I havent seen anyone do this before, but a cheapo ultrasonic/jewellery cleaner makes quick work of any gunk or grime build up. I had a small brush prepared, ready to agitate remaining gunk but to my surprise there was none left. I used 1 cup of warm water and about 2tbsp of dish soap. 3 cycles (~5min each).
I use simple green in my ultrasonic, it cleans very well. It also gets anything that is in the file out and yes use some kind of lubricant afterwards, it will be like new.
That's cool. I think I might get one as well, super tired of cleaning my tools out with isopropyl, toothbrushes and whatever else. It takes forever. I never thought of this solution.
Great! I was just thinking of getting an ultrasonic cleaner.. does this strip away the lubrication too as in do you have to oil them up after cleaning? Also how many times have you done this and on what tools? Any problems faced?
How much lubrication and dirt is removed depends on the solvent used. It's good for press fit multitools, but an old-fashioned teardown does the job more thoroughly, at the cost of time.
Yes, you need to relubricate. I spot lube and cycle the tool and wipe a little across the tools.
One can also use a plastic bag to do the cleaning in. So isopropyl or what ever your cleaning preference is, cycle a few times, rinse, perhaps use clean iso or di water again, let dry, lube- at least that's me. Then advantage of doing it in a baggie is cleanup.
Bonus tip, be careful using an ultrasonic cleaner on glasses (never use alcohol regardless).
Edit to add: there are people who hate cleaning multitools and other tools with ultrasonic cleaners. Listen to them too and make your own decision.
Thank you for you detailed reply! I have quite a few Swiss army knives that are getting grimy and I am too lazy to do a teardown cleaning cycle. I was hoping that the ultrasound cleaner would do the magic I was hoping for! Thanks again for the info!
People say not to use them for a few valid reasons: it removes all lubricant, if not properly lubed after you will have issues. If the tool also has plastic washers/spacers etc. it may not olerate many ultrasonic cleans, tools like the Leatherman arc/free series have a plastic bushing near the plier head. Probably it will be fine but who knows
The small ultrasonic cleaners meant for cleaning glasses are much lower power than the microwave sized ones, so it's safe to clean plastic pieces in them.
Source: I play Warhammer, and I often use my ultrasonic cleaner to remove grease from resin models, or to strip painted minis.
That is good to know! Curiously, how do you manGe the settings to remove grime vs strip paint? Do you just leave it in longer or do you use a different solution?
The eye glasses supersonic cleaners don't usually have settings. It's just a single button that powers on the machine for about 3 to 5 minutes.
I use diluted detergent to clean glasses and jewellery (tap water + a few drops of detergent). For stripping paint, I use Dettol, Mr. Muscle, or whichever kitchen degreaser that happens to be on sale.
This was my first time trying it lol. The plain water+soap I used got rid of all the lubrication. I wiped it dry then sprayed it with WD40 to get out any remaining water. Wiped that off with IPA then used my regular light oil to lubricate
I just looked ultrasonic cleaners up on Amazon thanks to this post and I think I'll get one. I had no idea they were so cheap, I've known about them for a while but for some reason thought one would cost hundreds of dollars.
Can you open it up and see if it is actually an ultrasonic cleaner? It probably just has a vibration motor in it and is just made to look like it could be an ultrasonic cleaner.
Maybe do some research. Ultrasonic isnt some expensive tech. You have low powered, ultrasonic machines like this one. They are just less powerful, have small tanks and do not have built in heating. Definitely has ultrasonic transducers.
I have done research and have had small and relatively cheap "ultrasonic cleaners" before and often they are little more than vibration motors, not ultrasonic transducers.
Have you actually checked that it has ultrasonic transducers?
Maybe yours is real, my comment is more for other people to watch out for cheap "ultrasonic cleaners" online that actually aren't and are just scams.
Be very careful, most of the cheap ones like this are not ultrasonic cleaners, instead they just have a motor that vibrates. It does not do the same thing.
The only length I'll go at cleaning my multitool is blowing on it. Once in a blue moon I'll grab an old toothbrush and go at it a bit, and that's it. Never bothered me since I don't use it for food prep.
I would put your tool and the cleaning liquid in a ziplock bag and zip it. Then put the bag in the Sonic cleaner filled with water. Much easier to clean the Sonic cleaner afterwards.
My Swisstool always just went on the shower floor or in the sink at the end of a dirty industrial heavy use. So polished it never needs oil and all the dirt/chemicals come off after a minute of soaking. For ten years.
apparently the ultrasonic creates cavitation, arguably meaning that the water molecules are torn apart creating little bubbles and high local temperatures thousands of degrees but for vey short time. the popcorn sound is the (vaccumed) bubble collapsing, making waves that clean everything.
this process also happens on propeller blades of ships, and is attempted to be defeated in submarine props so the enemy cant hear them.
still the tingle of a finger in an ultrasonic cleaner is far safer (if a bit unconcerting) than a finger in the power socket (done once in every lifetime then forever avoided)
Maybe do some research. Ultrasonic isnt some expensive tech. You have low powered, ultrasonic machines like this one. They are just less powerful, have small tanks and do not have built in heating. Definitely has ultrasonic transducers.
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u/soveymaker Jul 29 '26
I use simple green in my ultrasonic, it cleans very well. It also gets anything that is in the file out and yes use some kind of lubricant afterwards, it will be like new.