Ultrasonic cleaning?

On Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at 2:12:19 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 4/13/2021 3:45 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at 10:16:19 AM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 4/13/2021 10:38 AM, N8N wrote:
On Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at 11:29:23 AM UTC-4, wrote:
On Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at 7:36:52 AM UTC-7, N8N wrote:
Was just thinking... I used to use a bucket of carb dip to "deep clean" a chain, but I haven't had one in a while because movers don't like to pack up a gallon can of highly volatile solvents for some reason...

I now have an ultrasonic cleaner that I primarily use for LPs but it does a great job with glasses, showerheads, etc. Can I use it to deep clean a chain, and what do you use for a solution? Obviously if I were going to do this it would be before cleaning the cleaner and putting in fresh LP cleaning solution.

thanks for any advice!
I use a product called "SuperWash" that comes in a purple container and is little more than a soap. I allow the solution to heat to 50 degrees C and run the ultrasonic for 5 minutes. Anything and everything off of a bike comes out sparkling clean though I would not put anything with sealed bearings into it. Chains come out sparkling clean and then I put them in a wax hot pot. Cogsets come out showing only the wear marks, It cuts absolutely everything off. That soap is also biodegradable so I can through it out into the garden.

thanks. Was also thinking about wax so I guess that's the follow up question. I might be interested in trying that, I know that paraffin based wax is recommended but I'm assuming you all aren't using Gulf wax from the grocery store (or are you?)

nate

Yep, that's the food-grade version

https://askinglot.com/what-is-gulf-wax

I had been looking at a waxing video and used what the hell they recommended. It came in large blocks. They had recommended some commercial grade of Teflon but it wasn't available so I found another commercial grade that supposedly had slightly larger particle size. That doesn't seem to have made much difference. When I was messing about with Cassettes yesterday, I could not hold the waxed chain tight enough to remove the lock link while keeping the chain on the small ring and small cog. I had to pull it completely off of the chainrings so that it was completely loose. That's pretty slippery. I'm on my 10th ride and today I did a short hard ride with 1800 feet of climbing. My discovery yesterday of that non-Campy cassette not being spaced properly and the replacement of it with a real Campy seems to have pretty much solved the shifting problem in the small ring. Even not having done this route in two months I did it at an average speed of 9.4 mph and my record is a 9.6 mph average
. I did have a whole lot of traffic interference today as well. I'm getting a real 10 speed freehub so that I can get rid of that extra spacer. That should end the slight skipping now and again.

I generally ignore toxic chemical warnings but hot teflon
fumes are an actually dangerous thing. You might check into
that.

https://www.fluoridealert.org/wp-con...fects.lung.htm

The wax pot get perhaps to 50C. The danger point of Teflon or any other of the polyfluorenes is 260C. So while you are quite correct, we are not talking in the same heat regime here.

On Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at 3:43:31 PM UTC-7, N8N wrote:
On Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at 12:02:35 PM UTC-4, wrote:
On Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at 8:38:25 AM UTC-7, N8N wrote:
On Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at 11:29:23 AM UTC-4, wrote:
On Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at 7:36:52 AM UTC-7, N8N wrote:
Was just thinking... I used to use a bucket of carb dip to "deep clean" a chain, but I haven't had one in a while because movers don't like to pack up a gallon can of highly volatile solvents for some reason...

I now have an ultrasonic cleaner that I primarily use for LPs but it does a great job with glasses, showerheads, etc. Can I use it to deep clean a chain, and what do you use for a solution? Obviously if I were going to do this it would be before cleaning the cleaner and putting in fresh LP cleaning solution.

thanks for any advice!
I use a product called "SuperWash" that comes in a purple container and is little more than a soap. I allow the solution to heat to 50 degrees C and run the ultrasonic for 5 minutes. Anything and everything off of a bike comes out sparkling clean though I would not put anything with sealed bearings into it. Chains come out sparkling clean and then I put them in a wax hot pot. Cogsets come out showing only the wear marks, It cuts absolutely everything off. That soap is also biodegradable so I can through it out into the garden.
thanks. Was also thinking about wax so I guess that's the follow up question. I might be interested in trying that, I know that paraffin based wax is recommended but I'm assuming you all aren't using Gulf wax from the grocery store (or are you?)
Waxing is something you may not want to do. It is very messy. After you bring the pot up to temperature and you put the chain in it (mostly wax with enough Teflon powder in it to make the wax REALLY slippery) you pull the chain out of that after it is hot and hang it on a hook to cool. Unfortunately it never drips enough of the wax off and the chain is then stiff as a board and you have to work it quite a bit to get the links to all most well enough to get the chain mounted on the bike. Then it throws flakes of wax everywhere for a week. After than it seems to work very well for about a month. So you're cleaning the bike for a month. If you do not want to go through this rather arduous procedure you should simply buy a bottle of Rock n Roll and follow the directions. This seems to have the same effect. You apply it and let it dry overnight. The RnR is the same Teflon I use but with a solvent carrier so that it can clean a dirty chain and re-lube it at the same time.
I think that's what I've been using, so you're saying just keep using that?

Probably Rock n Roll is pretty expensive and you have to shoot a lot of it on a really dirty chain. That is one of the reasons I only use it on a clean chain where the carrier only helps to move the Teflon into the rollers. But you really do have to let it dry overnight before trying to ride it or the excess carrier will push the Teflon with out of the rollers.

On 4/13/2021 12:02 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:


Waxing is something you may not want to do. It is very messy. After you bring the pot up to temperature and you put the chain in it (mostly wax with enough Teflon powder in it to make the wax REALLY slippery) you pull the chain out of that after it is hot and hang it on a hook to cool...

Alternately, for a less messy method:

I leave the chain on the bike, use a foot-square piece of aluminum
hanging from the chainstay to protect the tire and the rest of the bike,
and use a low flame propane torch to warm maybe 6" of the lower part of
the chain. I scrape some of the wax/oil block onto the warmed part of
the chain, heat it again until the wax crumbs melt and run into the
chain innards, then backpedal and repeat. When the entire chain is done,
I run it backwards through a wad of paper towels to wipe off excess.
It's very quick and works very well for me.


--
- Frank Krygowski

On 14/4/21 1:38 am, N8N wrote:
On Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at 11:29:23 AM UTC-4,
wrote:
On Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at 7:36:52 AM UTC-7, N8N wrote:
Was just thinking... I used to use a bucket of carb dip to "deep
clean" a chain, but I haven't had one in a while because movers
don't like to pack up a gallon can of highly volatile solvents
for some reason...

I now have an ultrasonic cleaner that I primarily use for LPs but
it does a great job with glasses, showerheads, etc. Can I use it
to deep clean a chain, and what do you use for a solution?
Obviously if I were going to do this it would be before cleaning
the cleaner and putting in fresh LP cleaning solution.

thanks for any advice!
I use a product called "SuperWash" that comes in a purple container
and is little more than a soap. I allow the solution to heat to 50
degrees C and run the ultrasonic for 5 minutes. Anything and
everything off of a bike comes out sparkling clean though I would
not put anything with sealed bearings into it. Chains come out
sparkling clean and then I put them in a wax hot pot. Cogsets come
out showing only the wear marks, It cuts absolutely everything off.
That soap is also biodegradable so I can through it out into the
garden.

thanks. Was also thinking about wax so I guess that's the follow up
question. I might be interested in trying that, I know that paraffin
based wax is recommended but I'm assuming you all aren't using Gulf
wax from the grocery store (or are you?)


I use a hot wax bath to relube my chains. I don't bother cleaning
prior. Just take the chain off (I always use a quick link. Connex
preferably), and immerse in hot wax for a few minutes. Lift it out with
the help of a pair of pliers or put a piece of wire through a link
before immersion, and leave it somewhere to drip and cool.

If the wax solution gets too hot, too much lube runs off when you take
the chain out. Too cool and too much wax hangs on and can flick around
a bit - but it wipes off easily.

My wax is not just wax. I mixed about 50/50 EP gear oil with paraffin
wax. A bit smelly but much better longevity.

I also run 2-3 chains on a cassette. Swap to the shortest chain every
lube, which is 1000-2000km for me. Cassette life is very long.

--
JS

On Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at 5:14:13 PM UTC-7, James wrote:
On 14/4/21 1:38 am, N8N wrote:
On Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at 11:29:23 AM UTC-4,
wrote:
On Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at 7:36:52 AM UTC-7, N8N wrote:
Was just thinking... I used to use a bucket of carb dip to "deep
clean" a chain, but I haven't had one in a while because movers
don't like to pack up a gallon can of highly volatile solvents
for some reason...

I now have an ultrasonic cleaner that I primarily use for LPs but
it does a great job with glasses, showerheads, etc. Can I use it
to deep clean a chain, and what do you use for a solution?
Obviously if I were going to do this it would be before cleaning
the cleaner and putting in fresh LP cleaning solution.

thanks for any advice!
I use a product called "SuperWash" that comes in a purple container
and is little more than a soap. I allow the solution to heat to 50
degrees C and run the ultrasonic for 5 minutes. Anything and
everything off of a bike comes out sparkling clean though I would
not put anything with sealed bearings into it. Chains come out
sparkling clean and then I put them in a wax hot pot. Cogsets come
out showing only the wear marks, It cuts absolutely everything off.
That soap is also biodegradable so I can through it out into the
garden.

thanks. Was also thinking about wax so I guess that's the follow up
question. I might be interested in trying that, I know that paraffin
based wax is recommended but I'm assuming you all aren't using Gulf
wax from the grocery store (or are you?)

I use a hot wax bath to relube my chains. I don't bother cleaning
prior. Just take the chain off (I always use a quick link. Connex
preferably), and immerse in hot wax for a few minutes. Lift it out with
the help of a pair of pliers or put a piece of wire through a link
before immersion, and leave it somewhere to drip and cool.

If the wax solution gets too hot, too much lube runs off when you take
the chain out. Too cool and too much wax hangs on and can flick around
a bit - but it wipes off easily.

My wax is not just wax. I mixed about 50/50 EP gear oil with paraffin
wax. A bit smelly but much better longevity.

I also run 2-3 chains on a cassette. Swap to the shortest chain every
lube, which is 1000-2000km for me. Cassette life is very long.

I tried it your way and it works but messes up the wax bath so I resorted to the ultrasonic cleaner. It was only $30.

On 13/04/2021 17:38, N8N wrote:
On Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at 11:29:23 AM UTC-4,
wrote:
On Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at 7:36:52 AM UTC-7, N8N wrote:
Was just thinking... I used to use a bucket of carb dip to "deep
clean" a chain, but I haven't had one in a while because movers
don't like to pack up a gallon can of highly volatile solvents
for some reason...

I now have an ultrasonic cleaner that I primarily use for LPs but
it does a great job with glasses, showerheads, etc. Can I use it
to deep clean a chain, and what do you use for a solution?
Obviously if I were going to do this it would be before cleaning
the cleaner and putting in fresh LP cleaning solution.

thanks for any advice!
I use a product called "SuperWash" that comes in a purple container
and is little more than a soap. I allow the solution to heat to 50
degrees C and run the ultrasonic for 5 minutes. Anything and
everything off of a bike comes out sparkling clean though I would
not put anything with sealed bearings into it. Chains come out
sparkling clean and then I put them in a wax hot pot. Cogsets come
out showing only the wear marks, It cuts absolutely everything off.
That soap is also biodegradable so I can through it out into the
garden.

thanks. Was also thinking about wax so I guess that's the follow up
question. I might be interested in trying that, I know that paraffin
based wax is recommended but I'm assuming you all aren't using Gulf
wax from the grocery store (or are you?)

Oh Dog, you had to didn't you? You just had to!