I bought the Harbor Freight ultrasonic cleaner (2 liters/about $65 with coupon).

Had to return the first one. Someone must have dropped it as the case was split along the glue seam.

Looks like it is worth the money for me. Cleaning variable capacitors, hearing aid ear pieces, jewelry, etc. I gave it the standard test that I learned from engineers who designed cleaners. Take a strip of household aluminum foil and suspend it in water (tank about half full). After about 1 minute you should see significant erosion of the surface and then actual holes appearing. I got a couple of holes after about 70 seconds.

Rich

That is interesting Rich. I guess they are not very safe for aluminum parts.

Not for long. The makers of my tank(Branson) say that it should be filled to it's proper capacity all the time. The test of foil does not mean that more substantial aluminum parts are in any danger unless you use something in the tank as a cleaner that will attack aluminum over time. Some strong alkali detergents will do that.

+1

Foil is more delicate than aluminum sheet. Foil is a good test, however, to ensure your u/s cleaner is working well..

Rich

I got one recently to clean small parts, and it works VERY quickly and cleans well, removing most any fouling. Well worth the $80.

Obviously, it poses no harm to heavier gauge metals like our tuning capacitors that have low tolerance, but I was thinking more along the line of people cleaning other close tolerance parts, like carbs for instance.

The HF cleaners must have feet. The ones at my local store ate strapped down to the shelf.

RRM