Ultrasonic cleaner question

I use MEK to clean airbrush parts in my ultrasonic cleaner and it works great.  Don't put the MEK directly in the cleaner tub though.  What I do is to put the MEK in a relish jar, put the jar in the cleaner tub, and fill the rest of the tub with water to help the soundwaves get to the jar a little better.  This way, you will have a sealed jar and won't have to deal with solvent fumes.  Just make sure not to forget that your cleaner is running so you don't overheat the MEK and cause the jar to explode.  I just use the old mechanical timer on my 36 year old oven in the kitchen to remind me when its been 30 minutes.  30 minutes is a good amount of time to get things nice and clean.

My instinctive answer would be "no" - I have one of these, and use a heavily diluted i.e. 50/50 mix of isopropyl alcohol & water to clean airbrush parts (once in a blue moon!).  It doesn't run for long (3 mins at a time, I run it  4 or 5 times while I'm working) & I don't leave it unattended.  I then follow up with another session using ordinary washing-up liquid in water.   While it does not generate a lot of heat, there is some, and I wouldn't put anything highly flammable in it at all.  You could maybe use stuff like that to give the parts an initial clean (not using the ultrasonic device) then use the gadget afterwards with something safer in it, to finish off.  That's what I do, anyway.

If your cleaner has a plastic basket,you do not want to immerse that in Lacquer thinner,I know 

Tojo72

If your cleaner has a plastic basket,you do not want to immerse that in Lacquer thinner,I know 

 

Wow, I never thought about that. Something I could easily do as well.

Back to the O.P., my comment would be I'm not sure you would have to. I just add a bit of dental powder for ultrasonic cleaners to the water and have yet to have mess on an airbrush it didn't take care of.

Good question, good thread. what you asked has crossed my mind more than once, and all the input above is appreciated.

First, I manually clean my airbrush with either lacquer thinner (for lacquer paints) or alcohol (for aqueous paints). Afterwards I put the parts in an ultrasonic cleaner filled with distilled water. This is to knock out any dried pits. I've had no real need to ultrasonically clean in anything else.