so far three hours in and 250 clean........I will sell them afterwards for 12$ a chip as my time is valuable :LOL: :laugh: these babies will have to remain in the collection to remind me of how NOT to clean chips!
Click to expand...
it is worth buying one, I know people recommend to have the Hornady super one for a couple hundred bucks, but I ended up buying isonic professional grade cleaner for $80 bucks or so... It worked for me, I did a little over 4,000 chips with it... (not all at once...)
 
Max D said:
it is worth buying one, I know people recommend to have the Hornady super one for a couple hundred bucks, but I ended up buying isonic professional grade cleaner for $80 bucks or so... It worked for me, I did a little over 4,000 chips with it... (not all at once...)
Click to expand...
good tip!! thanx for ur answer - will have to take care of my fingers.......very sore!
 
Wish I had this method back in the early 2000's.

FACT:
1) all Palais de Congress Paulson chips were soaked in buckets of Oxyclean and cleaned by hand prior to sale.
2) I actually flew to Montreal, rented a Uhaul and drove those chips back.
3) I was detained on the border at customs and had to explain wth I was doing with a casino load of chips.

Funny to look back now.
 
I'm a convert! I did about 600 RHC chips yesterday in about an hour (not counting time spent afterward scraping glue off). I tried about 80 chips when I first got the machine with regular TSP and didn't get the results I was looking for. Finally got some real fake TSP though.

image002-jpg.49617



After pics to come. It didn't completely remove all the glue on top of the inlays but did a number on it, making it much easier to scrape off. I might try a slightly longer bath next time, about 60 seconds or so instead of 45 and see if that helps.
 
tigon said:
I'm a convert! I did about 600 RHC chips yesterday in about an hour (not counting time spent afterward scraping glue off). I tried about 80 chips when I first got the machine with regular TSP and didn't get the results I was looking for. Finally got some real fake TSP though.

image002-jpg.49617



After pics to come. It didn't completely remove all the glue on top of the inlays but did a number on it, making it much easier to scrape off. I might try a slightly longer bath next time, about 60 seconds or so instead of 45 and see if that helps.
Click to expand...
Patiently waiting on those pics Sir.
 
Completely removing the adhesive gunk has been more difficult than I let on with quite a few chips. I'm using 2 liters 44C distilled water with 2 tbsp Lundmark TSP and a chip cleaning cage. Experimenting with different bath times from 30s-1:30 and load sizes from 20-40 lead to no changes in how the glue came off. I might try using the metal basket and let the chips rest without as much agitation and see how that works.

The edges look great though after being oiled!
 
Last edited:
tigon said:
Completely removing the adhesive gunk has been more difficult than I let on.
Click to expand...

Try a Q-tip with non-acetone fingernail polish remover. I suspect no amount of ultrasonic action is going to remove adhesive residue without some type of solvent.
 

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