Steeping Times and an Ultrasonic Cleaner Part III
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Alright. So we need to use glass? Can I use plastic bottles and just double the time? I have no access to glass bottles, but I have a 30 min timer UC coming in the mail.
I think those that have tried both say there is a difference and glass does have some advantage but the UC does work with plastic.
I think I might compromise and switch from the soft rubbery LDPE plastic bottles to the more rigid PET plastic bottles. Probably still not as good as glass, but better than the LDPE I bet. There is probably some advantage to thin walled glass or plastic over thick walled glass or plastic, too.
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Alright. So we need to use glass? Can I use plastic bottles and just double the time? I have no access to glass bottles, but I have a 30 min timer UC coming in the mail.
Yes! That was discussed earlier, the glass bottles are just speeding up the process. You can still use the plastic bottles. I have and it has been successful, it just takes a little longer. Eventually I plan on investing in some glass bottled as well.
Had this one bookmarked sunburstbottle
I get them here American Science & Surplus
bobalex, in BC (Vancouver I think), said he found some locally.
I get them here American Science & Surplus
bobalex, in BC (Vancouver I think), said he found some locally.
RTS Vapes has decent prices with reasonable shipping
Wizard labs has some at about the same price
Specialty bottle has great prices but rape-ya shipping
Just gotta poke around
Wizard labs has some at about the same price
Specialty bottle has great prices but rape-ya shipping
Just gotta poke around
You might try looking at a Salvation Army, Value Village, or any other "used" store. That's where I found mine. They might not match ... but I pour my finished juices into plastic bottles anyway.
Glass might be too thick. I dunno. It might not make any difference and as long as it's a free experiment ... go for it.
Nope, not too thick. Glass is an excellent transmitter of ultrasonic energy. Liquids are also very good.
Softer materials, like plastic will dampen the energy. Air is the absolute worst for energy transfer.
Ratchet62 from my Nexus 7
My last purchase I got right from ebay. they are dropper bottles but you can find pleanty of non dropper bottles in all sizes
12 Amber Boston Round Glass Eye Dropper Bottles 30ml Free Shipping | eBay
I've also got them from amazon.
Amazon.com: 1oz Amber Glass Bottles for Essential Oils with Glass Eye Dropper - Pack of 12: Everything Else
There are 3 main types of UCs:
- The small cheap units
- Small Commercial Units often used in Dental offices
- Large industrial units.
"Ultrasonic cleaners come in 3 categories, 1 the small toy like systems that are sold by companies for cleaning contact lenses, etc. These are very light duty cleaners with small transducers and very simple generators that are not very efficient."
The Type 1 units will work but will take longer and the results will not be as dramatic as a Type 2 unit.
The higher the wattage of your "transducer" the more pronounced the steeping effect will be.
Type 2 units typically come with larger transducers, heaters, and longer timers. Be careful about wattage specs, many units will say "200 watts" (or whatever) but what it really means is a "total" of 200w for both the transducer and the heater. Look for the "transducer" spec! There will be a spec for the Frequency (usually 42khz), the wattage of the ultrasonic transducers, and the wattage of the heater. The one you are most concerned with is the transducer wattage. For example my latest unit is a 3 liter 220w model with a 99 minuter timer. It has two 60w transducers and a 100w heater. I have seen 250w models which at first glance sound more powerful but that were really a single 50w transducer and 200w heater. This would be much less effective for our intended use. In our application we care about the transducer wattage much more than the heat. I find that if I start with hot water I dont need any heat at all as the operation of the unit generates plenty enough heat all on its own. shop for the most transducer power you can afford, even if it doesnt have any heat. The small cheap ones usually have a 35w or less transducer, and are also less efficient in design, ie the use of plastic etc, but they will work, it just takes longer.
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I just bumped an old thread where the consensus was white droppers won't break down like black rubber.
Great. I have a couple dozen black rubber droppers
Not sure if white or black droppers really make a difference. My black droppers seem to last a very long time. I really don't use the droppers that much since I've gone from dripping cartos to filling clearos with a syringe. My next order will be just regular bottles and caps seeing I really don't use the droppers much any more.
Prices are average but shipping is outragious
If I buy 12 1oz dropper bottles the cost is $10.08 but shipping is $11.25 for a total of 21.33
At amazon I bought the same 12 bottles for $16.98 including shipping (link provided earler).
At ebay the same 12 bottles for 16.48 with free shipping (link also provided earler).
Yeah, you have to buy a large batch of bottles to make the shipping worthwhile. That's what I did.
I wasn't sure what to expect, but this unit is very small the picture made it look much bigger.
OK so I have given in I went to Walmart got a sonic cleaner my cleaner doesn't have a timer on it...I'm sure its not good for it to just run constant but I did it in 15 min intervals and then would take them out and put them in a small crock pot for 8 mins to heat up. So back and forth back and forth for about an hours time of sonic cleaning. Now they are stored away in a dark cabinet to sit and rest. I noticed the last sonic cleaning I did actually started having some aroma to it so I think it is helping. I will be taste testing these tomorrow to see how fast this sped things along. Thank you for posting this and your previous posting so I could finally decide it was worth a shot =) If it takes a second day great but if after two days its still not great I might have to ask for advice =)
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