Thread: Cleaning Saw Blades & Router Bits with Ultrasonic Cleaner ?

I can't help with info, but will be following this thread to see what comes up.

I have a 3L Ultrasonic cleaner I bought for SWMBO on ebay abuot 8 years ago for her jewellery making activities. She's used it once! and I must have used it many dozens of times since. Ours has a heater function on it as well that goes to 80ºC although I rarely use it.

I use it for the following
Cleaning small carby parts - excellent for those hard to reach gummed up parts.
Cleaning small parts prior to metal bluing - good for finely threaded screws and parts with threads.
Cleaning 3D printer parts - I use a Dimethyl Chloride and Acetone mixture which dissolves the PLA plastic goop.
Router bits - as I'm not a big router user so have only done this once - I uses water and dash of dishwasher liquid and it did using the heater - yes it worked but so does plain boiling water - it softens the resin but it has to be wiped off soon afterwards - I used a stiff brass wire brush.

Getting an ultrasonicator large enough to hold an entire circular saw blade is going to be expensive - you could save a few bob by doing say half at at a time. Remember you shouldn't really put the pieces being cleaned directly into the ultrasonicator. It's better if the pieces go into a separate (plastic or glass) container and that sits in water in the ultrasonicator. It's really important to maintain water in between the ultrasonicator and the workpiece - the ultrasonicator will naturally heat the water and evaporate it away over time - if the water evaporates away this can damage and destroy the ultrasonic driver. This means getting an ultrasonicator with timer on it. The button on the cheaper ultrasonicators with the digital time setting plastic buttons/arrows will eventually flake out - I got one with a simple potentiometer (knob) type setting as they last longer.

I've experimented with MANY different things to get resin off cutting tools especially chainsaw chains which I like to have moderately clean before I resharpen. I usually touch up chains in the field but give them a clean before a complete reset st home afterwards.

Oven cleaner, heaps of different solvents and fuels and detergents, dishwashing liquid, plain hot water, and even spent coffee ground in water (apparent left over caffeine is a good solvent). They are all pretty similar for general resin build up but some trees are worse than others. The resin building on chains is usually a result of insufficient bar and chain oil but some trees, like Tuart, generate a black rock hard resin no matter what you do. For these I squirt on a little diesel and let it sit then much of the dried resin comes off at the start of the next cut. I was told about this by a mate of my dads who was a forestry worker.

I hope some of this helps.

I found this old thread just the other month when a blade got gummed up.
Gunk build up on bandsaw blades.
Info and suggestions from BobL were most helpful

Thanks for the input guys. I'm agreeing that sawblades might not be practical, and the dishwasher powder and hot water I've been using is super quick and effective. I also take your point about metal on metal. I am embarrassed to say that the first time I did the saw blades I put two of them in the bowl together so there was carbide on carbide contact. It was not till taking them out I realized how stupid that was, but I can't see any chipped teeth. I have another thread about breaking a NZ$200 spiral router bit when a guide bushing came unscrewed and jammed the bit in the recess it was cutting. Carbide is brittle as well we know.

I've actually not tried router bits with the dish washer powder trick, but surely it would work. I am still of a mind to get a sensibly sized ultrasonic cleaner. Say something big enough to lay a spray gun flat on its side. They can be a real pain to clean, and don't work worth a damn if not perfectly cleaned.