Ultrasonic Cleaners

[tanalasta]

I recently purchased an UltraSonic Cleaner locally (i.e. Australian) from http://www.liquidglassoz.com.au/prod41.htm

 

Obviously, there are cheaper 'egg shaped' plastic models, mostly made in China or available on eBay/Amazon etc... but in general, a simple ultrasonic cleaner with a timer and no heat was what was suggested to me.

 

What are the do's and don't's when using an ultrasonic cleaner with fountain pens?

 

From reading the forums

1. Try to remove the nib and feed from the pen barrel if possible. Better yet is to knock the feed from the nib if you have the correct tools.

2. Flush the pen out as best as you can before using the ultrasonic cleaner

 

Avoid painted, maki-e and raw ebonite pens or anything where the ultrasonic cleaner could potentially damage the material.

 

Questions:

1. Are lacquered pens (e.g. Danitrio Urushi, ST Dupont) safe in an ultrasonic?

2. How about ebonite feeds on modern Aurora Optima or older MB 149? I know you shouldn't soak them for long periods but are 3 minutes in an ultrasonic cleaner safe?

3. Can you just dunk the nib and feed into the cleaner whilst it's operating until no more ink apperars to be coming out

4. Can you dunk the whole pen in? Filled with water or is that not a good idea?

 

What materials, pen barrels or things wouldn't you recommend?

[Left FPN]

I have had an 'egg' shaped cleaner for almost a year now and clean all my Waterman sections, caps, barrels and converters separately with it. It has a maximum of 8 minutes on the timer and I regulary run it on that setting 3 or 4 times. Note, ultrasonic action does slightly warm the water.

 

I also use the suppliers soap additive which does enhance the cleaning process.

 

If I have a heavily contaminated section I place it into a secondary container in the ultrasonic unit so as not to contaminate ALL the liquid in the main tank.

 

Some of my pens are plastic others are lacquer over brass and I have had no bad experiences yet.

 

I do not knock out the nibs from the sections and in some cases it is impossible to do so ie the inset Carene nib.

 

I can soak a section in a cup of warm water for up to a week, renewing the water every day until no signs of ink are coming from it. If that section is then put into the ultrasonic cleaner, within seconds, plenty more ink appears. Those little explosive bubbles do reach all places. I normally stand the section vertical in the tank for a few minutes to ensure as much air is vented and as much water gets inside as possible, before use.

[Mr.Rene]

cheap gold plated and cleaner solvent are not friends, in fact, gold plated can be removed this way from your pen...if you use it in ultrasonic machine

[kathleen]

tanalasta,

Thank you for asking this question. I will be reading the posts in this thread. I was very happy to receive a very nice ultrasonic cleaner as a Christmas gift.

In the past two days I have been removing nibs from my Esterbrook pens for cleaning. After the nibs have soaked overnight in a jar with a mix 1/10 ammonia and water, and had several rinses, the ultra sonic cleaning still coaxes the nibs to expel more ink.

I have been timid but wondering about putting other pen parts in the ultrasonic cleaner.

[michaelembley]

Does any "pitting" occur on softer (gold) nibs after repeated use?

[wykeite]

Does any "pitting" occur on softer (gold) nibs after repeated use?

 

Utrasonics should not adversley affect any homogeneous materials. Probably the best "beware" example for FP users is the Parker 61. If you put the section in an ultrasonic you will probably take out one extra piece, the lovely arrow logo. I've also used ultrasonics to remove paint on miniatures that I used to do, it works well, especially on acrylic paints.

[Yoda4561]

Nibs: Due to cavitation erosion there may be some slight hazing if a nib is left in the tank for an excess amount of time (hours). Look at the bottom of a well used ultrasonic tank made of stainless steel, hazy/misty areas are where this is occuring. No reasonable amount of cleaning time will harm a nib or even the thin plating on some.

 

Plating: Plating in general will be unharmed, even worn plating isn't an issue. Plating that is starting to lift (bubbles, cracks, peeling) if cleaned in a powerful ultrasonic machine, may be removed where it is weakest. Less powerful machines will probably just clean any dirt between the plating and base metal.

 

Plastics: Ebonite**, ABS, Vegetal, even NEW celluloid as well as any polycarbonate or acrylic pen in good condition will be unharmed by ultrasonic cleaning. Any plastics where excessive crazing has occurred shouldn't be cleaned in one, and should probably be retired permanently. While Celluloid may be safe, I'd avoid it on vintage pens, if you need to just keep the soak times short and I think you'll be okay.

 

**when I say ebonite I refer to it on a functional level. I'd toss a feed in there however many times and however long it took to clean it without worrying. Apparently it can be cosmetically altered when exposed to water, pretty sure that's just old oxidation that can be scrubbed off, but if its an older pen whose looks are important, it may be best to dissasemble the feed and nib rather than soaking the entire section.

 

Finishes: Most modern laquers, paints, polyurethanes and other coatings used on metal and plastics that have proper adhesion won't be affected by ultrasonic cleaning. Certain acrylics paints as well as finishes that are poorly applied may be lifted with very long tank times.

edit: Finishes that have started to craze should also not be used in an ultrasonic tank. Normally the consumer models most folks are going to use won't harm them worse than they already are, but it sure isn't gonna help much either.

 

Wood: Finished and raw Wood should be avoided for obvious reasons, stabilized wood that's been impregnated with a solid resin can be treated like plastic and is totally safe in an ultrasonic tank.

 

Stuff you shouldn't put in an ultrasonic: Exceedingly delicate materials, such as Maki-e or other fancy lacquer, pearl/abalone/shells, and porous stones (opal, emeralds) should never be cleaned in an ultrasonic unless gentler means of cleaning prove ineffective. While you may get away with it, and for all I know maki-e might be fine, it really doesn't seem worth the risk at all. With those porous stones and shells they're really no different from really hard dirt to an ultrasonic cleaner, and are quite capable of being destroyed in one given enough time.

 

There are a few older plastics, and perhaps some very rare (seriously I doubt you'll ever run into one) modern polymers that are attacked by plain water, you should avoid cleaning those with any water based cleaning method of which ultrasonics usually are. You may be able to find a safe cleaner for that type of plastic, which can be put into the ultrasonic tank (or into a smaller vessel suspended in the tank, I use small jelly jars for strong solvents sometimes) .

Edited December 31, 2010 by Yoda4561

[AndiN]

At the risk of seeming dense, what are ultrasonic cleaners typically used for with FPs? Like Kathleen, I received one as a Christmas gift this year. I'd added it to my FP-related wish list a while back after reading posts where folks mentioned using them for cleaning FPs. But, as always happens , now all I can find are posts talking about the damage that can be done to FPs by an ultrasonic cleaner. At this point I've read so many posts and articles that I'm thoroughly confused.

 

Over the past few years, I've accumulated a lot of vintage FPs with the intention of restoring them. One of my goals this year is to actually do that. A lot of the pens are pretty grungy, so I was thinking the ultrasonic cleaner would be an option for cleaning them. Now I'm not sure. I doubt any of the pens are worth much -- lots of third and fourth tier pens because I figured they'd be a better choice for learning on. I jokingly refer to my box of pens to be repaired as "Andi's Home for Unloved Pens". If you could see some of the pens I've got in there, you'd agree it's an apt name.

 

Still, I'd hate to ruin a pen straight from the get-go by doing something wrong with the ultrasonic cleaner. And, yes, I will admit that I was hoping it'd be a good way to do a really thorough cleaning of pens I'm using before switching inks or taking them out of rotation. So, long post short, what do folks typically use an ultrasonic cleaner for?

[brettttt]

I've ended up using mine a lot for caps, breather tubes, P51 collectors, and for sections, feeds, and points (both as units and disassembled). And occasionally for barrels.

[Yoda4561]

At the risk of seeming dense, what are ultrasonic cleaners typically used for with FPs? Like Kathleen, I received one as a Christmas gift this year. I'd added it to my FP-related wish list a while back after reading posts where folks mentioned using them for cleaning FPs. But, as always happens , now all I can find are posts talking about the damage that can be done to FPs by an ultrasonic cleaner. At this point I've read so many posts and articles that I'm thoroughly confused.

 

Over the past few years, I've accumulated a lot of vintage FPs with the intention of restoring them. One of my goals this year is to actually do that. A lot of the pens are pretty grungy, so I was thinking the ultrasonic cleaner would be an option for cleaning them. Now I'm not sure. I doubt any of the pens are worth much -- lots of third and fourth tier pens because I figured they'd be a better choice for learning on. I jokingly refer to my box of pens to be repaired as "Andi's Home for Unloved Pens". If you could see some of the pens I've got in there, you'd agree it's an apt name.

 

Still, I'd hate to ruin a pen straight from the get-go by doing something wrong with the ultrasonic cleaner. And, yes, I will admit that I was hoping it'd be a good way to do a really thorough cleaning of pens I'm using before switching inks or taking them out of rotation. So, long post short, what do folks typically use an ultrasonic cleaner for?

 

 

Mostly people are just paranoid when it comes to vintage collectibles and cleaning, that's 90% of it. For the most part, use common sense, if it looks solid, and you wouldn't be afraid to clean it with soapy water, an ultrasonic is safe. If it's made of something that SHOULDN'T be cleaned with water, or looks like it would fall apart if you looked at it funny, or has a 4000 dollar paint job, you probably shouldn't just toss it into the tank without taking the proper precautions.

 

I usually use mine for cleaning my eyeglasses (gets rid of that green stuff between the nosepad and frame) pocketknives, and all manner of other things, so I actually don't use it for pen cleaning often, maybe when they're new or acting fussy, or if there's some serious ink buildup for some reason. I only ultrasonic pens when the tank is filled with fresh fluid, and since i use it for all that other stuff it doesn't actually get used in that regard very often. Most of my pens are modern, so I'll just fill the tank up (with FP's usually just plain water works, you're dissolving water soluble ink after all), saturate the feed by filling the converter/piston and then dunking it in the tank for maybe 10 or 15 seconds if just popping some ink residue off of things. If it's being fussy I use around 1:10 simple green/water and fill the pen and then let it sit for around 30 seconds, flush, refill, and repeat until I'm satisfied that it will never be cleaner in its entire life.