I'm bring my barn find BB back on the road and thinking of buying an ultrasonic cleaner to clean smaller parts. Anyone else using this technique and any recommendations for the home hobbyist?

My fan housing and air intakes are very grungy. I was planning to just scrub with degreaser and maybe a pressure washer, but there are a couple companies near me that offer vapor honing. Anyone try vapor honing on these parts?

Thanks

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Vapor honing used to be called dustless media blasting.

It will work great for improving surface finish as you are removing material, even if it is a very small amount. But, you should degrease the part with a pressure washer first. Otherwise you’ll pay more for the guys doing the blasting.

Also, FWIW, you may consider one of these as a DIY:
https://www.amazon.com/Selkie-Pressure-Wash...t/dp/B086W4TNQC
I’ll be getting one to use with fine glass beads for some ATS wheels that I’m working on. I want a raw aluminum look and a clear powder coat top lay to prevent oxidation.

In my opinion, this unit is near worthless. I tried one a month or so ago and give it a thumbs down

I just pulled that up as an example. Thank you for the heads up on that particular example though! Did you find one that worked well?

Highly recommend vapor honing. It does a fantatic job of getting parts very clean. I had my case and heads done on the white race car and they looked brand new.

Degrease first as suggested then get it done. Not sure how it inpacts magnesium but the aluminum was bright and shiny.

It's what we do. Spend the money, you'll like it.

I recently bought a Ultrasonic Cleaner when I was re-building some Webers and I'm very please with the results.

The only issue is that I should have bought one big enough to do engine cases

Mike,

What process is this, and what machine is used?
A lot of us would like to be able to this ourselves, and any info
you can provide would be appreciated!!!

Thanks!

Vapor honing is very different from ultrasonic cleaning.

Basically, this is a technology that involves the blasting of abrasive material blast mixed with pressurized water. This mix is called “slurry,” and is pressurized before you hit the surface you’re treating with the pressurized water and abrasive material mix.

When it’s used to clean a surface, the abrasive eliminates the materials you’re removing and the water washes them away. When it’s used to finish a surface, the abrasive smooths down the surface and the water softens it blow

We had a large vapor blast machine at the Porsche shop where I worked. I used it on everything and it works great. It doesn’t remove base material. They aren’t cheap. Ours was $18K used. You often prep with glass bead blasting to clean the metal and prime the surface.

Talk to the vendor about prep. They will tell you what you need.

We have a very large ultrasonic cleaner. It works great.

All the little cheap machines are junk. Don’t waste your money.

Once the “blasting” is done is it necessary to coat so surface stays nice?
I’m thinking Cericote (sic) but not sure.

No. It will eventually oxidize and discolor a bit like any processed aluminum. It comes out looking like tumbled or shot peened aluminum. Smooth with a dull but nice finish. It doesn’t have the matt dry look of bead blasted parts.

We're a big fan of vapor blasting and powder coating. So, of course had to build a vapor blasting cabinet (as well as putting together a setup for powder coating).

Before photos.

After photos.

Is there a risk in using this on an aluminum 911 engine block.....media remaining
in passages and causing damage later ?
What is the current best way to safely clean an engine for rebuild ?

Yes, the media gets gummed up in cracks and crevices. It needs to be cleaned very carefully. piston squirters pulled. The shop will steam pressure wash, ultrasonic clean, blow out passages, ect. Some people are scared about blast media in the engine but it's no different than if the engine has fine metal particles in it. I'll do it on my own build.

If you can find someone with a dish washer style parts cleaner, that would be my choice. My buddy and I are looking to buy one soon.

This is definitely inportant. On the white car when the shop cleaned the case using this process they pulled all the plugs and thoroughly cleaned all journals before resealing with anodized plugs. Really must make sure it is fully flushed.

I started using vapor blasting a couple years ago when I restored a motorcycle. I sent away some really crusty corroded parts and got back parts that looked almost new. The owner of the Porsche shop was so impressed, he bought a machine. It’s a bit overkill. You can actually climb inside to clean it. The downside is it takes a large commercial air supply and the shop needed to buy some sort of electrical transformer. The liquid blast media comes out like a fire hose and parts only take a minute or two once they are prepped.

Vapor honing

Vapor honing looks great. Thanks for the info. Anyone try the hobbyist sized ultrasonic cleaners?

Yes someone mentioned they are not worth it.

I got an ultrasonic cleaner for Christmas and it is fantastic.

Mind me asking what kind you got and what you use for cleaner/solvent?

ultra sonic is best for certain things...

works really well on carb parts, and other brass items

not as effective for me on steel

Depends on what you're doing.

Lots of time just water and Dawn if great. Very Mild

Other times I use S100 for really greasy & nasty aluminum parts since I know S100 is safe for aluminum. (read labels not all detergents are aluminum safe)

You can also buy powder (i.e. very fine abrasive) cleaners for steel.

Mine (10 liters) is heated up to 170F or so. You'd be surprised how much the heat helps even when just used with water and some Dawn dish detergent. To be clear though, an ultrasonic cleaner is no match for vapor blasting / vapor honing or whatever you want to call it which is odd to me since there is no "vapor" involved.

I have a set of Dellorto Carbs I'm working on - those were soda blasted. Still not as nice as Vapor Blasting. My local vapor blaster quoted $80/hr to do the carbs with an $80 minimum so I'm probably going to have to settle for tools at my disposal.

I'd love to have an industrial sized one like mepstein references! Not happening in my lifetime though!

Hey @Jack Standz , can you expound on what you actually did here?


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