When your ultrasonic cleaner stops working!

[The Chairman]

I have a fairly large and powerful ultrasonic cleaner. It holds over a gallon, has a 180 watts of power and it's heated. It would cost over $350 to replace it. Earlier this year I noticed that the increase time button stopped working. Then, just before Coz, all of the buttons stopped working. I had a number of regs and tank valves to rebuild, so the cleaner took a back seat. Now, after the back log has been finished, I got to examining the problem child.

As it turns out, the printed circuit has become de-laminated so that the buttons never get to make contact. By jumping the right pins on the internal circuit board, I can make the machine work. Cool. What's nice is that the pin out is printed right on the circuit board, so there is no guessing. I am going to rewire using two DPDT momentary toggle switches from radio shack for about $20. I will mount them on either side of the panel. They'll have plenty of room, so no worries there. Rather than put in an additional switch to turn the unit on, I am going to wire in the other half of both switches so you have to push them up together to accomplish this. That way, I won't inadvertently turn it off when I am setting controls, and it will frustrate anyone who tries to use my equipment while I am not there.

Oh, yeah... I tried to find a replacement front panel. That would have been simple. This design has been discontinued and they do not have any parts to repair them. Arrrrrgh. They think I could buy another panel and make it work. They only want $127.00 plus shipping for it with no guarantee that it will fit or be suitable. I'm just going to wire in the two switches.

 

[The Chairman]

The repair took a little longer than I hoped, but it's now sporting two DPDT momentary toggle switches and it WORKS. Yay! I took some pictures that I will show later.

I also took the time to put my tank inspection light's transformer in a small project box, added a PC style power receptacle and a switch. I then added a couple of brackets so I could mount it under a shelf so it's always out of the way but ready. I added shelves a few weeks ago and plumbed in shop air along the bench. I also moved the reg rebuilding station to the other end of the work bench, away from the drilling, grinding an welding. I'll try to post pics soon.

 

[cool_hardware52]

The repair took a little longer than I hoped, but it's now sporting two DPDT momentary toggle switches and it WORKS. Yay! I took some pictures that I will show later.

I also took the time to put my tank inspection light's transformer in a small project box, added a PC style power receptacle and a switch. I then added a couple of brackets so I could mount it under a shelf so it's always out of the way but ready. I added shelves a few weeks ago and plumbed in shop air along the bench. I also moved the reg rebuilding station to the other end of the work bench, away from the drilling, grinding an welding. I'll try to post pics soon.

Nice save!

Tobin

 

[TSandM]

I'm impressed. It would never even have occurred to me to try to take mine apart.

 

[JahJahwarrior]

Glad you got the big boy working again! I'm sure that it'll outlast by many years the HF Special, but I bet it'll suffer the same issue. When it does, I'll see if I can't salvage it.

 

[The Chairman]

Nice save!

Tobin

Thanks, Tobin!

I'm impressed. It would never even have occurred to me to try to take mine apart.

I guess if I can rebuild a reg, I can rebuild anything! ;D Seriously, with over 30 years experience in the automotive field and a dozen or so years fixing PCs, there's not a whole lot I won't TRY to fix. I hate throwing out equipment especially if it appears to have some life left in it.

Glad you got the big boy working again! I'm sure that it'll outlast by many years the HF Special, but I bet it'll suffer the same issue. When it does, I'll see if I can't salvage it.

What's the HF special? If you ever need help, please don't be a stranger. Well at least not any stranger than you are now!

 

[spectrum]

Next you'll be fixing snowblowers in Florida.......

Seriously, if the core technology is OK the peripherals are frequently something that you can improvise. This was a very GREEN way to approach the problem.They talk about Reduce, Reuse, or Recycle, Repair should be on that list of buzzwords too.

Nice Work!

Pete

 

[The Chairman]

Here are the pics:

Everything apart and ready to be tested.

The delamination is pretty obvious. Every switch had a section of copper foil eaten away.

Having the pin out clearly marked was a time saver.

Checking to see if I really understood the logic.

I first used these pins, soldering the individual wires to them. It didn't work, do I soldered the wires directly to the leads on the logic board.

Switches at $5/each. DPDT, momentary toggle (On-Off-On)

 

[The Chairman]

I used a piece of PVC to support the marking/drilling operations.

The switches wired to the assembly ready to be installed.

Everything in place and waiting for the panel to be put on and the bottom replaced.

Contact cement applied to glue the panel down.

The ultrasonic cleaner in it's new home at the other (and cleaner) end of the bench.

The half of the bench devoted to fabrication and repair.

 

[j2s]

Thanks NetDoc....Good tech info to know for future ref.....I depend on my ultra sonic for a lot of 'stuff'.......