Ultrasonic cleaner for Gravel Bike chains

[GregR]

I'm considering buying an ultrasonic cleaner for my gravel bike chains. I wax them in straight paraffin wax, and when they come off the bike I clean them by shaking them in a jar of boiling water, often with some dish soap.
The reason I am thinking of adding an ultrasound step is that I'm riding on very dusty trails and roads, so a lot of fine dust is hitting the chain. It's reasonable to think that dust could be getting into the inner contact areas. Or maybe it isn't.
Maybe the shaking out is enough to get any grit out. But if it isn't, I'd sure like that grit out.
Thoughts, anyone?

[TobinHatesYou]

One thing you can do it just combine the jar phase with the ultrasonic phase. Just fill the ultrasonic cleaner with water and put the jar in that bath. That way your ultrasonic cleaner never gets dirty and you don’t end up using additional detergent or degreaser.

[eucalyptus]

Some hot water under the sink with a brush and/or a drag is what I do. Then let em dry and in the hot bath of immersive waxing ~ absolute minimum wear.

[kode54]

One thing you can do it just combine the jar phase with the ultrasonic phase. Just fill the ultrasonic cleaner with water and put the jar in that bath. That way your ultrasonic cleaner never gets dirty and you don’t end up using additional detergent or degreaser.

I typically use a zip lock baggie. Can't say i've ever used a glass jar in the Ultrasonic.

I have ridden in fine dusty gravel roads and find the red clay dust months later...inside the frame, BB shell, wheels, etc.
I still can't believe the dust can make its way into somewhat sealed areas...just thinking what my lungs looked like after that ride.

[GregR]

One thing you can do it just combine the jar phase with the ultrasonic phase. Just fill the ultrasonic cleaner with water and put the jar in that bath. That way your ultrasonic cleaner never gets dirty and you don’t end up using additional detergent or degreaser.

So your recommendation is to buy the ultrasonic cleaner, and feel that it would make a difference?

[jfranci3]

Keep in mind wax doesn't protect your chain like traditional lube as far as water/rust goes.

[TobinHatesYou]

One thing you can do it just combine the jar phase with the ultrasonic phase. Just fill the ultrasonic cleaner with water and put the jar in that bath. That way your ultrasonic cleaner never gets dirty and you don’t end up using additional detergent or degreaser.

So your recommendation is to buy the ultrasonic cleaner, and feel that it would make a difference?

I don’t clean my used chains ultrasonically. I just use boiling water. Just saying if that’s something you want to do then combining those two steps makes sense to me.

[GregR]

Ok. Mainly I wanted to know if people thought it would be worthwhile as a way to make sure any grit got out.
As for water, I typically rinse with methyl hydrate and then it's into the wax. I'll typically swap out the chain after a particularly wet or dirty ride. The ease of the cleaning and rewaxing makes this viable, or at least that's my feeling.

[psi]

My process is to boil a kettle with water, pour it into the ultrasonic, and put the chain in a ziplock with 1/3 Simple Green Aircraft and the rest boiling water. Run the ultrasonic for a few mins is enough to get all the grit out.

I tried first submerging them in boiling water, then doing the ultrasonic process. A bunch of grit still came out which indicates that just submerging them doesn't get it out of all the nooks and crannies.

After that I throw them in the wax pot which is hopefully melted by that point. I keep the temp above 212 and leave em in until most of the water seems to have boiled off.

I think the next level is actually waxing the chain in an ultrasonic as well as cleaning. Silca does that apparently. But that's a step too much for me.

[MikeD]

One thing you can do it just combine the jar phase with the ultrasonic phase. Just fill the ultrasonic cleaner with water and put the jar in that bath. That way your ultrasonic cleaner never gets dirty and you don’t end up using additional detergent or degreaser.

So your recommendation is to buy the ultrasonic cleaner, and feel that it would make a difference?

I don't think it will. Wax is clean and doesn't attract dirt. Boiling water and maybe detergent will remove the old wax and what minimal dirt is there. I'm not a fan of the baggie thing. You usually need multiple baths/treatments when you clean stuff in the ultrasonic cleaner.

[GregR]

My process is to boil a kettle with water, pour it into the ultrasonic, and put the chain in a ziplock with 1/3 Simple Green Aircraft and the rest boiling water. Run the ultrasonic for a few mins is enough to get all the grit out.

I tried first submerging them in boiling water, then doing the ultrasonic process. A bunch of grit still came out which indicates that just submerging them doesn't get it out of all the nooks and crannies.

After that I throw them in the wax pot which is hopefully melted by that point. I keep the temp above 212 and leave em in until most of the water seems to have boiled off.

I think the next level is actually waxing the chain in an ultrasonic as well as cleaning. Silca does that apparently. But that's a step too much for me.

What I'd be really interested in is whether grit would come out in the ultrasonic if you did a thorough shake in hot water, with a couple of boiling water and detergent cycles. My unknown is whether my process is getting all the grit out.
My current process is a series of baths in boiling water + detergent with a lot of agitation from shaking the container.

[psi]

What I'd be really interested in is whether grit would come out in the ultrasonic if you did a thorough shake in hot water, with a couple of boiling water and detergent cycles. My unknown is whether my process is getting all the grit out.
My current process is a series of baths in boiling water + detergent with a lot of agitation from shaking the container.

I mean an ultrasonic with hot water and the right solution can produce miracle cleaning results. I recently pulled the EGR pipe off my car as it is a common problem for it to get blocked with soot from the exhaust. Other people describe hours of scrubbing and using oven cleaner doesn't get all the baked on crud off. I did my usual ultrasonic routine, boiling water, simple green aircraft. Ran it for 10 mins instead of 3 min like a chain. Came out as clean as a whistle literally looked brand new, metal was completely shiny clean.

Ultrasonics are so cheap that for me it's just a no brainer to use one. I've got a big one that was maybe $150 that I bought for other larger items. But I bought a tiny one off Ebay for < $20 to keep up the waxing routine when I was travelling with my bike. It worked fine, maybe just ran it a couple mins longer.

[GregR]

Thanks, psi. I might get a small one. It's about the storage for me, I'm sharing my place with four bikes and the various spare parts and gear.