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.