Bearing cleaning with ultrasonics

[Captrogers (Brandon Rogers)]

So I have usually done the out bearing in small glass jar of solvent and shake method for cleaning my bearings. Usually solvent is whatever I have most of at the time. Right now it’s paint thinner but isopropyl and acetone have been a go too as well.

My wife has a jewelry cleaning thing that’s ultrasonic and she had me clean our wedding bands before we head off to a friends wedding. This got me thinking I could probably use this machine on bearings.

My question for you all is how? I would rather not dunk my bearings in a water bath and flammable solvents in a ultrasonic sound like a bad idea.

Anyone experiment with any of this before? I figure I could take some old crusty bearings I haven’t bothered cleaning yet snd worse case ruin them but figure advice here first would be prudent.

Honestly I have enough bearings I don’t need to clean them for a while but I have cats and the bearings do get pretty gunned up fairly quick especially with the high humidity here and need for a bit of lube in the summer months all leading to more crud and junk slowing things down over time.

[mable]

Yeah, I know a decent number of people who use ultrasonic jewelry cleaners. There was a massive discount on one on Amazon a while back, and several people bought them just for bearing cleaning. Everybody who got one seemed pleased with the results on their bearings.

I’d never buy one explicitly for yoyo bearings, but if you already have access to one, give it a shot and see how well it works for you.

[Exmime]

@yoyodoc has one maybe he’ll chime in

Bearing cleaning

I use whatever alcohol I can find(preferably 91 to 99). I put the bearings in a good quality Ultrasonic jewelry cleaning rig. When the timer goes off(about 10 minutes) I lay the bearings down on a few paper towels. I use a hair dryer to dry the bearings(doesn’t take long. Then, I lightly press each bearing onto the tip of a standard wooden pencil. I put one drop of thin lube(synthetic/non petroleum) into the bearing. Then I hold the pencil firmly in one hand and use the thumb on my other h…

[yoyojoe]

@kyo I know uses them

[LX_Emergency (Alexander Noot)]

I’ve done it with simple water and soap, Rinse with water and soap and blow dry with canned air or a compressor. Works just fine.

[kyo]

Yep, the purest rubbing alcohol you can find works fine.

These days I honestly don’t clean bearings much, I just keep massive tubes full of the cheapest ones I can get and replace when needed.

[Lido (Jordan)]

This method actually worked well for me and didn’t require much acetone (and would obviously work just as well with alcohol or whatever other cleaner):

Potentially free alternative to an ultrasonic cleaner for bearings?

We were about to throw away one of our kids disposable electric toothbrushes a few months ago and I decided to save it. Even though it might not actually be “ultrasonic,” it might work similarly to an ultrasonic cleaner if attached to a small enough bottle of acetone. Last night I finally got around to trying it. I don’t normally clean bearings if I have spares around, but sometimes you get a new one that’s supposed to be good but just isn’t spinning long enough (pictured here is a “DS” from a r…

[cowmamba]

I use this one from time to time it’s pretty affective. Great for cleaning axles, side effects, bearings, etc. It’s a smaller unit so it’s easy to stow away when not in use. Plus it’s quite affordable. Right now there’s a 50% coupon as well.