Monday, March 14, 2011

Project Mania 3

Yet again I must apologize for not responding to comments like I should. I've been working a lot of hours lately and it just doesn't mesh well with my blogging. I do read and greatly appreciate your comments. Now, on to bike stuff...

Despite having owned this thing for a little over seven hours, I give two thumbs up to the ultrasonic cleaner I picked up from Harbor Freight Tools for 69.99. I read about it on Bike Forums and decided that this would be a great time saving item.

This is the 2.5 liter model. I don't think you would want to get anything smaller. The water heating feature on this cleaner is excellent, it softens up the caked on grime.

I threw the crank arm in there to give a sense of scale.

This was my test item.

Test item-before.

I ran it through several cycles and did a little scrubbing with a toothbrush.

Test item-after. It's good and clean and ready for polishing (if I'm up to it).

I blasted it with the air compressor to dry it off, then I scrubbed at the rusted areas with some fine steel wool; finally, I lubed the rust prone parts and hinges.

I started throwing everything in there. By the way, I filled the tub with water and a mild dishwashing detergent. I'll try Dawn next time around.

Clean! You could eat off this thing.

10 comments:

  1. That cleaner seems to have done a good job! Good find, Myles!!

    Why am I reminded of Mr. Jaws? :)

    Peace :)

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  2. Thanks, I was also looking at these at HF, and wondering which size to get. That crank arm seals the deal. You da man.

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  3. Do they have a model you can just throw the whole bike in?

    When I first saw the photo, I was almost like, "What does this blog post have to do with a clock radio?" ;-)

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  4. Finally, a manly "dish"washer...(insert Tim Allen grunt here).

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  5. Awesome! I also thought it was a clock radio, in the first shot.

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  6. That thing did a great job on those derailleurs. I scrubbed for over an hour on mine and they didn't turn out nearly as well as yours.

    BTW, I have a Shimano 600 derailleur, similar to yours, although yours may be older (or newer). After 26 years, that derailleur shifts as well as ever!

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  7. The price applies whether you buy it online or at your nearest Harbor Freight store. They are not prominently displayed at the stores, however, so you may have to ask.

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