carb cleaners, parts cleaners

[Trader]

I"m thinking of buying a parts cleaning bin.

But, is there really any advantage to having one as opposed to just using a bucket with some cleaner it it?

Floor space is limited, $$$$ are limited too!

 

do they include filters or do they just pump dirty fluid?

Is there a vibrating action or are they just static?

 

Any recommendations?

[dingy]

I have had decent success cleaning my carbs and a bunch of the parts from the motor using an ultrasonic cleaner from harbor freight. I use water and Simple Green cleaning solution in it. It isn't real big, but it will get me through this rebuild and I will be happy. Around $55 when it was on sale.

 

It took ALL the burnt oil residue off the pistons.

 

Also got a gallon of Berryman's carb cleaner from AutoZone to soak carb parts in, still used ultrasonic though. About $18

 

I had clear coated the water pump cover after I polished it last year. Ran it through the ultrasonic, and it stripped the clear coat right off it. So it does get stuff cleaner.

 

For the bigger stuff, I have a 5 gallon pail I put kerosene in to wash parts down, not elegant, but it works.

 

Then I have a home made sand blast cabinet I made out of a oddly shaped file cabinet that I glass bead stuff in.

 

Gary

[Yammer Dan]

Harbor Freight has a Blast cabinet I've been looking at.

[dingy]

You need a decent size air compressor.

 

I have a 60 gallon upright, 2 stage, and I can get about 10 minutes worth of blasting & I have to let it catch up.

 

Gary

[Yammer Dan]

I got a 30 gal 5 horse. Would probally be slow.

[Keemez]

I started out with a 5hp 26gal CampbellHausfeld (diaphragm/oilless type) compressor. Noisy but was better than nothing. Then I found a 40ish? gallon 2stage triple cylinder that was kinda roughed up so I gave it a thorough going over and then parted it out. The (Speedaire) pump alone would have been about 900 to replace with an equivalent new model. I got back the roughly 350 or so I had into that one. Then I got smart and went to Lowe's and talked em into a 10% discount of a floor/display model of one of their Kobalt 60gal uprights (240v twin cyl single stage, but 11.4CFM) for a very reasonable price of 389 pretax. It's what I should have gotten all those years ago to start with. Do yourself a favor- if you use air at all get something that's capable of keeping up with your tooling or applications at least to some degree. Those measly 4-5-6 CFM units just don't hack it, and they aren't that much cheaper than a biggie. An air compressor is one of the home handyfeller's single most indispensable tools- invaluable!

[Freebird]

I agree. I have one of the diaphragm types in the garage that I bought long ago for airing up tires and light duty work but if you plan to use any air tools, sand blasters, spray guns, etc., they just aren't going to work very well. I bought a used 2 stage with a 60 gallon tank for those bigger jobs. I've still got the little unit just because I already had it but air compressors are one thing that buying cheap is really not the best route to take. Plus, the two stage belt driven models run SOOOO much quieter.

[Marcarl]

I just use Moto Master carb cleaner to get the job started, then use a brush in a container with Dunk, also available at CTC. Seems to clean what I need to clean. If it's tough, then it sits in the Dunk over night. I would be interested in that unit from Harbor Freight though,,,, next time I visit a foreign country maybe.