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Anybody Experienced using UltraSonic Cleaners for Coins?

UtahRich

Well-known member
I've had a Lortone Rock Tumbler since the mid-70's and use it typically at the end of season for cleaning up clad to recycle back into society. I have jars of wheaties that have been initially cleaned off, but could really stand more cleaning and I can't say I've ever tried using an Ultra Sonic Cleaner for this.

Anybody using this method for cleaning better coins and tokens? What are your methods and results?

Thanks,

Rich (Utah)
 
I tried it years ago. Was not great .. Tumbler worked better with small fish tank stones.
 
Elton said:
I tried it years ago. Was not great .. Tumbler worked better with small fish tank stones.

Thanks for the reply Elton. I've used the tumbler for a very long time for the clad, Never experimented with an Ultrasonic. As for putting the wheaties in the tumbler, I've not wanted to be that 'rough' on them, but I've never experimented either.


Rich -
 
No luck at all with Ultrasonic cleaners for coins dug. For my new coins I find the Tumbler works good, put separate the pennies from the clad. Now I dig some Wheaties for another guy and did some of the 1930s I had and used a vibrating tumbler to clean them as they are not as rough on the Wheaties. Most came out natural looking other than the rims look a little cleaner than the rest of the coin. This is the same type of tumbler many use for cleaning there brass before they reload. I used it with aquarium gravel with the Wheaties and turn it on and add a cleaner called Awesome found in many dollar stores, not a lot and with it on i will add water until you see the coins actually roll in the gravel and let run for a few hours or longer. Rinse them off good and let dry and see if any need to go back in for a second time that were real bad. Once I have them dry and the tumbler dry I will put them back in with crushed walnut shells and run for several hours and when done I rinse them back off with water and let dry, most I have done looks real good and not over cleaned other than the very edge of the penny will look a little cleaner.


Rick
 
Results have been poor to nonexistant, even using a chemical agent.
Best results have been light, well observed electrolysis with baking soda as the electrolyte.
 
Almost everyone who said that they had bad results is using the wrong kind of ultrasonic cleaner. You need an industrial cleaner that has the capability to frequency sweep, and they’re not cheap. Only recently has a couple models came out by a Canadian company right around the 120-200 mark, but they used to be $400-$600 for the smallest cheapest models.

With that said, if you can afford it the results are nothing short of amazing and will beat anything you can get out of a tumbler. I first purchased one for a phone repair business I had as a side gig fixing water damages phones and doing data recovery, and you could take a completely rusted out main board and pop it out of the cleaner looking brand new. I use mine also for gun parts after the range, my XD 40 after putting 1,000 rounds through it will go in crusted in carbon and come out looking new.

On the Detecting front it makes a world of difference on relics. Toasted civil war buttons come out with all of their details pulled. They’re so powerful you actually have to be careful not to leave them in too long as you can blast away detail on weaker metals.

Almost all of the replies you’ll get concerning ultrasonics are you’re jewelry models sold at Walmart or Bed Bath and Beyond that even if they had a sweep function don’t have close to the proper size transducers to matter.
 
They are useless on coins. They're only meant for tasks like cleaning the dirt out of recesses and the stone-crowns of jewelry.
 
I’m getting ready to do a bunch of button clean up and some misc relics and a ton of coins this weekend. I’ll post before and after pics of them when I get finished so you can see the difference. Pic attached is of what you can expect for coins. You can actually push it much more at the risk of eroding detail.
 
Ultrasonic cleaners on old coins that have have alot of corrosion and been in the ground in most cases here for a few thousand years are a total waste of time,great for cleaning the wife's jewellery,these el-cheapo cleaner are total rubbish,i have and use a very very expensive sonic cleaner,as suck would have it i did not buy it,its one that my wife used for here business.Does that work better on cleaning coins ?? the answer is no,possibly good for loosening dirt residue from a coin or artifact,but for actually anything else i certainly have not found any improvement.Mine has sat in a cupboard gathering dust for years its that bad.

I have come to the same conclusion as almost everyone else,a waste of time.
 
Thanks for the feedback.

I did have a go using my RCBS vibrating brass tumbler with walnut media. Wasn’t worthwhile. I have not tried Ricks method replacing the walnut media with aquarium gravel. I do use the aquarium gravel in my loretone tumbler.

Will watch for RavRads results.

Rich
 
Because silver gets scratched so easily, I do use an ultrasonic cleaner oh so briefly for dirt on silver.

Even though most of the silver I find is only bullion value, I still like to keep it as pretty and natural as possible under the numismatic standard of 10X.

What dirt doesn't wash off under the running water of the sink and sprayer goes in the ultrasonic cleaner for 2-3 seconds. That will usually remove or loosen the rest of the dirt so the sink sprayer can remove it. I never rub silver to remove dirt with my fingers. You may not see scratches after doing that with the naked eye, but you will see them with a loupe.

I've learned from experience it is really easy to "toast" a silver coin where it gets a dull washed out look in the ultrasonic cleaner. That's why I never leave it in beyond a count of three.

I'm not anal about wheaties, they go in the tumbler. As others have said, ultrasonic does nothing for them. Then again I've not tried the industrial ones as someone else mentioned, my interest is piqued.
 
Yes.....I wrote an article for Western and Eastern Treasures several years back. Do not use them on copper objects, especially if there is a lot of oxides on them. It will pull bits of oxides off and leaver ugly craters.

Rusted iron objects can be cleansed using vinegar

Gold and silver rings can be cleaned with a solution of

1/4 cup mr clean
1/4 cup liquid ammonia
1/2 cup water

Be careful with some semi-precious stones......they may split, or become unglued.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbuiV3RJou0
 
This sounds interesting to see what some of the coins and other thing look like before and after cleaning.
I have been using my tumbler on copper and brass items and works good, but always like to look at all options.
Keep us posted if you will.

Rick
 
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