Ultrasonic cleaner.

[Bob Stevenson]

Over the years I seem to have spent a lot of time cleaning brass instruments. It's not unknown for there to be several plastic buckets full of ominous liquids standing on my patio for anything up to a week while the dirty brass within gives up its filth.

Naturally, I have always been interested in anything which would speed up the process, so when I saw that the 'cheapy' supermarket called Aldi were selling an inexpensive ultrasonic cleaner I was keen to see what it could do for brass cleaning.

This particular machine is only £17 but is well made and comes with a plastic tray for delicate items, a DVD holder and a wristwatch carrier. As you can see it's a nicely presented item.



The bowl is roughly 5 1/2 inches by 4 1/2 inches and 1 1/2 deep, so it's big enough to clean all the smaller parts of a trumpet/cornet/ flugle while you work on the main body of the instrument. After trying it out with my specs and some of SWMBO's jewllery, I moved on to more difficult subjects such as my Swiss Army knife which was very dirty but came out amazingly clean. Now it was time for a serious test with parts of my cornet. I put in the valve bottom caps, third valve slide and an old trumpet mpc with dried on dirt that had not been removed for many years.

The machine has provision for cycles of 90 to 480 seconds, so these parts got two cycles of the maximum time, with just a small squirt of household liquid detergent and a turn over between cycles. Withing the first few seconds the dirt started to leave the valve caps like wisps of smoke. I think you can just see this here.......



After two lots of 480 seconds I removed the parts and rephotographed them. As you can hopefully see, they are demonstrably cleaner. Two of the valve caps were completely clean but the remaining one has some traces remaining although nothing that another cycle could not remove. The old trumpet mpc looks completely different inside and even the slide is much cleaner. The 'before' pic is unfortunately not as sharp as it should be but hopefully you can still see the improvement in the 'after' shot..........





The parts had no extra cleaning or agitation other than simply truning them over between cycles. From this I consider that an ultrasonic cleaner would indeed be an excellent aquisition for any brass player, if only to save time in cleaning the smaller parts while one works on the main instrument.

[Mark Curry]

Bob,

welcome to the Ultrasonic Club!

I use 2 ultrasonic cleaners in my shop.

One filled with buffing compound remover, one with a water/10% vinegar rinse that breaks any remaining soap scum left on the parts.

They are truly one of the greatest inventions since indoor plumbing and possibly the toaster.
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A mouthpiece never missed a note by itself!

[Don Herman rev2]

Better than a toaster, but gotta' say not as good as indoor plumbing (think midnight runs in MN in winter...)

I like the vinegar idea (I assume white) -- any other suggestions on how to optimize its use, what additives are good and bad, etc.?
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"After silence, that which best expresses the inexpressible, is music" - Aldous Huxley

[pedaltonekid]

Are there any units big enough for the whole trumpet?

Is that recommended?
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Best Regards, Play Well!!

[ChuckNorrisOfTrumpet]

Speaking of ultrasonic cleanings... If you will be at the 3rd Annual WCU Trumpet Festival. A "minor" Tune up will be there and offering their Ultrasonic cleaning services. I make the trip from Long Island to Wilmington, De to get my horns cleaned. They do great work.
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Yamaha YTR-9335NYS Bb
Yamaha YTR-9445CHS C
Yamaha YTR-946GS Rotary C
Cromer Custom D/Eb
Schilke P5-4 Piccolo
Getzen Bb Cornet
ACB Flugelhorn

"There is no way to realize your potential unless you throw yourself into it" ~Armando Ghitalla

[veery715]

Units sizable enough for a whole trumpet are prohibitively expensive if you don't operate a biz which offers that service.

Cleaners large enough for valve bodies, tuning slides, etc can be had for $200 and less. The more expensive ones put more power into the ultrasonic vibrations (louder?) than the cheaper units. But even the cheapies do a great job and get into places you cannot otherwise. And there is no risk of damaging that might accompany more "physical" or chemical means.
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veery715
Hear me sing!: https://youtu.be/vtJ14MV64WY
Playing trumpet - the healthy way to blow your brains out.

[Bob Stevenson]

Every single second that I watch this little machine doing it's stuff on brass parts my mind is turning over the ways and possibilities of how to scale it up to take a complete instrument!

At the present time I am only aware of two places here in the UK who have ultrasonic cleaners large enough to take a whole trumpet. at least one of these was formerly used in a government ordnance factory where it was emplaced in concrete to make the best use of its vibrations.

After actually using an ultrasonic cleaner I am not at all convinced that greater power would be an asset in cleaning brass instruments, nor do I see the process as 'completely harmless'. The bowl of the machine is made of stainless steel and has already aquired tiny marks in the centre which are apparently due to the items being cleaned moving under the impetus of the vibrations. So, if the stainless steel is getting abraded, then the brass parts are also subject to some surface damage risk.

As we know, brass instruments and their plating types are essentially quite soft and easily marked.

The machine comes with a plastic basket for delicate or small items but the users manual warns that it's use will reduce the effectiveness of the vibrations.

Currently I do have a couple of ideas about how to clean a complete instrument by similar means but surface damage is the biggest drawback to overcome. Watch this space!

[Smokin Joe]

I had one of my trumpets ultrasonic cleaned and a couple of tiny spots of the silverplate were lifted off, anyone else experience this or something similar.


Joe

[_Daff]

[Mark Curry]

The pressure of the cavitation can actually loosen areas of red rotted brass and form pinhole leaks in the brass- so you don't need to leave the parts in there any longer than necessary to get them clean. Loose, flaky lacquer (especially cellulose) also can just float right off, along with questionable plating. Less is more when using one of these!

Also-Very Important!

Do Not Leave heavy parts in raw brass on the bottom of the ultrasonic tank for very long!

The copper in the brass will begin an electrolytic reaction with the stainless steel tank and over time the tank will develop pinhole leaks.

And you might also damage the transducers (these produce the sound waves that make the machines work).

I've done this- and replacing the the tanks are very expensive (if they can be replaced at all).

Tread softly Grasshopper!
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A mouthpiece never missed a note by itself!

[ChopsGone]

I have a small unit identical to OP's, although marketed under a different brand. Yesterday, I was trying to clean a gift 19th century mouthpiece - absolutely black-green with deep mahogany on the rim, the worst I've seen. Silver polish revealed spots of plating remaining, as well as signs of red rot. Two 480-second bouts with that little ultrasonic unit got it as clean as it's ever going to be, with nothing more than 1:4 vinegar:water in the first bath, and a little Simple Green added to the second. I haven't found it quite as effective on valve bottom caps, but it helps - and it's something that can be done effortlessly while you're cleaning the big parts.
Pay attention to what Mark says above, and use the plastic tray. For tiny parts, I use a piece of fiberglass window screen pressed into the plastic tray.
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Vintage Olds & Reynolds & Selmers galore
Aubertins, Bessons, Calicchios, Courtois, Wild Things, Marcinkiewicz, Ogilbee Thumpet, DeNicola Puje, Kanstuls....

[GenoValet]

Yamaha Inc recommended this technique for some valve port staining problems I'd been having.

[timcates]

so is it possible to build a jig that holds the parts and keeps them from touching the bottom/sides of the tank - or would that cause things to not be cleaned as well? I guess the plastic basket would offer some protection, too....

[Mark Curry]

Ultrasonics are all well and good and are great at loosening up some of the crud that we all blow into our horns.

But at the risk of getting OT...

For brightening up the exterior, fellow trumpeter Dwyane Hollenbach hipped me to running the horn through the dishwasher.

Top rack- unassembled horn body, brushed and snaked-out.

Slides and pistons in the little silverware cage. Be sure to fasten the little top over the slides and valves to keep them from bumping into one another. Use ALL the separate cages you have!

Cascade dishwashing detergent and Jet-Dri!

Heated cycle, Pots and Pans, heated dry.

Not quick, but amazingly effective! Brightens up the silverplate, and the exposed brass without any abrasive action.

Probably sterilizes to some degree as well.

Give it a shot...

Oh Yeah...for God's Sake, don't have Anything Else in there (dishes, pots, etc).

Do it when Mom's not around:)

And-Disclaimer: Do not attempt this if you are not ENTIRELY comfortable doing so. I will not be responsible for any damage inccurred.

MC
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A mouthpiece never missed a note by itself!

[Jamie_B]

[Bob Stevenson]

Geno,

Which "technique" did Yamaha recomend? Did you just mean they recommended the use of ultrasonic cleaning?...or, a particular method of using u/s cleaning?

[nyctrumpeter]

[ChopsGone]

Where else? eBay. I just looked for what seemed to be the best combination of capacity and price. On any given day, they've probably got hundreds of them listed, including some of the industrial sizes.
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Vintage Olds & Reynolds & Selmers galore
Aubertins, Bessons, Calicchios, Courtois, Wild Things, Marcinkiewicz, Ogilbee Thumpet, DeNicola Puje, Kanstuls....

[trumpjosh]